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diff --git a/78941-0.txt b/78941-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..696cfa3 --- /dev/null +++ b/78941-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,25315 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78941 *** + + + + + THE HISTORY + OF + CIVILISATION IN SCOTLAND. + + + + + ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ + │ │ + │ Transcriber’s Notes │ + │ │ + │ │ + │ Punctuation has been standardized. │ + │ │ + │ Most of the abbreviations used to save space in printing have │ + │ been expanded to the non-abbreviated form for easier reading. │ + │ │ + │ Characters in small caps have been replaced by all caps. │ + │ │ + │ Non-printable characteristics have been given the following │ + │ Italic text: --> _text_ │ + │ │ + │ This book was written in a period when many words had │ + │ not become standardized in their spelling. Words may have │ + │ multiple spelling variations or inconsistent hyphenation in │ + │ the text. These have been left unchanged unless indicated │ + │ with a Transcriber’s Note. │ + │ │ + │ Index references have not been checked for accuracy. │ + │ │ + │ Footnotes are identified in the text with a superscript │ + │ number and are shown immediately below the paragraph in which │ + │ they appear. │ + │ │ + │ Transcriber’s Notes are used when making corrections to the │ + │ text or to provide additional information for the modern │ + │ reader. These notes are identified by ♦♠♥♣ symbols in the │ + │ text and are shown immediately below the paragraph in which │ + │ they appear. │ + └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ + + + + + THE HISTORY OF CIVILISATION IN SCOTLAND. + + BY + + JOHN MACKINTOSH, LL.D. + + _Author of “The Story of Scotland,” + “The Revolution of 1688 and Viscount Dundee,” + “The Highland Land Question Historically Considered,” + “History of the Valley of the Dee,” Etc._ + + + _A NEW EDITION._ + + PARTLY REWRITTEN, AND CAREFULLY REVISED THROUGHOUT. + + + Volume Fourth. + + + ALEXANDER GARDNER, + Publisher to her Majesty the Queen, + PAISLEY; AND 26 PATERNOSTER SQUARE, LONDON. + + 1896. + + + + + CONTENTS. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXV. + + + _History of Scottish Philosophy――Carmichael――Hutcheson._ + + ⭘ Scope of this account of Scottish Philosophy――Carmichael, his + Teaching and Writings + + ⭘ Francis Hutcheson, his success as a Professor――His Writings + and Moral Doctrines――Moral Sense, Happiness, the Object of + Approbation――His Political Views――Influence of his Teaching and + Writings + + + + + CHAPTER XXXVI. + + _David Hume and Adam Smith._ + + + SECTION I. + + _Hume._ + + ⭘ Characteristics of Hume and Smith――Hume’s Treatise of Human + Nature, its Method――His own Account of the Origin of his + Philosophy + + ⭘ His Explication of the Understanding, treatment of Impressions + and Ideas――Discussion of the Ideas of Space and Time, Idealism + ――Treatment of Causation――Scepticism touching Reason and the + Senses, Personal Identity――Summary of his Conclusions concerning + the Understanding + + ⭘ His Handling of the Passions and the Will――His Theory of Morals, + Utility――Summary of his Views + + ⭘ Essay on Miracles, its Characteristics――Natural History of + Religion, and Dialogues on Religion――Estimate of his Philosophy + ――Its Influence on Subsequent Speculation――Hume’s Personal + Character + + + SECTION II. + + _Adam Smith._ + + ⭘ His early Life――Method of Teaching――His Travels――His Method of + Working + + ⭘ His Theory of Moral Sentiments, its Method and Style――Sympathy + the Origin of Approbation, early manifestation of Sympathy + ――Exposition of the operation of Sympathy――Happiness――Summary + of his Moral Views + + ⭘ The Wealth of Nations, his chief work, its Arrangement――His + Explanation of Labour, Land, and Rent + + ⭘ His Explication of the accumulation and employment of Stock + ――Progress of Opulence, state of Agriculture in Europe, and the + Rise and Progress of Cities + + ⭘ Discussion of the Mercantile System, erroneous notions about + Money――Exposure of the Doctrine of the Balance of Trade――His + attack upon the Great Eastern Company + + ⭘ Revenue of the State――Educational and Religious Institutions + ――Influence of the Work + + + + + CHAPTER XXXVII. + + _Reid, Ferguson, Stewart, and Other Writers._ + + + SECTION I. + + _Reid._ + + ⭘ His Life and Teaching――His Writings――Treatment of the External + Senses――His doctrine of Signs + + ⭘ His doctrine of Perception, imperfect Discrimination of the + Views of other Philosophers――Explanation of Theories of Mediate + Perception + + ⭘ His Division of Mental Phenomena, and Treatment of Mental Powers + ――Common-sense, its Relation to First Principles――Classification + of First Principles + + ⭘ Active Powers of the Mind――Moral Obligation――Reid’s Merits + + + SECTION II. + + _Adam Ferguson._ + + ⭘ His early Life――Principles of Moral and Political Science, his + Method, Conceptions, and grasp of Thought + + ⭘ The Standard of Morality, the Supreme End, and the Principle of + Approbation + + + SECTION III. + + _Dugald Stewart._ + + ⭘ Stewart was a successful Professor――The Scope of his Philosophy + of the Human Mind――His Political Views + + ⭘ Discrimination of Ultimate Principles――Classification of the + Intellectual Faculties――Laws of Association of Ideas――Memory, + Imagination――Reasoning and Deductive Evidence――Varieties of + Intellectual ♦Caricature + + ♦ “Characture” replaced with “Caricature” + + ⭘ Summary of his Ethical System――His Method and Style + + + SECTION IV. + + _Gerard, Beattie, Campbell, and Alison._ + + ⭘ Gerard’s Essay on Taste, its Method and Characteristics + + ⭘ Beattie’s Essay on the Immutability of Truth――His Elements of + Moral Science――Characteristics of his Style + + ⭘ Campbell’s Essay on Miracles, its Method――His Rhetoric and Style + ――Alison, the Scope of his Essay on Taste + + + + + CHAPTER XXXVIII. + + _Dr. Brown――Mackintosh._ + + + SECTION I. + + _Dr. Brown._ + + ⭘ His early Life――Inquiry into the Relation of Cause and Effect――A + successful Professor, his Lectures + + ⭘ Exposition of his Psychology――Analysis of Sensation, his + Doctrine of Perception, and Criticism of Dr. Reid――His + Classification of Mental Phenomena, Laws of Suggestion or + Association――Reduction of the Faculties of Judgment and Reason + + ⭘ Treatment of the Emotions, his Ethical Views, the Moral Faculty + ――Practical Ethics――The existence of God and Immortality of the + Soul――Estimate of his Psychology + + + SECTION II. + + _Mackintosh._ + + ⭘ Vicissitudes of his Life――He entered keenly into the stormy + Movements of his Time――His Literary Projects + + ⭘ His Dissertation on the Progress of Ethical Philosophy――Its + Method and Scope――His Sketches of Ethical Systems and Writers + ――Summary of his own Ethical Views + + + + + CHAPTER XXXIX. + + _Hamilton――Ferrier――and Robertson._ + + + ⭘ Hamilton’s Education and early Life――Appointed Professor of + Logic and Metaphysics――Preparation of his Lectures, his Edition + of Reid’s Works――He sustained a severe Paralytic Stroke, which + disabled his right side――His Death――His Writings + + ⭘ Exposition of his Philosophy――The Fundamental Principles + ――Doctrines enunciated in his Introductory Lectures――Man an End + unto Himself――His peculiar View of the End of Speculation――The + Communication of Knowledge――The Nature, Causes, and Method of + Philosophy + + ⭘ Division and Classification of Mental Phenomena――His Distribution + of Mental Philosophy + + ⭘ Explication of Consciousness, and its Relation to the Cognitive + Faculties――His Theory of Attention――Law of Limitation――Are + we always consciously active?――Latent Mental Modifications + ――Somnambulism + + ⭘ Exposition of Cognition, Classification of the Special Faculties + of Knowledge――Discussion of Doctrines of Perception――Statement + of his own Doctrine of Natural Realism + + ⭘ Explanation of Memory, Reproduction, and Imagination + + ⭘ The Elaborative Faculty, Comparison――Evolution of the Processes + of Apprehension, Judgment, Classification, Abstraction, and + Generalisation, from the original act of Consciousness + + ⭘ Primary Notions, Common Sense, or Fundamental Principles of + Intelligence, recognised by Hamilton + + ⭘ Classification and Treatment of the Feelings――His Theory of + Pleasure and Pain + + ⭘ His Philosophy of the Conditioned, its Aim――Explication of its + Principles and Applications + + ⭘ His Treatment of Logic――Efforts to simplify the Syllogistic + System――Doctrine of the Quantification of the Predicate + + ⭘ Summary――His Method and Style――Influence of Teaching and + Writings――Reference to Mill’s Examination + + ⭘ Ferrier’s Theory of Knowing and Being――Primary Law of Knowledge + ――His Method and Style――Hegel + + ⭘ Robertson――His Education――Appointed Professor of Mental + Philosophy and Logic in University College, London――Editor of + _Mind_――His Writings + + + + + CHAPTER XL. + + _Literature of Scotland in the Eighteenth + and Nineteenth Centuries._ + + + SECTION I. + + _Historical Literature of the Eighteenth Century._ + + ⭘ Abercromby――Anderson――Campbell, his Historical Writings――Goodal, + “Casket Letters”――Innes on the Ancient Inhabitants of Scotland + + ⭘ Literary Revival――Style became an Object of Study――Clubs and + Societies + + ⭘ Hume’s History of Great Britain, its defects and merits――His + Style + + ⭘ Robertson’s Historical Works――Characteristics and Style of his + Writings + + ⭘ Historical Writings of Guthrie, Smollett, Tytler, and Stuart + + ⭘ Henry’s History of Great Britain――Lord Hailes’ Annals of + Scotland――Ferguson’s Historical Works――Russell’s History of + Modern Europe――Watson’s Historical Writings――Gillies’s History + of Ancient Greece + + ⭘ Chalmers’s Caledonia――Laing’s History of Scotland + + + SECTION II. + + _Historical Literature of the Nineteenth Century._ + + ⭘ Historic Characteristics of the Period――M‘Crie’s Writings――His + Style――Mill’s History of British India――Dunlop’s History of + Fiction――Tytler’s History of Scotland; its historic value + ――Alison’s History of Europe, his Method and Style + + ⭘ Thomas Carlyle――His early Life and Work――His Essays and + Pamphlets――The French Revolution――Oliver Cromwell’s Letters and + Speeches――History of Frederick the Great of Prussia――Peculiar + Characteristics of his Works――His Death + + ⭘ Burton, his early Writings――His History of Scotland――History of + Britain in the Reign of Queen Anne――Blakey’s Historical Writings + + ⭘ Skene’s contributions to History――His History of Celtic Scotland + + ⭘ Record Scholars and Editors of Historical materials, Thomson, + Innes, Stuart, Robertson, Laing, and Pitcairn + + ⭘ Chambers’ History of the Rising of 1745――Robertson’s Scotland + under her early Kings――Mure’s History of the Literature of + Ancient Greece――Grub’s Ecclesiastical History of Scotland + ――Conclusion + + + + + CHAPTER XLI. + + _Literature of the Eighteenth and + Nineteenth Centuries (continued)._ + + + SECTION I. + + _Poetry of the Eighteenth Century._ + + ⭘ Aim of the Chapter――Allan Ramsay, Characteristics of his Songs + and Poems――His Gentle Shepherd――William Hamilton――Robert Crawford + + ⭘ Thomson, his Education and early Life――The Four Seasons + ――Character of his Genius――The Castle of Indolence――Influence of + his Poetry + + ⭘ Mallet’s poetical efforts――Armstrong’s Art of Preserving + Health――Blair’s Poem entitled The Grave――Hamilton of Bangour, + Characteristics of his Poetry + + ⭘ Alexander Ross, his Poems and Songs――Skinner’s Poems and Songs + ――Dr. Blacklock’s Poems――Smollett’s Tears of Scotland + + ⭘ Home’s Tragedy of Douglas, caused a sensation――Falconer’s + Poem, The Shipwreck――Macpherson’s Translation of Ossian’s Poems + ――Macpherson’s abilities + + ⭘ Beattie’s Minstrel――Logan’s Poems and Writings――Fergusson’s + Poems, Characteristics of his Genius + + ⭘ Burns was an assiduous reader and student――His Ideal of the + Poet’s Functions――His Influence on the Imaginative Literature of + ScotLand――His Influence on the Mind of the Nation + + ⭘ Minor Poets + + + SECTION II. + + _Poetry of the Nineteenth Century._ + + ⭘ Tannahill, Characteristics of his Poems and Songs + + ⭘ Mayne, his Poem, the Siller Gun, and a Ballad, Logan Braes + ――Leyden, his early Life――Style of his Poetry + + ⭘ Campbell’s Pleasures of Hope, its Characteristics――His short + Poems and Songs――Specimens of the Poets + + ⭘ Scott, his Collection of Ballads――His own Poems + + ⭘ Hogg, his early efforts――The Queen’s Wake――The cast of his + Genius――Flowing style of his Poetry + + ⭘ Boswell’s Songs――Cunningham’s Songs――His Prose Writings――Tennant + ――Motherwell――Aytoun + + ⭘ Minor Poets + + ⭘ Smith――Mackay――Murdoch――Lewis Morrison-Grant――A great number of + Scottish Poets + + + + + CHAPTER XLII. + + _Fiction of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries._ + + + ⭘ Smollett’s Novels――Mackenzie’s stories, The Man of Feeling, and + the Man of the World――Moore’s Novels + + ⭘ Elizabeth Hamilton, her childhood――Her Writings――Mrs. Brunton’s + Novels + + ⭘ Scott, an industrious Writer――Characteristics of his Novels and + Tales――Their Influence on the People + + ⭘ Galt, his chequered Life――He wrote many Novels, Tales and + Dramatic pieces――Mrs. Johnstone――Susan E. Ferrier, her Three + Novels――John Wilson’s Tales and Stories + + ⭘ Sir Thomas D. Lauder’s Novels――Andrew Picken’s Tales and + Sketches――James B. Fraser’s Eastern Tales――Lockhart’s Novels + ――David M. Moir――James Grant + + ⭘ David Pae, his early Life――He wrote many Stories――William Minto + + ⭘ William Alexander, his Stories, Sketches, and other Writings + ――Robert L. Stevenson, his Novels and Romances――His Poems + + + + + CHAPTER XLIII. + + _Literature of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries + (continued)――Religious and Miscellaneous Literature._ + + + SECTION I. + + _Religious Literature of the Eighteenth + and Nineteenth Centuries._ + + ⭘ Character of the Religious Literature of Scotland――Ebenezer + Erskine――Ralph Erskine――Dr. John Erskine――Dr. Webster――Dr. John + Witherspoon, his Writings――His work in the United States of + America + + ⭘ Dr. Blair’s Sermons――Dr. MacKnight’s Writings――John Brown of + Haddington――His Works――Dr. John Brown, his Writings + + ⭘ Dr. Hunter’s Works――Dr. William L. Brown――Dr. Hill――Dr. Andrew + Thomson + + ⭘ Dr. Chalmers, his Energy and Work in Glasgow――Appointed + Professor of Divinity――Characteristics of his Writings――His + influence among the People + + ⭘ Dr. Wardlaw――Dr. Candlish――Dr. Cumming――Dr. Guthrie + + ⭘ Norman Macleod――Dr. Eadie――Dr. Buchanan――Dr. Tulloch――Dr. + Milligan + + ⭘ William R. Smith――His efforts for freedom of Criticism + ――Importance of his Research and Works――Conclusion + + + SECTION II. + + _Miscellaneous Literature of the Eighteenth + and Nineteenth Centuries._ + + ⭘ Arbuthnot’s Writings――History of John Bull + + ⭘ Lord Kames, his Public Spirit――His Writings――Elements of + Criticism and Sketches of the History of Man + + ⭘ Lord Monboddo, his Eccentricity――His Writings + + ⭘ Lord Erskine――Appointed Lord Chancellor――His forensic Oratory + + ⭘ James Boswell――Dr. Currie――Lord Jeffrey, Editor of the Edinburgh + Review――His Writings + + ⭘ Lord Brougham, his early Career――His Writing――Robert Mudie + ――George Combe, Characteristics of his Works + + ⭘ Hugh Miller――His Literary Talents――Character and Style of his + Works + + ⭘ Patrick E. Dove’s Theory of Human Progression + + ⭘ George Gilfillan――His Mental Powers and Sympathies――A Preacher + and Lecturer――His Writings + + ⭘ Dr. John Brown――William Minto――His Education and early Life + ――Appointed Professor of Logic in the University of Aberdeen + ――His Writings + + ⭘ John Veitch, variety and character of his Philosophical and + Literary Efforts + + ⭘ John S. Blackie, his Education and early Life――A Professor of + Humanity in Marischal College, Aberdeen, subsequently Professor + of Greek in the University of Edinburgh――His Writings + + ⭘ Travellers――James Bruce――Mungo Park――Dr. Livingstone + + ⭘ Rise and Development of the Newspaper Press and Periodical + Literature――Works of Reference + + + + + CHAPTER XLIV. + + _Progress of Science in the Eighteenth + and Nineteenth Centuries._ + + + SECTION I. + + _Physical Science._ + + ⭘ Aim of the Chapter――Conceptions of the Universe; Newton’s Theory + Controversy touching the Invention of the Calculus――Importance of + Mathematical Science + + ⭘ Maclaurin, a Professor of Mathematics――Method and Scope of his + Course of Instruction――His Works――Theories of the Tides + + ⭘ James Stirling’s Mathematical Works――Stewart――Simson――Playfair + ――Leslie + + ⭘ Dr. Black’s Experiments――His discovery of Latent Heat――His + Lectures on Chemistry――His connection with James Watt――Black was + a successful Instructor + + ⭘ Sir John Leslie and other scientific men investigated the + subject of Radiant Heat――Leslie’s Experiments――His Works + + ⭘ Progress of Discovery――Spectrum Analysis + + ⭘ Optics: Dr. Young――Sir David Brewster――His Intellectual Energy + and Industry――His Discoveries――His Works――His Invention of + Instruments and Apparatus + + ⭘ Geology: Hutton――Lyell’s Works――Murchison’s Explorations and + Writings――Siluria Strata――Maclaren――Hugh Miller + + + SECTION II. + + _Progress of Mechanical Science._ + + ⭘ Relation between Physical Science and Mechanical Arts + + ⭘ Dr. Robison; his education――He becomes acquainted with James + Watt――His work in foreign countries――Appointed Professor of + Natural Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh――His Works + + ⭘ James Watt; his early training――Went to London to improve + his mechanical skill――On returning he found employment in the + University of Glasgow + + ⭘ Watt’s Experiments touching Steam――The Steam Engine; his first + improvement of it; subsequent improvements + + ⭘ His other Inventions――His discovery of the composition of Water + ――Honours conferred on him――Serenity of the evening of his life + ――His death――The worth of his character and genius + + ⭘ Early attempts to apply Steam power to Navigation + + ⭘ Rise and Progress of the Science of Electricity――Practical + applications of the Electric Forces――Conclusion of the Chapter + + + + + CHAPTER XLV. + + _Progress of Medical Science in Scotland + in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries._ + + + ⭘ The prime phenomenon of Medical Science――Sketch of the state + of Medical Science in Europe at the beginning of the Eighteenth + Century + + ⭘ Founding of the Edinburgh Medical School――The College of + Physicians and College of Surgeons――The first Professor of + Anatomy Recognition of other Chairs by the University――John + Monro; Alexander Monro + + ⭘ Alexander Monro, Professor of Anatomy――His method and course of + Instruction――His Work on the Human Bones――Erection of the Royal + Infirmary――By his Teaching and energy Monro contributed to + raise the standing of the Edinburgh School――A Chair of Midwifery + instituted + + ⭘ Dr. Cullen; his education and early career――His first Course of + Lectures in the University of Glasgow――His method of Instruction + and energy + + ⭘ Cullen appointed Professor of Chemistry in the University + of Edinburgh――Subsequently he was appointed to the Chair of + Institutes of Medicine――His Expository Powers――His Works and + Influence + + ⭘ Dr. John Gregory; his Works――Dr. James Gregory――Dr. Andrew + Duncan, Professor of the Institutes of Medicine――His Works――His + son, Dr. Andrew, was Professor of Medical Jurisprudence――His + Writings + + ⭘ Alexander Monro succeeded his father as Professor of Anatomy + ――His Teaching and Works――And his son, Alexander, also ♦succeeded + to the Chair of Anatomy――His Works are numerous――John Goodsir + + ♦ “succeded” replaced with “succeeded” + + ⭘ Extra-mural Teaching――John Bell, Lecturer on Surgery and + Midwifery――His Works――Sir Charles Bell, Lecturer on Anatomy and + Surgery――He was appointed Professor of Surgery in the University + of Edinburgh――His Works――Dr. Barclay, Dr. Gordon and Dr. Knox, + were extra-mural Lecturers + + ⭘ Dr. John Thomson, his work as a Professor of Military Surgery, + a Lecturer, and Professor of Pathology + + ⭘ Dr. Henderson, Professor of Pathology――His Writings――Dr. Sanders + ――Dr. ♦Ballingall, his Writings――Dr. Alison――James Syme――An + extra-mural Lecturer and Professor of Clinical Surgery――His Works + + ♦ “Balingall” replaced with “Ballingall” + + ⭘ Dr. Alexander Hamilton――Sir James Y. Simpson――Robert Christison + + ⭘ Institution of the Glasgow Medical School――New Chairs instituted + Extra-mural Lecturers――The University Buildings――The Infirmaries + of Glasgow + + ⭘ Aberdeen Medical School――Institution of New Chairs――Erection of + New Buildings――Present state of the Medical School――Dr. Pirrie + ――Dr. Keith――Dr. Lizars――Dr. Ogston + + ⭘ Dr. James Douglas, his Works――Dr. William Hunter――William + Cruickshanks――John Hunter + + + + + CHAPTER XLVI. + + _Progress of Education in the Eighteenth + and Nineteenth Centuries._ + + + ⭘ The old Parish School System ineffective in the Highlands――The + People took an interest in Education――Annual Grants from + Government――Government Inspectors of Schools + + ⭘ Effect of the Disruption upon Education――Free Church and + Established Church Schools――Sabbath Schools――Reformatory Schools + + ⭘ Grammar Schools in the last Century, a marked improvement in + these Schools――Technical and Art Schools + + ⭘ The Universities in the early part of this Century――Universities + Act and Executive Commission of 1858――Act and Executive + Commission of 1889――New Ordinances + + ⭘ Libraries in Scotland + + + + + CHAPTER XLVII. + + _Progress of Agriculture in the Eighteenth + and Nineteenth Centuries._ + + + ⭘ State of Agriculture in the last Century――The Implements + primitive and rude――Introduction of Fanners and Thrashing-Machines + ――Andrew Meikle――Washing away the Moss of Kincardine + + ⭘ A revolution has been effected in Agricultural Implements and + Machines――Enclosing of Pasture Lands――Reports on the state of + Agriculture――Institution of the Highland and Agricultural Society + of Scotland + + ⭘ Change in the method of Rotation of Crops――♦Improvements in + the system of Breeding, Rearing, and Feeding of Cattle――Rents + ――Horticulture + + ♦ “Inprovements” replaced with “Improvements” + + + + + CHAPTER XLVIII. + + _Progress of Mining, Manufactures, and Commerce + in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries._ + + + SECTION I. + + _Coal, Iron, and Lead Mining._ + + ⭘ Coal Mining in the early part of last Century――Improved methods + of working the Mines, application of Steam-power――Gradual + increase in the consumption of Coal――State of the Coal Miners + in the last Century + + ⭘ The Collieries are now worked by Steam-power――Quantities of Coal + raised in Scotland――Number of persons employed――Wages of Coal + Miners at different periods + + ⭘ Iron, Lead, and Copper Miners + + + SECTION II. + + _Iron Works, and Iron Manufactures._ + + ⭘ Scottish Iron Ores――Furnaces erected in Scotland――Carron Iron + Works――Erection of other Iron Works in the last Century――Quantity + of Iron annually produced + + ⭘ More Blast-furnaces erected――Discovery of the Blackband + Ironstone――Increasing demand for Iron――Invention of the + Hot-blast――Annual production of Iron at different periods + + ⭘ Account of Iron Works――Malleable Iron Works――Steel Manufacture + + ⭘ Iron-founding and other branches of the Iron Trade――Sequence of + Industrial Development + + + SECTION III. + + _Improvement of the Means of Communication._ + + ⭘ State of the Roads in the last Century――New Roads and Bridges + in the Highlands――Making of Canals + + ⭘ Introduction and Development of Railways――Improved Postal and + Telegraphic Arrangements + + + SECTION IV. + + _Shipbuilding._ + + ⭘ Progress of Shipping from the end of the Seventeenth Century + Onwards + + ⭘ Shipbuilding in Leith――In Dundee――In Aberdeen, and other Ports + ――Effect of Changes in the Construction of Vessels + + ⭘ Shipbuilding on the Clyde, Steam vessels――Iron Ships――War Ships + ――Steel Vessels――Number and Tonnage of Vessels built and launched + + + SECTION V. + + _Glass and Earthenware Manufactures._ + + ⭘ Various kinds of Glass――Process of making it――Glass Engraving + ――Glass Painting + + ⭘ Earthenware Works――Brick and Tile Works + + + SECTION VI. + + _Textile Manufactures._ + + ⭘ Mechanical Inventions, Appliances, and Machines for Spinning and + Weaving + + ⭘ I.――Development of the Woollen and Hosiery Manufactures + ――Introduction of Machinery, Steam-power, and Power-looms――Keen + Competition in the Markets of the World――Carpet Manufacture + ――Bonnet Manufacture――Number of Woollen Factories in Scotland, + and number of Persons employed + + ⭘ II.――Progress of the Linen Manufactures――Number of Lint Mills + in the Eighteenth Century――Quantity of Linen produced, and its + value――Table Linen Manufacture in Dunfermline――Introduction of + Jute Manufactures――Its rapid Development――Number of Linen and + Jute Factories, and total number of Persons employed + + ⭘ III.――Introduction and Development of Cotton Manufactures + ――Number of Cotton Mills in the Eighteenth Century――Steam-power, + and Power-looms――Number of hands employed at different periods + ――Thread Manufacture + + ⭘ IV.――Silk Manufacture――Mixed Fabrics――Floorcloth――Total number + of Persons employed in Textile Manufactures + + ⭘ Some of the Effects of the Industrial Revolution――Wages of + Operatives in Cotton Factories + + + SECTION VII. + + _Paper Manufacture._ + + ⭘ Invention of the Pulping engine, and Paper-making Machine + ――Development of Paper Manufactures――Raw materials used, and + quantity of Paper produced――Number of Persons employed + + ⭘ Manufacture of Paper-hangings + + + SECTION VIII. + + _Printing and Book-binding._ + + ⭘ Printing in the last Century――Invention and Development of + Stereotyping――Introduction of Printing Machines, and Steam-power + ――Number of Persons employed + + ⭘ Book-binding, Machines used――Minute division of Labour + + + SECTION IX. + + _Leather, India-rubber, and Shoe Manufactures._ + + ⭘ Manufacture of Leather――Number of hands employed――Revolution in + the Shoe-making Trade――Gutta-percha――India-rubber Manufactures + + + SECTION X. + + _Sugar-refining, Brewing, and Distilling._ + + ⭘ I.――Sugar-refining Trade――Heavy Machinery and Apparatus used + + ⭘ II.――Quantities of Malt consumed and Beer produced at different + periods――Export Trade――Aerated Water + + ⭘ III.――Legislation touching Whisky――Variation of the Duty on + Whisky――Quantities produced and consumed in Scotland + + + SECTION XI. + + _Miscellaneous Manufactures._ + + ⭘ Importance of Chemical Science in the useful Arts and + Manufactures――I. Alkali Works; II. Alum Works; III. Mineral Oil + Works; IV. Artificial Manures; V. Comb Works――Conclusion + + + + + CHAPTER XLIX. + + _Architecture, and Monumental Art._ + + + SECTION I. + + _Architecture._ + + ⭘ Variety of Stones――Scottish Architects――William Adam――Robert + Adam――James Craig――James Gibbs――Robert Mylne――Functions of the + Architect + + ⭘ Crowded State of Edinburgh in the last Century――The North Loch + Bridged――New Town――Opening up and rebuilding of the Old Town + ――Characteristics of the Architecture + + ⭘ Glasgow――Extension and construction of new Streets――In the + middle of this Century the old localities of the City crowded + ――New Water Works――An extensive scheme of Improvement carried + out――Architectural characteristics of Glasgow――Sanitary + Arrangements + + + SECTION II. + + _Monumental Art, Granite Cutting and Polishing._ + + ⭘ Reference to early stone Monuments――Quarrying in Aberdeenshire + ――Quantity of Stone annually Quarried + + ⭘ Granite-cutting and polishing Trade――The branch of Monumental + Art――Lettering――Export Trade + + + + + CHAPTER L. + + _Fine Art, Music, and Painting._ + + + SECTION I. + + _Music._ + + ⭘ I.――Earliest Collection of Scottish Melodies――Dance Music + ――Sword-Dance + + ⭘ II.――Scottish Musicians, Composers, Violinists, Vocalists, and + Pipers + + ⭘ III.――Psalmody――Hymn Books――Organs――A Chair of Music instituted + in the University of Edinburgh――A Lectureship on Music founded + in Anderson’s College + + + SECTION II. + + _Painting._ + + ⭘ Conditions favourable to the Culture of Art――Aikman――Ramsay――His + success in London――Runciman, his early efforts――Paintings from + scenes in Ossian’s Poems + + ⭘ David Allan――His work in Rome――His paintings of Scottish + Subjects――Other Painters of the Period + + ⭘ Raeburn, his Education――His first Efforts at Painting――His + success and marriage――His sojourn in Rome, and return to + Edinburgh――His method of working――Honours conferred on him――His + Merits + + ⭘ Andrew Robertson――Wilkie, his early Efforts――Variety and + Characteristics of his Paintings + + ⭘ John Burnet――James Burnet――Andrew Wilson, a Landscape Painter + ――Andrew Donaldson + + ⭘ Sir William Allan, his early Efforts――His historic Pictures of + Scottish Subjects――His Dramatic Power――David Roberts――William + Bonnar + + ⭘ Thomas Duncan――William Simson――Sir John W. Gordon――William Dyce + ――His Paintings + + ⭘ Sir George Harvey――His historic Pictures――Robert S. Lauder + ――David Scott――Horatio M‘Culloch――Alexander Johnston――Alexander + Backley + + ⭘ Sir Daniel Macnee――His Portraits――John Phillip――His early + Efforts and ultimate Success――Characteristics of his Pictures + + ⭘ Robert T. Ross――Robert Thorburn――Joseph N. Paton――Erskine Nicol + ――Robert Herdman, an eminent Painter――George Chalmers――William + B. Scott + + ⭘ Sculptors:――Thomas Campbell――Laurence Macdonald――Sir John Steel + ――William Brodie――Alexander Brodie――Henry B. Smith + + + + + CHAPTER LI. + + _Political and Social Movements._ + + + ⭘ State of Political Representation in Scotland prior to 1832 + ――Effect of the French Revolution on the Executive――Trial of + Thomas Muir――The Lord Justice Clerk’s Address to the Jury――Other + persons tried for political offences――Three Men Executed + + ⭘ Slow progress of Liberal Principles――Chartist Movement――New + Reform Bill before Parliament, opposed and defeated――Great + Agitation――The Second Reform Bill passed + + ⭘ Political Rights of the People recognised + + + + + CHAPTER LII. + + _Ecclesiastical Movements._ + + + ⭘ Theocratic Conception of the Church and State――Historic Polity + of Presbyterianism――Election of ministers + + ⭘ Patronage restored――Struggles within the Church――Secession――Dr. + Robertson’s Leadership of the Assembly, effect of his policy + ――Continuation of the internal Struggle + + ⭘ A Revolution preparing――Narrative of the Movement + + ⭘ The Popular Party assumed a firm attitude――Interference of the + Court of Session, historical view of its Proceedings + + ⭘ Excitement in the Country――The General Assembly adopted “the + Claim of Right,” but Parliament rejected it――Assembly of 1843 + ――The final Scene――Significance of the Disruption + + + + + CHAPTER LIII. + + _Summary._ + + + ⭘ Summary of the Work――Conclusion + + + + + ♦INDEX + + + ⭘ Listing + + ♦ added to Contents listing + + + + + THE + HISTORY OF CIVILISATION IN SCOTLAND. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXV. + + _History of Scottish Philosophy――Carmichael――Hutcheson._ + + +IN the closing chapter of the third volume an outline of the history +of European philosophy in the seventeenth century and the early part of +the eighteenth was given, as a preliminary to the history of Scottish +philosophy. It was shown that although this speculative movement had +arisen and assumed importance in the seventeenth century, it was not +felt in Scotland in its philosophical form till during the century +following. This movement, with its scrutinising spirit, was partly a +result of the great religious revolution of the sixteenth century, with +which, in its religious and political consequences, Scotland was deeply +affected. On the continent the earlier efforts of the movement were +somewhat halting, wavering, and doubtful; but at last the human mind +launched into the regions of speculation and scientific investigation +with vigour and freedom, and on the scientific side attained a marked +degree of success. The sources whence Scottish philosophy drew the +materials which were not original to itself, may be indicated thus:――1. +The mental philosophy of Greece, especially the ethics and metaphysics +of Aristotle, chiefly by Hutcheson, and the later development of +Hamilton. 2. The mental philosophy of France, slightly marked in +Stewart, to a greater degree in Brown, and also partly in Hamilton. +3. English philosophy, mostly from Locke’s _Essay on the Understanding_ +and Berkeley’s writings, notably in Hume, Reid, and Stewart; in a less +degree in Brown and Hamilton. 4. German philosophy, almost restricted +to Hamilton, at least till quite recent times. Such is a very general +indication of the various sources to which Scottish philosophy was +partly indebted for its materials; but, except in the cases of Hume +and Hamilton, they are not particularly marked. + +This history of Scottish philosophy will present a brief account of +the origin of the school. The subsequent chapters will treat the views +and speculations of Hume, Adam Smith, Reid, Ferguson, Stewart, Brown, +Mackintosh, Hamilton, Ferrier, and others. It has not been deemed +advisable to discuss the writings of living philosophers. As the main +aim is historic exposition in relation to the progress of civilisation, +the relative importance of the many subjects which come within the +scope of the work, has determined the method and the limits of their +treatment. + +In the early part of the eighteenth century mental philosophy was at +a low ebb in Scotland. As stated in the last volume, the old method of +teaching in the Universities was continued in some of them till past +the middle of the century; although the College of Edinburgh, in 1708, +adopted in the Arts Faculty the specialised method of instruction――a +distinct branch of study was assigned to each professor. It appears +that before 1741, Stevenson, the professor of logic and metaphysics in +the University of Edinburgh, used an abridgment of Locke’s _Essay on +the Human Understanding_ as one of his text-books. + +In the University of Glasgow, the regents were restricted to the +teaching of special subjects in 1727; and in that year Gershom +Carmichael was appointed to the chair of moral philosophy. It is +reported that he was a successful teacher; but he died in 1729. He was +the author of a short treatise on Logic, which reached a second edition +in 1722; and in 1720 published an edition of Puffendorff’s treatise, +_De Officio Hominis et Civis_, for the use of students, to which he +wrote notes and supplements. Hutcheson said that Carmichael’s notes +were of more value than the text. Carmichael’s latest work, _Synopsis +Theologiæ Naturalis_, appeared in 1729, shortly before his death. In +his effort to prove the existence and perfections of God, he showed +considerable discrimination and reasoning power; he considered the +arguments of Descartes and Clarke as unsatisfactory, and insisted that +the existence of God should be proved on _a posteriori_ arguments.¹ + + ¹ Sir William Hamilton in a note to Reid’s _Works_, says + ――“Carmichael was Hutcheson’s immediate predecessor in the + chair of moral philosophy, and may be regarded, on good + grounds, as the real founder of Scottish philosophy.” + ――Volume I., page 30. + +Francis Hutcheson, who has usually been considered the founder of the +Scottish School of mental philosophy, was a native of the north of +Ireland, but originally of Scotch descent.¹ He was educated at the +University of Glasgow, where he studied for six years, and enjoyed +the instruction of Carmichael, who was then acting as a regent. On +his return to Ireland, he was ♦licensed to preach among a dissenting +body. But he soon left this profession, and opened a school in Dublin, +where he taught the higher branches of education with much success for +about eight years. Having become known by his writings, he was elected +professor of moral philosophy in the University of Glasgow in 1729――an +office which he held until his death, in the fifty-third year of his +age. + + ¹ Born in 1694, died in 1747. He was descended from an Ayrshire + family. + + ♦ “licenced” replaced with “licensed” for consistency + +As a professor of moral philosophy, he was very successful. He entered +on his task with the ardour of a man of keen sensibilities and all the +glow of genius, and worked hard. Hence his class soon became large, +and he was enabled to exercise a wide influence; in short, he was +himself animated with a genuine love of knowledge, of liberty, and +of virtue; and thus he contributed much to diffuse a taste for the +higher literature in Scotland. He lectured on five days in the week――on +natural religion, morals, jurisprudence, and government; and, besides, +he lectured other three days of the week on some of the best Greek +and Latin writers, explaining their moral views, and also their style. +Further, on the Sunday evenings, he delivered a course of lectures +on the truth and evidence of Christianity; which is said to have been +attended by larger auditories than any of his other courses of lectures; +indeed, his Sunday lectures were attended by all the different classes +of students.¹ + + ¹ Leechman’s “Account of Hutcheson’s Life and Writings,” + prefixed to Hutcheson’s _Moral Philosophy_, pages 26‒37; + see also Rev. Alexander Carlyle’s _Autobiography_. Carlyle + says――“I attended Hutcheson’s class this year (1743) with + great satisfaction and improvement. He was a good-looking + man, of an engaging countenance. He delivered his lectures + without notes, walking backwards and forwards in the area of + his room. As his elocution was good and his voice and manner + pleasing, he raised the attention of his hearers at all + times; and when the subject led him to explain and enforce + the moral virtues and duties, he displayed a fervent and + persuasive eloquence which was irresistible.” + ――_Autobiography_, page 70. + +Hutcheson’s writings are these:――1. _An Inquiry into the Origin of +our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue_, 1725; 2. _An Essay on the Passions +and Affections_, 1728; 3. _Metaphysical Synopsis_, 1742; 4. _Logical +Compendium_, a short but useful treatise; 5. his _System of Moral +Philosophy_, which was published by his son in 1755, from the original +manuscript. This last work presented a complete view of his system, and +consists of three Books――the first of which treats on the constitution +of human nature; the second presents a deduction of the more special +laws and duties of life, previous to civil government; and the third +treats on civil polity or government. + +Although it is chiefly as a moralist that he attained distinction +in the history of philosophy, his psychology was in advance of his +time, and on some points it is still worth attention. He distinguished +sensation from perception; and stated that the common division of the +external senses into five classes is imperfect; he made many ingenious +and just remarks on the origin and character of our ideas of beauty; +and his view of the formation of acquired desires is natural and +reasonable. + +As a moralist, Hutcheson insists much on disinterested affections and +a distinct moral faculty as essential constituents of human nature. He +explains the objects which the moral sense approves, as those having +“a tendency to the happiness of others, and the general perfection of +the mind possessing them.” His definition of the moral sense or faculty +itself is to this effect:――It is a power of which anyone by close +attention and reflection may convince himself, being “a natural and +immediate determination to approve certain affections and actions +consequent upon them, not referred to any other quality perceivable +by our senses or by reasoning.... It may be a constant, settled +determination in the soul itself, as much as our power of judging and +reasoning.” He maintained that reason is only a subordinate factor in +our ultimate determination both of will and perception. “The ultimate +end is settled by some sense and some determination of will; by some +sense we enjoy happiness, and self-love determines to it without +reasoning. Reason can only direct to the means, or compare two ends +previously constituted by some other immediate powers.... This moral +sense from its very nature appears to be designed for regulating and +controlling all our powers. This dignity and commanding nature we are +immediately conscious of, as we are conscious of the power itself. +Nor can such matters of immediate feeling be otherwise proved but +by appeals to our own hearts.... We immediately discern moral good +to be superior in kind and dignity to all others which are perceived +by the other perceptive powers.... By this sense the heart can not +only approve itself in sacrificing every other gratification to moral +goodness, but have the highest self-enjoyment and approbation of its +own disposition in doing so, which plainly shows this moral sense to +be naturally destined to command all the other powers.”¹ + + ¹ _System of Moral Philosophy_, Book I., chapter 1, sections + 1, 5, 6, and chapter 4 throughout. + +Still, he explicitly argues that this moral sense, like all our other +faculties, needs to be cultivated and improved, and adduces very +obvious illustrations――that special culture improves our taste, as more +accurate knowledge and reflection aid us in forming sound judgments. + +Hutcheson treated happiness at great length, and with much elegance and +fine feeling. He placed our supreme happiness in the exercise of the +highest virtue and the gratification of our widest affections. He sums +up the subject thus:――“It is plain our supreme and complete happiness, +according to the universal doctrine of the wisest men in all ages, must +consist in the complete exercise of those nobler virtues, especially +that entire resignation to God, and of all the inferior virtues +which do not conflict with the superior, and in the enjoyment of such +external prosperity as we can, consistently with virtue, obtain. + +“A just estimation of the value of life, and of the several sorts of +evil we are exposed to, must be equally necessary. If moral evils and +some sympathetic sufferings are worse than any external ones, and can +make life shameful and miserable amidst all the affluence of other +things, as we have shown above; if at best life is but an uncertain +possession we must soon lose, we shall see something that is more to +be dreaded than death, and many just reasons why it may on certain +occasions be our interest to incur the danger of it.... Many are +discouraged from a virtuous culture of their minds for the reception +of all virtues by a rash prejudice. We are dazzled with the conspicuous +glories of some great successful actors in higher stations; we can +allow such virtues to be the noblest enjoyments, but they are placed +so high that few have access to them, Nay, persons in the highest +positions often despair when their power is not absolute. + +“To arm the soul against prejudice, we should remember that the reality +and the perfection of virtue, and the inward satisfaction of it too, +to a calm mind, depends not on external success, but upon the inward +temper of the soul. Persisting under these doubts about the success of +glory in the public offices of virtue, or, if we are excluded from them, +in all the lower private offices――in a constant sweetness of deportment +in obscurity, and a constant resignation to the Supreme Mind――embracing +cheerfully the lot appointed for us, repressing every envious notion +and every repining thought against providence, resolving to go +steadfastly on in the path pointed out to us by God and nature, till +our mortal part fall down to that earth whence it sprung――must appear +rather more noble and heroic to an All-seeing Eye, and to the judgment +of every wise man, than the more glittering virtues of a prosperous +fortune. + +“When we despair of glory, and even of executing all the good we intend, +it is a sublime exercise to the soul to persist in acting the rational +and social part as it can; discharging its duty well, and committing +the rest to God. Who can tell what greater good might be attainable +if all good men exerted their powers even under great uncertainties, +and great dangers of misrepresentation and obloquy? Or how much +worse should all matters proceed, if all good men desponded and grew +remiss under such apprehensions? If virtue appears more glorious by +surmounting external dangers and obstacles, is not its glory equally +increased by surmounting these inward discouragements, and persisting +without the aids of glory or applause, conquering even the ingratitude +of those it serves, satisfied with the silent testimony of our hearts +and the hope of divine approbation? Thus, the most heroic excellence, +and its consequent happiness and enjoyment, may be attained under the +worst circumstances of fortune; nor is any station of life excluded +from the enjoyment of the supreme.”¹ + + ¹ _System of Moral Philosophy_, Book I., chapter 2. + +In the above passages there is evidence, not only of Christian +sentiment and resignation to the Supreme Mind, but also of classic +culture; the very spirit of the noble and heroic sages of ancient +Greece and Rome breathes in them. + +Hutcheson placed the object of moral approbation in general benevolence. +The calm kind of affections are more approved than the passions; and +the calm desire of private good, though not approved as virtue, is far +from being condemned as vice; and none of the truly natural appetites +and passions when restrained within proper limits are of themselves +condemned as evil, although they are not referred by the agent to +any public interest. But the disposition which is most excellent, and +naturally attains the highest moral approbation, “is the calm, stable, +universal goodwill to all, or the most extensive benevolence. This +seems the most distinct notion we can form of the moral excellence of +the Deity.” The love of moral excellence itself is a very high object +of approbation, when by reflection we find it in ourselves or observe +it in others.¹ + + ¹ Book I., chapter 4, sections 7, 10. + +Although Hutcheson coincided with Shaftesbury touching disinterested +affections, he is more distinct than his predecessor; and his theory of +the moral faculty is better developed. In short, his ethical ideas were +higher than Shaftesbury’s, while his grasp of mind and analytic powers +were also much greater. + +Touching the relation of morality to religion, he stated that the +highest exercise of the moral faculty and the highest happiness are +found in the recognition and worship of God. + +In the second book of his _System of Moral Philosophy_, Hutcheson +treats at length on the subjects of natural rights, society, the +foundation of private property, laws, and contracts; and the third book +treats of government, embracing domestic and civil rights. But in these +parts of his system, his conclusions are often founded on speculative +and imaginary grounds. As an example of his method, his view of +the establishment of government may be cited:――Civil power is most +naturally founded by these three different acts of the whole people +――(1) an agreement or contract of each one with all the rest, that +they will unite into one society or body, to be governed in all their +common interests by one council; (2) a decree or designation made by +the whole of the people, of the form or plan of power, and of the +persons to be entrusted with it; (3) a mutual agreement or contract +between the governors thus constituted and the people, the former +obliging themselves to a faithful administration of the powers vested +in them for the common interest, and the latter obliging themselves to +obedience.¹ + + ¹ Book III., chapter 5, section 2. + +This is merely a statement of the famous _Contract Theory of the Origin +of Government_, and substantially the same as enunciated by Hobbes, +Locke, and others. Although Hutcheson’s general views of government +are more sober and liberal than Hobbes’, yet both start from the same +unhistorical and imaginary basis. He maintained the doctrine that all +states have in themselves the causes of dissolution and death.¹ + + ¹ “States themselves have within them the seeds of death + and destruction; what in the temerity, imprudence, or + superstition of the first contrivers; what in the selfish + ambition or other meaner passions of the governors and their + subjects, jarring with each other and among themselves; + what in the opposition of those seeming interests which + such persons pursue; what in the weakness and inconstancy + of human virtue; and in the proneness of men to luxury and + present pleasure, without attention to the consequences. + These seeds, along with external force and jarring national + interests, have always occasioned the dissolution and death + of every political body, and will occasion it as certainly + as the internal weakness of the animal body and external + causes will at last bring it to its final period. Good men + indeed study, by all the art they are masters of, to ward + off and delay these ♦catastrophes as long as they can, from + their friends or their country; such kind of offices are + the most honourable and delightful employment they can have + while they live. But he must little think of the order of + nature who sees not that all our efforts will be defeated at + last, whether for the preservation of individuals or of the + political body.”――Book III., chapter 11. + + ♦ “catastrophies” replaced with “catastrophes” + +In conclusion, according to Hutcheson, the ethical standard is +identical with the moral faculty. His general views obtained in the +first instance a pretty wide circulation from his own teaching in +the University of Glasgow, and his ethical writings have exercised a +considerable influence since his death. His first course of lectures +in Glasgow was delivered in 1730, and we shall find that both Hume +and Adam Smith were somewhat indebted to Hutcheson. He agreed with his +contemporary Butler in holding that the moral faculty is an essential +part of human nature. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXVI. + + _David Hume and Adam Smith._ + + + SECTION I. + + _Hume._ + +THE two names at the head of this chapter have attained high +distinction not only in Scottish philosophy, but also in the history +of European thought, and especially in the literature of political +economy. This is so fully recognised, that it would be superfluous to +enlarge on it; but it may be said that Hume, by his bold and sceptical +reasoning, aroused philosophers from their slumber, and greatly +stimulated thought to further inquiries in various directions; while +Smith advanced an attractive moral theory, and founded the science +of political economy, which has proved beneficial in suggesting +legislative reform and commercial enterprise. + +Hume and Smith were mutual friends, and took a keen interest in each +other’s speculation and researches. In several branches their inquiries +were identical, but in others they were as wide as the poles asunder. + +Hume¹ published in 1739 two volumes of a work entitled _A Treatise of +Human Nature_: “Being an Attempt to introduce the Experimental Method +of Reasoning into Moral Subjects.” In explaining his system, it is +requisite to direct special attention to this work, as it is the most +systematic, elaborate, and complete of all his productions. + + ¹ Born in 1711, and died in Edinburgh in 1776. Shortly before + his death he wrote a short but characteristic account of + himself, entitled _My Own Life_. Besides this there are + various biographical accounts of Hume, but I need only + mention that the late Dr. H. Burton produced one, entitled + _The Life and Correspondence of David Hume_, published + in 1848; and more recently Professor Huxley published an + account of Hume and his philosophy. + +It consists of three books, which treat consecutively “Of the +Understanding; Of the Passions; and Of Morals.” The first book is +divided into four parts. The first part of it, which consists of +seven sections, treats of ideas and impressions――their origin, +composition, connection, abstraction, and other relations. The second +part, extending to six sections, discusses at length the ideas of space +and time. The third, contains sixteen sections, which deal with the +subjects of knowledge and probability. The fourth, extending to seven +sections, discusses the sceptical and other systems of philosophy, +and completes his exposition of the Understanding. The second book is +divided into three parts:――The first part consists of twelve sections, +and under the general heading “Of pride and humility,” a pretty large +division of the passions is treated; the second part, also consisting +of twelve sections, treats of love and hatred; and the third part, +containing ten sections, discusses the problem of the will, and the +direct passions. The third book is, in like manner, divided into three +parts:――The first part contains two sections, which treat of virtue and +vice in general; the second part, extending to twelve sections, treats +of justice and injustice, and various points connected with society and +government; and the third part contains six sections, which treat of +various virtues and vices. + +Such is the plan of Hume’s great philosophical work. Although it is +characterised by a marked simplicity of arrangement, it presents some +of the most subtle thought and searching reasoning to be found in any +literature. Still it did not at once produce a great impression; for, +in his own words, “never literary attempt was more unfortunate than my +_Treatise of Human Nature_. It fell dead-born from the press without +reaching such distinction, as even to excite a murmur among the +Zealots.” This caused him to recast portions of it in a more popular +form, under the titles of “Essays: Moral and Political;” “Essays: Moral, +Political, and Literary;” “An Inquiry concerning Human Understanding;” +“An Inquiry concerning the Principles of Morals;” and “Political +Discourses.”¹ But the principles which he enunciated in the _Treatise +of Human Nature_ were not essentially changed in any of his subsequent +writings. In an advertisement to the authoritative edition of his +_Essays and Treatises_, published in 1777, the year after his death, he +says that henceforth he desired that his later writings alone should be +regarded as containing his philosophical sentiments and principles; and +it is only fair to concede that the original _Treatise of Human Nature_, +which he composed at an early period of his life, did not in all +points truly represent his later sentiments; yet it is mainly in the +improvement, the ease and polish of his style, and in the omission of +two parts of the original treatise, containing some of his most acute +speculations, that his later writings differ from his earliest――a +difference of form and finish rather than of thought and matter. +Moreover, it is in the original treatise that Hume can be historically +studied to the best advantage. + + ¹ Hume’s numerous short essays treat on a variety of subjects. + Some of the more notable are those on eloquence, the + standard of taste, and the highly polished ones on the + Epicurean, the Stoic, the Platonist, and the Sceptic. In + these and in others of his essays, he shows a fine critical + faculty. + + Regarding some of his other writings, it may be mentioned + here that his _Natural History of Religion_ was first + published in 1757; his two essays, the one on _Suicide_, and + the other _Of the Immortality of the Soul_; his _Dialogues + concerning Natural Religion_, and some other short pieces, + were published after his death. + + Several editions of his essays were published in his + lifetime; and new ones were frequently added, as well as + many alterations and corrections made on them. Since his + death various editions of his works have appeared. An + edition of his philosophical works, edited by Mr. T. H. + Green and Mr. T. H. Grose, with valuable introductions and + notes, was published in 1874‒5, in four large volumes. + +Although Hume’s mind was original and vigorous, and his thinking and +critical powers unusually great, yet he found the principles upon which +he most effectively operated mainly in Locke and in Berkeley. There is +little trace of the influence of Descartes in the _Treatise of Human +Nature_; but his style bears internal evidence of the influence of +French literature. No English philosophical writer of a prior date +approached Hume in the qualities and the grace of his style. + +On various points treated in the moral part of the treatise, the +influence of Hobbes and of Hutcheson are easily traced; and Hume held +the latter philosopher in very great esteem. Let us proceed to the +exposition of his system, beginning with his own account of the state +of his mind when he approached the subject:―― + +“At the time therefore that I am tired with amusement and company, +and have indulged a reverie in my chamber, or in a solitary walk +by a river side, I feel my mind all collected within itself, and am +naturally inclined to carry my view into all those subjects, about +which I have met with so many disputes in the course of my reading and +conversation. I cannot forbear having a curiosity to be acquainted with +the principles of moral good and evil, the nature and foundation of +government, and the cause of those several passions and inclinations +which actuate and govern me. I am uneasy to think I approve of one +object and disapprove of another; call one thing beautiful and another +deformed; decide concerning truth and falsehood, reason and folly, +without knowing upon what principles I proceed. I am concerned for +the condition of the learned world, which lies under such a deplorable +ignorance in all these particulars. I feel an ambition to arise in me +of contributing to the instruction of mankind, and of acquiring a name +by my inventions and discoveries. These sentiments spring up naturally +in my present disposition, and should I endeavour to banish them, by +attaching myself to any other business or diversion, I feel I should be +a loser in point of pleasure; and this is the origin of my philosophy.”¹ + + ¹ Book I., Part IV., section 7. + +He begins his exposition of the Understanding with a description +of impressions and ideas, and resolves the perceptions of the mind +into these two terms. The perceptions which enter the mind with most +force he calls impressions, and this term includes all our sensations, +passions, and emotions; by ideas he means the faint images of +impressions excited in thinking and in reasoning. Having distinguished +impressions and ideas into simple and complex classes, he then proceeds +to discuss their qualities and relations. Impressions and ideas differ +from each other only in the degrees of their vivacity――the one seems to +be the reflection of the others; in the case, however, of complex ideas, +he notices some exceptions to this doctrine; but seeing that all simple +perceptions and ideas are copies of impressions, and that the complex +ones are formed from them, therefore these two kinds of perceptions +exactly correspond. He next starts the main subject――the existence of +impressions and ideas――and proposes to inquire which of them are causes +and which effects. + +He concludes that simple impressions are prior to their corresponding +ideas, and that impressions are of two kinds――those of sensation +and those of reflection. The first kind arise originally in the mind +from unknown causes; the second are derived mostly from our ideas. +Thus:――“An impression first strikes upon the senses, and makes us +perceive heat or cold, thirst or hunger, pleasure or pain, of some +kind or other. Of this impression there is a copy taken by the mind, +which remains after the impression ceases, and this we call an idea.¹ +This idea of pleasure or pain, when it returns upon the soul, produces +the new impressions of desire and aversion, hope and fear, which may +properly be called impressions of reflection, because derived from +it. These are again copied by the memory and imagination, and become +ideas, which, perhaps, in their turn give rise to other impressions and +ideas.” At this stage he expresses his opinion that the examination of +the sensations belongs more to the anatomists and natural philosophers +than to mental science, and therefore he does not enter upon them.² + + ¹ This is nearly the same as Hobbes’ doctrine. + + ² Book I., sections 1, 2. + +Memory and imagination he treats together, but neither of them at much +length. The first, he says, retains a strong and vivid impression, the +second only a much fainter one. The chief distinction between memory +and imagination consists in the fact that the memory retains the +impressions in the order and form in which it receives them, while the +imagination is not at all restricted in this way, as its function is +to transpose and change its ideas.¹ This power of the imagination he +connects with his exposition of the association of ideas. + + ¹ Further on he says――“Nothing is more dangerous to reason + than the flights of imagination.... Men of bright fancies + may in this respect be compared to those angels whom the + Scriptures represent as covering their eyes with their + wings.”――Book IV., section 7. Again, in his later work, + _An Inquiry concerning Human Understanding_, he remarks + ――“Nothing is more free than the imagination of man; + and though it cannot exceed the original stock of ideas + furnished by the external and internal senses, it has + unlimited power of mixing, compounding, separating, and + dividing these ideas, in all the varieties of fiction and + vision.”――Section 5, Part II. + +Ideas are associated in three ways――namely, by semblance, contiguity, +and cause and effect. These relations are briefly explained as +principles of association, with the remark that, of the three, the +associative relations of causation are the most widely ramified. +Among the effects of the association of ideas, the most remarkable are +those complex ideas which are the common subjects of our thoughts and +reasonings, and generally arise from some principle of union among our +simple ideas. These complex ideas he divides into relations, modes, +and substances; and proceeds to examine these.¹ + + ¹ Book I., Part I., sections 3, 4. What he states above, + however, should be compared with his treatment of the + principles of association in his later work, _An Inquiry + concerning Human Understanding_, section 3. + +He classifies relations under seven general heads――(1) resemblance, +the most essential requisite of philosophical relation; (2) identity; +(3) space and time; (4) quantity or number; (5) objects having the +same quantity, but in different degrees; (6) contrariety; and (7) cause +and effect. He affirms that we have no idea of substance, except as +a mere collection of particular qualities, and closes the first part +of his treatise with a discussion of abstract ideas. He alludes to +Berkeley’s view, and argues that abstract or general ideas are formed +from individual and particular ones, and brings in the convenient term +Custom, of which he makes so much use in his speculations――“If ideas be +particular in their nature, and at the same time finite in their number, +it is only by custom they can become general in their representation, +and contain an infinite number of other ideas under them.”¹ + + ¹ Book I., Part I., sections 5, 6, 7. + +The second part of the Understanding contains a long and exceedingly +penetrating discussion of the ideas of space and time. He opens with a +few sentences of polished banter about the dispositions of philosophers +and their disciples. The first serious point taken up is the doctrine +of infinite divisibility, which is handled with consummate skill. +Founding upon the limited power of the human mind, he proceeds +vigorously to demolish it; and in the fourth section he puts it in +this form:――“Our system concerning space and time consists of two parts, +which are intimately connected together. The capacity of the mind is +not infinite, consequently no idea of extension or duration consists of +an infinite number of parts or inferior ideas, but of a finite number, +and these simple and indivisible: it is, therefore, possible for space +and time to exist conformable to this idea; and if it be possible, +it is certain they actually do exist conformable to it, since their +infinite divisibility is utterly impossible and contradictory. + +“The other part of our system is a consequence of this. The parts, into +which the ideas of space and time resolve themselves, become at last +indivisible; and these indivisible parts, being nothing in themselves, +are inconceivable when not filled with something real and existent. The +ideas of space and time are, therefore, no separate or distinct ideas, +but merely those of the manner or order in which objects exist; or, +in other words, it is impossible to conceive a vacuum and extension +without matter, or a time when there was no succession or change in any +real existence.”¹ + + ¹ Book I., Part II., sections 1, 2, 3, 4. + +The discussion is carried on through other three sections with great +animation and ingenuity, and culminates in the annunciation of absolute +Idealism, thus:――“Now since nothing is ever present to the mind +but perceptions, and since all ideas are derived from something +antecedently present to the mind, it follows that it is impossible +for us so much as to conceive or form an idea of anything specifically +different from ideas and impressions. Let us fix our attention out +of ourselves as much as possible; let us chase our imagination to +the heavens, or to the utmost limits of the universe――we never really +advance a step beyond ourselves, nor can we conceive any kind of +existence, but those perceptions which have appeared in that narrow +compass. This is the universe of the imagination, nor have we any idea +but what is there produced.”¹ + + ¹ Book I., Part II., sections 4, 5, 6. + +The third part of the Understanding, which treats of knowledge and +probability, is the longest in the book; many topics of great interest +are handled in it; but I shall chiefly direct attention to his views on +causation. + +Knowledge and science mainly turn and rest on the various kinds of +philosophical relation. He re-states the relations which have been +already noticed in a preceding page, and expiscates them at length in +his own manner. In treating causation, he begins by proposing to search +for the origin of the idea; and finds it to be some relation among +objects. He then seeks to discover what the relation itself is; but all +that he discovers is that the two relations of contiguity and priority +in time are essential to causation. But seeing that any object may +be contiguous and prior to another without being considered as its +cause, there is a necessary connection to be taken into account, and +it is upon this, the most essential relation of causation, that he +made his grand attack. It would be tedious to follow him through his +long discussion, and in fact it is unnecessary; therefore, I will only +indicate the lines of his method of investigating the subject, and its +results. + +He inquires why a cause is always necessary, and affirms that the real +state of the question is “whether every object which begins to exist, +must owe its existence to a cause; and this he continues, I assert +neither to be intuitively nor demonstratively certain.” After a very +long exposition of the manner in which we reason beyond our immediate +impressions, and conclude that particular causes must have particular +effects, he takes up the discussion of the idea of necessary connection, +and asks――“What is our idea of necessity, when we say that two objects +are necessarily connected together? Upon this head I repeat what I +have often had occasion to observe, that as we have no idea that is +not derived from an impression, we must find some impression that gives +rise to this idea of necessity, if we assert we have really such an +idea.... Finding that it is always ascribed to causes and effects, +I turn my eye to two objects supposed to be placed in that relation, +and examine them in all the situations of which they are susceptible. +I immediately perceive that they are contiguous in time and place, +and that the object we call cause precedes the other we call effect. +In no one instance can I go any further, nor is it possible for me to +discover any third relation between these objects. I therefore enlarge +my view to comprehend several instances.... Upon further inquiry I find +that the repetition is not in every particular the same, but produces a +new impression, and by that means the idea, which I at present examine. +For, after a frequent repetition, I find that upon the appearance +of one of the objects, the mind is determined by custom to consider +its usual attendant, and to consider it in a stronger light upon +its relation to the first object. It is this impression, then, or +determination which affords me the idea of necessity.” + +After more discussion of a negative cast, he reaches the following +result:――“The necessary connection between causes and effects is the +foundation of our inference from one to the other. The foundation of +our inference is the transition arising from the accustomed union. +These are therefore the same. + +“The idea of necessity arises from some impression. There is no +impression conveyed by our senses which can give rise to that idea. It +must, therefore, be derived from some internal impression or impression +of reflection. There is no internal impression, which has any relation +to the present business, but that propensity which custom produces, +to pass from an object to its usual attendant. This, therefore, is +the essence of necessity. Upon the whole, necessity is something that +exists in the mind, not in objects; nor is it possible for us ever to +form the most distant idea of it, considered as a quality of bodies. +Either we have no idea of necessity, or necessity is nothing but that +determination of the thought to pass from causes to effects, and from +effects to causes, according to their experienced union.” + +He further draws the following conclusions:――1. All causes are of the +same kind, and there is no ground for the distinction, sometimes made, +between efficient, formal, material, and final causes; for every cause +is efficient, or, if it is not, there is no cause at all. 2. There is +but one kind of necessity, as there is but one kind of cause; and the +distinction between moral and physical necessity has no foundation in +nature. 3. The necessity of a cause to every beginning of existence +is not founded on intuitive or demonstrative evidence. 4. We can never +have reason to believe that any object exists, if we cannot form an +idea of it.¹ + + ¹ Book I., Part III., sections 1‒6, _et seq._ On this subject + of Causation, Hume never changed his views, for in his later + work, the _Inquiry concerning Human Understanding_, we find + the following:――“When it is asked what is the nature of all + our reasonings concerning matter of fact, the proper answer + seems to be that they are founded on the relation of cause + and effect. When again it is asked what is the foundation of + all our reasonings and conclusions concerning that relation, + it may be replied in one word――Experience. But if we still + carry on our sifting humour, and ask what is the foundation + of all conclusions from experience, this implies a new + question, which may be of more difficult solution and + explication.... I shall content myself in this section with + an easy task, and shall pretend only to give a negative + answer to the question here proposed. I say then that, + even after we have experience of the operations of cause + and effect, our conclusions from that experience are not + founded on reasoning, or any process of the Understanding.” + ――Section 4. + + He repeats the statement that there is no connecting + principle between cause and effect, which we can discover, + and argues the point thus:――“These two propositions are far + from being the same. I have found that such an object has + always been attended with such an effect, and I foresee, + that other objects, which are, in appearance, similar, will + be attended with similar effects. I shall allow, if you + please, that the one proposition may be justly inferred + from the other: I know, in fact, that it always is inferred. + But if you insist that the inference is made by a chain + of reasoning, I desire you to produce that reasoning. The + connection between these propositions is not intuitive. + There is required a medium, which may enable the mind to + draw such an inference, if indeed it be drawn by reasoning + and argument. What that medium is, I must confess, passes my + comprehension; and it is incumbent on those to produce it, + who assert, that it really exists, and is the origin of all + our conclusions concerning matter of fact.”――Section 4. + + Again, “it appears, then, that this idea of a necessary + connection among events arises from a number of similar + instances, which occur, of the constant conjunction of + these events; nor can that idea ever be suggested by any + one of these instances, surveyed in all possible lights and + positions. But there is nothing in a number of instances, + different from every single instance, which is supposed to + be exactly similar; except only that after a repetition of + similar instances, the mind is carried by habit, upon the + appearance of one event, to expect its usual attendant, and + to believe, that it will exist. This connection, therefore, + which we feel in the mind――this customary transition of + the imagination from one object to its usual attendant――is + the sentiment or impression, from which we form the idea + of power or necessary connection. Nothing further is in the + case. Contemplate the subject on all sides; you will never + find any other origin of that idea.... And what stronger + instance can be produced of the surprising ignorance and + weakness of the Understanding, than the present? For surely, + if there be any relation among objects, which it imports us + to know perfectly, it is that of cause and effect.”――Section + 7. Hume’s doctrine of causation, it will thus be seen, is + the same in his latest works as in his earliest. I shall + only adduce one other example of its application:―― + + “We are ignorant, it is true, of the manner in which bodies + operate on each other: their force or energy is entirely + incomprehensible; but are we not equally ignorant of the + manner or force by which a Mind, even the Supreme Mind, + operates either on itself or on body? Whence, I beseech + you, do we acquire any idea of it? We have no sentiment or + consciousness of this power in ourselves. We have no idea + of the Supreme Being but what we learn from reflection or + our own faculties. Were our ignorance, therefore, a good + reason for rejecting anything, we should be led into that + principle of denying all energy in the Supreme Being as + much as the grossest matter. We surely comprehend as little + the operations of one as of the other. It is more difficult + to conceive, that motion may arise from impulse, than that + it may arise from volition? All we know is our profound + ignorance in both cases.”――Section 7. + +In the fourth part of the book on the Understanding, Hume discusses +Scepticism with regard to reason and the senses, touches briefly +on ancient and modern philosophy, and treats at length of the +immateriality of the soul and of personal identity. His treatment +of the first of these subjects is of little real value, but his +discussion on the senses is of more importance; while his handling of +the immateriality of the soul and personal identity chiefly consists +of a repetition and application of the negative principles, which he +had before reached in the earlier parts of the book, and are therefore +of less consequence. From the way in which he refers to the views of +Spinoza, it is evident that he had never thoroughly studied the works +of that great thinker. In the history of thought, indeed, Hume was not +strong. + +Touching reason, he says:――“When I reflect on the natural fallibility +of my judgment, I have less confidence in my opinions than when I only +consider the objects concerning which I reason; and when I proceed +still further, to turn the scrutiny against every successive estimation +I make of my faculties, all the rules of logic require a continual +diminution, and at last a total extinction of belief and evidence. + +“Should it here be asked me, whether I sincerely assent to this +argument, which I seem to take such pains to inculcate, and whether +I be really one of those sceptics who hold that all is uncertain, +and that our judgment is not in anything possessed of any measure of +truth and falsehood; I should reply, that this question is entirely +superfluous, and that neither I, nor any other person was ever +sincerely or constantly of that opinion. Nature, by an absolute and +uncontrollable necessity, has determined us to judge as well as to +breathe and feel; nor can we any more forbear viewing certain objects +in a stronger and fuller light, upon account of their customary +connection with a present impression, than we can hinder ourselves from +thinking as long as we are awake, of seeing the surrounding bodies when +we turn our eyes towards them in broad sunshine.”¹ + + ¹ Book I., Part IV., section 1. + +Now, touching the senses from a sceptical standpoint, Hume had already +said, “that belief is nothing but a lively idea related to a present +impression;” and, taking it for granted that body exists, he proposes +to inquire into the causes which induce us to believe in its existence. +He argues at length that by the senses we cannot know anything of +continued or distinct existence. He then inquires how we attain the +belief in the continued existence of the objects of the senses, and +attributes it to the constancy and coherence of our impressions of +them. He points out that when the mind starts in a particular train, it +has a tendency to continue, even when objects fail it; and through this +tendency we transform interrupted existence into continued existence. +And, on his own theory of the mind, he accounts for our believing in +this imagined continuity. + +In the section on personal identity, he denies in the abstract the +existence of self, and could find nothing to give us the impression of +an unchangeable self. He observes “that the true idea of the human mind +is, to consider it as a system of different perceptions or different +existences, which are linked together by the relation of cause and +effect, and mutually produce, destroy, influence, and modify each other. +Our impressions give rise to their correspondent ideas, and these in +their turn produce other impressions. One thought chases another and +draws after it a third, by which it is expelled in its turn.... As +memory alone acquaints us with the continuance and extent of this +succession of perceptions, it is to be considered, upon that account +chiefly, as the source of personal identity. Had we no memory, we +should never have any notion of causation, nor consequently of that +chain of causes and effects which constitutes our self or person.”¹ + + ¹ Book I., Part IV., sections 2, 6. + +Before passing from Hume’s exposition of the Understanding, which is +the most important part of his philosophy, let us recapitulate the +leading points. It has to be observed that he develops a system of the +human mind. 1. There are impressions, perceptions, and ideas, of which +we are conscious; and, although we may imagine that we know external +things as objects of perception, still, in reality we know nothing but +our own impressions and perceptions. 2. Therefore, we know nothing of +an actual external world save as a phenomenon, which may be, for ought +we can ever know, a creation of our own minds――the world of imagination. +3. Since our notion of Causation is nothing but a generated habit +of looking at our impressions, perceptions, and ideas as constantly +conjoined in the relations of contiguity and succession――a mere result +which custom has engrafted on human belief――beyond this we can have no +idea of any power, force, energy, or necessary connection in causation. +4. Thus, as already indicated, Hume’s system of the mind is a form of +absolute Idealism; in short, he embraced the idealistic principles of +Berkeley, excepting that portion of them relating to a separate soul or +spirit, which in the bishop’s own system played so important a part. +Even granting the truth of Hume’s starting-point, and his fundamental +principles, still a large part of his treatment of the Understanding +may be fairly described as reasoning in a circle; for he proposes to +examine, to clear up, and to solve difficulties, but he often returns +to his original point of departure without disclosing anything at all, +save the inevitable impressions and ideas in the universe of the +imagination. + +Passing to the Second Book of the Treatise, which is devoted to +the treatment of the passions, under this general term he includes +impressions of reflection, emotions, desires, and appetites; and +divides them into two main classes,――the direct and indirect passions, +which are all founded on pleasure and pain. He enumerates the direct +as desire, aversion, grief, joy, hope, fear, despair, and security, +together with the will; the indirect class embraces pride, humility, +ambition, vanity, love, hatred, envy, pity, malice, generosity, and +others associated with these. He also distinguishes the reflective +emotions, as the calm and the violent:――“Of the first kind is the sense +of beauty and deformity in action, composition, and external objects. +Of the second are the passions of love and hatred, etc. This division +is far from exact. The raptures of poetry and music frequently rise +to the greatest height; while those other impressions, properly called +passions, may decay into so soft an emotion as to become, in a manner, +imperceptible.”¹ He gives a description and a kind of natural history +of the several groups of passions, in which much insight and acute +thinking are displayed. + + ¹ Book II., Part I., section 1. + +His usual method of explanation is to fix upon one or two generic +passions, and then, by a vigorous process of argument and reasoning, +mainly of a deductive form, to show their nature, their relation to +other passions, and their modes of manifestation and influence. I can +only afford space for a short specimen of his manner of exposition in +this department, taken from the section on property and riches:――“For +the same reason that riches cause pleasure and pride, and poverty +excites uneasiness and humility, power must produce the former emotions, +and slavery the latter. Power, or an authority over others, makes us +capable of satisfying all our desires; as slavery, by subjecting us to +the will of others, exposes us to a thousand wants and mortifications. + +“It is here worth observing that the vanity of power, or shame of +slavery, are much augmented by the consideration of the persons +over whom we exercise our authority, or who exercise it over us. For +supposing it possible to frame statutes of such an admirable mechanism +that they could move and act in obedience to the will, it is evident +the possession of them would give pleasure and pride, but not to +such a degree as the same authority, when exercised over sensible and +rational creatures, whose condition, being compared to our own, makes +it seem more agreeable and honourable. Comparison is in every case a +sure method of augmenting our esteem of anything. A rich man feels the +felicity of his condition better by opposing it to that of the beggar. +But there is a peculiar advantage in power, by the contrast which +is, in a manner, presented to us between ourselves and the person we +command. The comparison is obvious and natural. The imagination finds +in it the very subject. The passage of the thought to its conception is +smooth and easy. And that this circumstance has a considerable effect +in augmenting its influence, will appear afterwards in examining the +nature of malice and envy.”¹ + + ¹ Book II., Part I., section 10. + +He treats on the will at length, and maintains that it is controlled by +the strongest motive; and he emphatically asserts that reason alone can +never afford a motive to any action of the will, nor oppose passion in +the direction of the will. “Reason is, and ought only to be the slave +of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to +serve and obey them.” Reason operates without producing any sensible +emotion, and, except in the more sublime disquisitions of philosophy, +scarcely ever gives any pleasure or uneasiness. + +But it is evident that there are certain calm desires and tendencies, +which, though they are real passions, produce little emotion in the +mind, and are more known by their effects than by the immediate feeling. +These desires are either (1) certain instincts originally implanted in +our nature, such as benevolence and resentment, the love of life, and +kindness to children; or (2) the general appetite to good and aversion +to evil.¹ Besides these calm passions there are other violent emotions +which have a great influence on the will, such as impending evils which +raise our fears and aversions, and produce a sensible emotion. The +common error of philosophers has been to ascribe the direction of the +will to one of these principles, and in supposing the other to have no +influence. Men often act knowingly contrary to their interest; for this +reason the view of the greatest possible good does not always influence +them. Men often counteract a strong passion in the pursuit of their +interests and designs. “It is not therefore the present uneasiness +alone which determines them. In general we may observe, that both these +principles operate on the will; and, where they are contrary, that +either of them prevails, according to the general character or present +disposition of the person. What we call strength of mind, implies the +prevalence of the calm passions above the violent; though we may easily +observe there is no man so constantly possessed of this virtue as never +on any occasion to yield to the solicitations of passion and desire.”² + + ¹ Touching this distinction of the calm passions and desires, + and the function assigned to them, Hume so far seems to + follow Hutcheson. + + ² Book II., Part III., section 3. Locke had stated that the + strongest immediate desire, or, as he sometimes phrased it, + “the present uneasiness,” determines the will to action; + in effect his theory was that the will is always determined + by the strongest motive, but the theory is better stated by + Hume. + + Hume, however, did not thoroughly develop the relation + between belief and will. He merely says, what I have already + indicated in a preceding page, “that belief is nothing but + a lively idea related to a present impression. This vivacity + is a requisite circumstance to the exciting of all our + passions, the calm as well as the violent.” But he gives + no satisfactory exposition of belief in its relation to + the will, although he touches on it in his later work――_An + Inquiry concerning Human Understanding_, section 5. + +In the Third Book, Hume explains his moral views as originally advanced +in the _Treatise of Human Nature_; and in an advertisement to it he +expresses a hope that it may be understood by ordinary readers, with +as little attention as is usually accorded to books of reasoning. As we +have already seen, he maintains that reason alone can never be a motive +of action, or impulse of the will; accordingly, he insists that moral +distinctions are not derived from reason, but from a moral sense. What +constitutes this moral sense, however, he failed to render explicit: +and there is a lack of precision on the moral faculty, in the original +development of his system. He recognises sympathy as the chief source +of moral distinctions, which, along with utility, seems to form +the foundation of his ethical views. The following is the clearest +expression of his moral doctrines which I have found in the _Treatise +of Human Nature_:―― + +“Most people will readily allow that the useful qualities of the +mind are virtuous, because of their utility. This way of thinking is +so natural, and occurs on so many occasions, that few will make any +scruple of admitting it. Now, this being once admitted, the force of +sympathy must necessarily be acknowledged. Virtue is considered as +means to an end. Means to an end are only valued so far as the end is +valued. But the happiness of strangers affects us by sympathy alone. To +that principle, therefore, we must ascribe the sentiment of approbation, +which arises from the survey of all those virtues that are useful +to society or to the person possessed of them. These form the most +considerable part of morality.”¹ + + ¹ Book III., Part III., section 6. It may be observed that the + influence of the current moral theories are visible in the + views of Hume. + +In his attempts to account for the origin of society, and of property, +he adopts the deductive method. He usually states certain propositions, +and then proceeds to adduce arguments in support of the conclusions +which he intends to establish; still his treatment of these subjects is +always interesting and often ingenious, although quite unhistorical and +imaginary. His conception of the problem of the origin of government +resembles that advanced by Hobbes, only it is not so violent; as Hume +had more polish than the sage of Malmesbury. + +Having now completed my account of Hume’s system as it was originally +conceived and advanced; but seeing that he himself averred that his +matured ethical views were embodied in his later work, _An Inquiry +concerning the Principles of Morals_, I shall briefly summarise his +moral principles from this famed production. + +It consists of nine sections, which treat the following topics:――“The +general principles of Morals; Benevolence; Justice; Political Society; +Why Utility pleases; Qualities useful to ourselves; Qualities +immediately agreeable to ourselves; Qualities immediately agreeable to +others; Conclusion.” In an appendix, the points of “moral sentiment, +self-love, justice, and verbal disputes” are treated. If we were +only to look at the conception, the execution, and the limits of this +treatise, it might be pronounced an admirable production. The main +difference between it and the corresponding part in the _Treatise of +Human Nature_, lies in the greater importance ascribed to utility in +the later work. + +1. As in it utility or a reference to the happiness of mankind is the +standard of right and wrong, and also the ground and motive of moral +approbation. 2. While the moral faculty itself assumes the form of +a compound of reason and generous sentiment. 3. He insists warmly on +the existence and importance of the sentiment of benevolence, but +hardly recognises it as leading to any uncompensated self-sacrifice. +4. Touching the varied and great constituents of human happiness, he +is meagre and defective. 5. He accepts the prevailing moral code of +the society of his day. 6. According to his view, the inducements to +virtue are, on the one side, our humane sentiments, and on the other, +our self-love; the two classes of motives concurring to promote both +our own good and the good of mankind. 7. The connection of ethics with +politics is not developed; he does not distinguish the legal sanction +of morality from the popular sanction; he draws no line between duty +and merit. 8. He recognises no connection between ethics and religion. +Such then are the leading principles of this remarkable treatise, which +for long served as a text-book to utilitarian moralists. + +Touching Hume’s other writings, I must be brief. His essay on +_Miracles_ is exceedingly well worked out. His argumentation is +entirely founded on the principle that experience is our only guide +in estimating and appreciating the force and the value of evidence; +but he also strengthens this position by a free use of every available +weapon, that is, every passion, sentiment, feeling, and weakness of the +human mind, were called into requisition as elements of the problem, +and all employed with great sagacity and ingenuity. A short quotation +will confirm this, and indicate his method. + +“With what greediness are the miraculous accounts of travellers +received――their descriptions of sea and land monsters, their relations +of wonderful adventures, strange men, and uncouth manners? But if the +spirit of religion join itself to the love of wonder, there is an end +of common sense, and human testimony, in these circumstances, loses +all pretension to authority. A religionist may be an enthusiast, and +imagine he sees what has no reality. He may know his narrative to be +false, and yet persevere in it, with the best intentions in the world, +for the sake of promoting so holy a cause. Or even where this delusion +has not place, vanity, excited by so strong a temptation, operates on +him more powerfully than on the rest of mankind in any circumstances, +and self-interest with equal force. His auditors may not have, and +commonly have not, sufficient judgment to canvass his evidence. What +judgment they have, they renounce by principle, in these sublime +and mysterious subjects. Or if they were ever so willing to employ +it, passion and a heated imagination disturb the regularity of its +operations. Their credulity increases his impudence, and his impudence +overpowers their credulity.” + +He observes that records of miracles are found to abound most among +ignorant and barbarous communities, and that when they are found among +civilised nations, they are merely transmitted from the former. He also +notices that the earliest annals of all nations are full of prodigies, +omens, oracles, and judgments, which almost hide the few natural facts +that are mixed with them; but, as we advance nearer to the enlightened +ages, these mysterious and irregular phenomena become less and less +prominent, though never entirely extirpated from human nature. + +His ultimate conclusion was this:――“That no human testimony can have +such force as to prove a miracle and make it a just foundation for any +system of religion. I beg the limitations here made may be remarked, +when I say, that a miracle can never be proved, so as to be the +foundation of a system of religion. For I own that otherwise there may +possibly be miracles, or violations of the ordinary course of nature, +of such a kind as to admit of proof from human testimony; though, +perhaps, it will be impossible to find any such in all the records of +history.”¹ + + ¹ _Inquiry concerning Human Understanding_, section 10. Hume’s + own opinion of his main argument was this:――“I flatter + myself, that I have discovered an argument which, if just, + will, with the wise and learned, be an everlasting check + to all kinds of superstitious delusion, and consequently + will be useful as long as the world endures. For so long, + I suppose, will the accounts of miracles and prodigies be + found in all history, sacred and profane.” + +The chief value of this essay was that it presented a very able +examination of the various circumstances, influences, and conditions +which are apt to colour, exaggerate, and otherwise affect the evidence +of certain classes of facts and events. It is a kind of inquiry for +which Hume possessed unmatched qualifications. + +As already mentioned, his _Natural History of Religion_ appeared +in 1757: it consists of a short introduction, and fifteen sections. +Following his usual method, he began with a general statement to the +effect that polytheism was the primary religion of mankind, and then +proceeds by arguments and reasoning to prove this general proposition. +Thus the work is argumentative rather than historical, although he uses +historical examples to confirm his propositions and arguments. It may +be observed that the origins and the causes of early religions have now +been far more satisfactorily explained than was possible in Hume’s day. + +His _Dialogues concerning Natural Religion_, published after his death, +are highly polished in style, and handle in a speculative form various +interesting topics. But they are somewhat monotonous, and in fact +contain little which had not before appeared in his other publications. + +Concerning the value of Hume’s philosophy as a whole, it must be +characterised as incomplete, which is partly a consequence of its +sceptical foundation. He raises many questions and difficulties which +he does not solve; while he often comes to unsatisfactory conclusions, +by taking up the principles of Locke and Berkeley, and driving them to +their logical issues.¹ + + ¹ Hamilton’s _Reid_, Volume I., footnotes, pages 129, 444, 457, + 489; _Discussions_, page 85, _et seq._; _Lectures_, Volume + I., pages 294, 373. Hamilton says:――“The sceptic ... cannot + himself lay down his premises, he can only accept them from + the dogmatist; if false the sooner they are exposed in their + real character the better. Accepting his principles from the + dominant philosophies of Locke and Leibnitz, and deducing + with irresistible evidence these principles to their + legitimate results, Hume showed by the extreme absurdity + of these results themselves, either that philosophy was a + delusion, or that the individual systems which afforded the + premises were erroneous or incomplete. He thus constrained + philosophers to the alternative, either of surrendering + philosophy as null, or of ascending to higher principles, + in order to re-establish it against the sceptical reduction. + The dilemma of Hume constitutes perhaps the most wonderful + crisis in the history of philosophy; for out of it the whole + subsequent philosophy of Europe has taken its rise.” + ――_Lectures_, Volume I., pages 394‒395. + + Mr. J. S. Mill thought that Hamilton was wrong in his + opinion of the scope and end of Hume’s philosophy, and + expresses his own conviction “that Hume sincerely accepted + both the premises and the conclusions of his own system.” + ――Mill’s _Examination of Hamilton_, page 554. + +Owing to a concurrence of various circumstances, Hume’s speculations +have had a direct and wide influence on subsequent philosophy, +psychology, ethics, theology, and criticism. In psychology he has +had eminent followers in Britain and in other countries; while the +sceptical side of his system has had much influence in many directions. +But his doctrine of causation appeared to some thinkers as the most +pressing problem which he had raised; and it was chiefly this doctrine +which suggested to Kant the necessity of a new and thorough examination +and criticism of the faculties of the human mind. While Kant’s own +chief works, thus suggested, have in turn been the main source whence +modern speculation has since radiated. Under varied modifications, +Hume’s influence on Scottish philosophy was direct and important in +its results. + +Another notable consequence of the critically sceptical side of Hume’s +writings, sprang from his suggestions concerning the methods of testing +evidence, which touched both scientific and historical researches. He +showed that the current modes of estimating historical evidence were +extremely defective, and also boldly exposed the weakness of some of +the grounds of belief. To this we owe Campbell’s _Essay on Miracles_, +not to mention, at the same time other works of less note. In short, +Hume’s influence was widely felt in culture, science, and historic +criticism. + +According to the best contemporary testimony, personally, Hume was +a most exemplary man. Adam Smith’s character of him is well known; +but I will quote the verdict of another of his contemporaries, a man +who was a good judge of character, and knew Hume well. “At this time +(1753), David Hume was living in Edinburgh and composing his _History +of Great Britain_. He was a man of great knowledge, and of a social +and benevolent temper, and truly the best-natured man in the world. He +was branded with the title of Atheist, on account of the many attacks +on revealed religion that are to be found in his philosophical works, +and in many places of his history――the last which are still more +objectionable than the first, which a friendly critic might call only +sceptical. _Apropos_ of this, when Mr. Robert Adam, the celebrated +architect, and his brother lived in Edinburgh with their mother, an +aunt of Dr. Robertson’s, and a very respectable woman, she said to her +son, ‘I shall be glad to see any of your companions to dinner, but I +hope you will never bring the Atheist here to disturb my peace.’ But +Robert soon fell on a method to reconcile her to him, for he introduced +him under another name, or concealed it carefully from her. When the +company parted she said to her son, ‘I must confess that you bring very +agreeable companions about you, but the large jolly man who sat next me +is the most agreeable of them all.’ ‘This was the very Atheist,’ said +he, ‘mother, that you were so much afraid of.’ ‘Well,’ says she, ‘you +may bring him here as much as you please, for he’s the most innocent, +agreeable, facetious man I ever met with.’ This was truly the case +with him; for though he had much learning and a fine taste, and was +professedly a sceptic, though by no means an Atheist, he had the +greatest simplicity of mind and manners, with the utmost facility and +benevolence of temper, of any man I ever knew. His conversation was +truly irresistible, for while it was enlightened it was very naïve.”¹ + + ¹ _Autobiography of the Rev. Dr. Alexander Carlyle_, pages + 272‒273, 1860. This production contains a good deal of small + gossiping, and some important and useful information. + + + SECTION II. + + _Adam Smith._ + +Adam Smith was one of Hume’s most beloved and intimate friends. Smith +ultimately limited his researches to special departments of moral +and economical science. In these he was the more exhaustive thinker +of the two, even if his efforts were less striking than those of his +illustrious contemporary. + +He was born at Kirkcaldy in 1723, and he lived till 1790. He was +educated at the University of Glasgow, and attended the lectures of +Hutcheson, then professor of moral philosophy. From Glasgow he went +to Oxford, where he seems to have greatly widened the range of his +culture, and thus laid the foundation of the vast stores of information, +which he ultimately turned to so good account. He returned to Scotland +in 1746, with the hope of obtaining a professorship in one of the +Universities. In 1748, under the patronage of Lord Kames, Smith +delivered a course of lectures on rhetoric in Edinburgh. He was +appointed professor of logic in the University of Glasgow, in 1751; +but in the following year he was transferred to the chair of moral +philosophy, a position more in accord with his taste and aspiration. + +In this chair his teaching covered a wide field. He divided his course +of lectures into four parts:――(1) natural theology; (2) ethics; (3) +justice, or that part of morality which can be stated under precise +rules; (4) political science, in which he delivered some of the +thoughts, afterwards embodied in his _Wealth of Nations_. In 1763, he +was persuaded to resign his chair, and undertake the education of the +young Duke of Buccleuch. + +He travelled with his pupil abroad for about three years, chiefly in +France, where he became personally acquainted with some of the leading +men of letters and philosophers of that nation. On his return to +Scotland, he retired to Kirkcaldy; and there, in the society of his +mother, intently applied himself for ten years to inquiry and study, +the results of which appeared in 1776, in his famous work, _The Wealth +of Nations_. During the last twenty years of his life he held the post +of Commissioner of Customs in Scotland. A few days before his death, +he caused all his unpublished manuscripts to be burned, except a few +comparatively short essays.¹ + + ¹ These were published in a volume after his death, and + consist of six, on the following subjects:――“A History of + Astronomy;” “A History of Ancient Physics;” “A History of + Ancient Logic and Metaphysics;” “An Essay on the Imitative + Arts;” “On certain English and Italian Verses;” “On the + External Senses.” His earliest efforts were a review of + Dr. Johnson’s Dictionary and _Observations on the State of + Learning in Europe_, which appeared in 1755, in a periodical + called the _Edinburgh Review_. + +Personally, Adam Smith was a grave-looking man, of a stout middle +height, with prominent features and grey eyes. He was simple, +warm-hearted, and kindly in disposition. His intellectual operations +were calm, regular, and patient. He mastered a subject slowly but +thoroughly, and carried his principles with a steady tenacity and +invincible persistence through immense masses of facts and details +on to wonderfully successful results. He was gifted with a remarkably +strong memory, and had acquired a wide knowledge of English, French, +and Italian literature; indeed the learning which he brought to bear +on the subject of his chief work was amazingly various and great. But +I will first direct attention to his charming work on Morals. + +His _Theory of Moral Sentiments_ was first published in 1757; and soon +became popular, as one of the most interesting and attractive books in +the circle of ethical literature. Its distinctive feature is that the +operation of human sympathy is the prime factor of moral sentiments: +that mankind are so constituted as to sympathise with each other’s +feelings, and to feel pleasure in the consonance of these feelings, +are the simple facts on which Smith’s moral theory is founded. + +His treatise is divided into seven parts, in the following order:――(1) +of the propriety of action; (2) of merit and demerit, or the objects +of reward and punishment; (3) of the foundation of our judgments +concerning our own sentiments and conduct; (4) of the effect of utility +upon the sentiment of approbation; (5) of the influence of custom and +fashion upon the sentiments of moral approbation and disapprobation; +(6) of the character of virtue; (7) of systems of moral philosophy. +Such is the arrangement of the main heads of his theory, as given in +the sixth edition; I will show its general scope, without entering into +details. + +The influence of Hutcheson and of Hume can be traced in several +parts of Smith’s work, although his conception and application of +the fundamental idea of his system differs from theirs. He is really +original in his applications and illustrations. Analytically, his +treatise is not remarkable; its merits rather lie in the practical and +hortatory discourse, in the eloquent criticisms of character, and the +fine illustrations of virtuous conduct with which it abounds, and are +presented in a naturally copious, easy, flowing, and fascinating style. +The chief blemish of his style is an excess of language――a running into +redundance. + +In Smith’s time the chief questions agitated, touched the foundation of +morality――the standard of right and wrong, and the nature of the moral +faculty. + +He begins by stating that sympathy is the origin and source of moral +approbation. “How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are +evidently some principles in his nature which interest him in the +fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though +he desires nothing from it, except the pleasure of seeing it.” Thus, +sympathy being one of the original passions of human nature, we may see +it in the immediate passing of an emotion from one person to another, +even when one does not know the cause of another’s grief or joy. +Sympathy originates in the imagination, which alone enables us to enter +into the sentiments and feelings of others; as we can easily imagine +ourselves in the position of another, by simply changing places with +him in fancy, by reflecting on what our own sentiments would be in a +similar difficulty. Thus we can feel in some degree what the suffering +or joy of another really is; so the feeling of a spectator corresponds +to what, by bringing the case of another home to himself, he imagines +should be that other’s sentiments; since sympathy is based on an +original tendency to reflect the emotional states of those around us. +We therefore form our moral ideas from observation and reflection on +the sentiments and emotions of our neighbours.¹ + + ¹ The following remarks on the operations of sympathy are + from Mr. Sully’s able, careful, and valuable work, _Outlines + of Psychology_, published in 1884:――“Sympathy in its + simplest form shows itself in an unconscious reproduction + or imitation of another’s feeling. The mind of the person + affected does not consciously represent or dwell on the + feeling which affects him, but simply vibrates in unison + with it. + + “This tendency manifests itself very early. There is + possibly some instinctive knowledge of the signs of + feeling, and connected with this, a native disposition to + answer smile with smile.... But some amount of individual + experience is needed for fixing the connection between the + several feelings and their external expression. When this is + acquired the child tends automatically to take on the moods + of hilarity, anxiety, depression, of those about him. This + appears to be due to the working of an imitative impulse + which leads to the more or less complete adoption of + the external attitude, gesture, tone,” etc. In a note he + says――“That the child has a vague intuitive knowledge of + other’s feelings seems to be shown by the fact that he + responds to the smile of his mother long before his own + experience could have taught him to associate pleasurable + feeling with this particular facial movement.”――Pages + 508‒511. + + I have for a long period specially observed the early + development of conscious feeling, and intelligence in + infants; and my observation as to the primitive nature + of sympathy agrees with Mr. Sully’s view. + + But concerning the record of the signs of intelligence + which Mr. Darwin has given of several of his own infants, my + observation of infants does not tally with his. Taking the + ages by months, I have found more signs of intelligence in + infants than he did. For instance, I have found unmistakable + signs of memory in relation to external and inanimate + objects, in infants of three and four months old. Again, + with regard to vision, I have observed an infant of four + months old, fixing its eyes, and looking steadily at the + flag on the top of the mast of a ship, at a considerable + distance off. + +Accord of feeling produces pleasure, and consciousness of its absence +pain. As the sympathy of others is more necessary for us in grief than +in joy, we are more desirous to communicate to others our disagreeable +feelings than our agreeable ones. “The agreeable passions of love and +joy can satisfy and support the heart without any auxiliary pleasure. +The bitter and painful emotions of grief and resentment more strongly +require the healing consolation of sympathy.” But we are pleased +ourselves if we can sympathise with another’s success or misfortune, +and pained if we cannot. + +The amount of pleasure or pain felt by one person in the conduct or +feelings of another is the measure of his approbation or the contrary. +Thus the sentiments of anyone are just and proper, or the reverse, +according as they coincide or not with the sentiments of someone else, +who observe them; while his approbation varies according to the degree +in which he can sympathise with them. A full accord of sentiments means +perfect approbation. Just as a man’s sympathetic indignation fails +to correspond to mine, according as his compassion falls short of my +grief, does he feel a stronger or weaker disapproval of my feelings. +Moral and intellectual approbation admits of a similar explanation: +for to approve or disapprove of the opinions of others is only to +observe their agreement or disagreement with our own; so to approve +or disapprove of their feelings and emotions is merely to mark a +similar agreement or disagreement between our own and theirs. Thus +it appears that the sentiments of each individual are the standard +of the correctness of another’s, for we can hardly judge of matters +of sentiment by any other canon than the correspondent affections +in ourselves; and the only measure by which any man can judge of +the faculty of another is by his own faculty of a similar kind. On +our efforts to sympathise with the feeling and passion of others are +founded the gentle virtues of condescension, toleration, and humanity; +while the sterner virtues of self-denial and self-command are founded +on our effort to attune our passions and feelings to such a pitch as +others can approve. The harmonious operation of these two sides of +virtue, feeling much for others, and little for ourselves, restraining +our selfish, and cultivating our benevolent affections, constitutes the +highest perfection of human nature.¹ + + ¹ Smith’s work must be read itself to attain a full conception + of the richness of its illustrations and its attractive + character. + +He does not directly face the problem of the supreme end of life, nor +propose the question whether virtue and morality are only means to the +attainment of happiness; but it is pretty evident that he admits the +utilitarian view of happiness. He makes no great effort to analyse +human happiness, but says that it consists in tranquility and enjoyment; +for without tranquility there can be no enjoyment, and with it there +is scarcely anything that may not prove a source of pleasure. “In ease +of body and peace of mind all the different ranks of life are nearly +on a level, and the beggar who suns himself by the side of the highway +possesses that security which kings are fighting for.... What can be +added to the happiness of the man who is in health, who is not in debt, +and has a clear conscience? If you would live freely, fearlessly, and +independently, never come within the circle of ambition.... Power and +riches are enormous and operose machines, consisting of springs the +most nice and delicate, and which, in spite of all our care, are ready +every moment to burst into pieces, and to crush in their ruins their +unfortunate possessors.” + +One of the most interesting parts of his book is the account which he +gives of the many fortuitous circumstances which affect the sentiments +and moral judgments of men. The most important of these irregular +influences spring from the different positions of prosperity and +adversity, custom or fashion. As those in high social positions are +not exactly judged with the same strictness as the poor and humble, in +equal degrees of merit there is hardly anyone who does not show more +respect for the rich and great than for the poor and humble; while +an equal, or even a far greater, amount of vice and folly is regarded +with less aversion and contempt in the former, than in the latter. +He explains that this arises in our sympathetic emotions: as these +enter more vividly into the joys than into the sorrows of others, we +consequently feel far more pleasure in the condition of the rich than +in that of the poor; for we are apt to imagine the one class happy, but +the other wretchedly unhappy. So, it is agreeable to sympathise with +joy, but painful to enter into grief; and where there is no envy in +the case, our inclination to sympathise with joy is much stronger than +our propensity to sympathise with sorrow; and hence our disposition to +admire the rich and powerful, and to despise the poor and lowly. + +The longest and concluding division of his treatise is devoted to +a review of other systems of moral philosophy; and from his own +standpoint he gives an able and interesting account of them. + +To sum up according to Smith, conscience is a derived faculty:――1. +We do not begin with a moral consciousness by which we learn to judge +of others, but from our judgments about others we acquire a moral +consciousness of ourselves. Thus conscience is formed from the central +principle of sympathy. 2. The general rules of morality are ultimately +founded on experience of what, in particular instances, our moral +sentiments approve or condemn; they are not intuitions supplied by +nature. Moral rules are formed from experience, by an inductive process, +not deduced from a general principle. The sense of duty and the feeling +of obligation are both acquired from experience. 3. He recognises +the existence of a benevolent and all-wise Being, who will ultimately +redress all injustice; but what the Supreme Being approves must be +inferred from the principles of benevolence. Our regard for Him should +be shown, not in frivolous observances and ceremonies, but by a course +of just and beneficent action. + +Although his theory of morals cannot be accepted as satisfactory, still +it holds an important place in the history of ethical systems. Its +defects have often been pointed out, and it is unnecessary to enter +into any further criticism of it. Smith did great service in developing +the varied operations and manifestations of the sympathetic principle. + +Let us now turn to his other famous work, _The Wealth of Nations_. +It consists of five Books, each of which are divided into a number of +chapters, but many of the chapters are again divided into parts and +articles; and although there is a principle of method in it, still +it is defective in the arrangement of materials, and abounds with +digressions. Some of the subjects embraced in it are not economical, +except in the most general sense; and though this wide range of topics +enhances the value of the work, the task of presenting a just account +of it is rendered more difficult. + +The first book deals with the causes of improvement in the productive +powers of labour, and of the order in which its produce is naturally +distributed among the people. The treatment of this subject extends +to eleven chapters, with a long digression concerning the variations +in the value of silver throughout the four preceding centuries; the +variations in the proportion between the respective values of gold and +silver; and the different effects of the progress of improvement upon +three different kinds of rude produce. This digression occupies about a +third of the book; but it contains a vast and varied mass of facts and +economical information. + +Smith begins his great exposition with the simple proposition that +labour is the real source of wealth; that the amount of labour expended +upon any article is the true measure of its value, and that when +this is ascertained as between different commodities, their exchange +value will, in the long run, be regulated by it; that all exchangeable +commodities are wealth, and not gold and silver only. “What is bought +with money or with goods is purchased by labour as much as what we +acquire by the toil of our own body.... Labour is the first price, the +original purchase money that was paid for all things. It was not by +gold or by silver, but by labour, that all the wealth of the world was +originally purchased; and its value, to those who possess it and who +want to exchange it for some new productions, is precisely equal to the +quantity of labour which it can enable them to purchase or command.... +But, though labour be the real measure of the exchangeable value of all +commodities, it is not that by which their value is commonly estimated. +It is often difficult to ascertain the proportions between the two +different quantities of labour. The time spent in two different kinds +of work will not always alone determine this proportion. The different +degrees of hardship endured, and the ingenuity exercised, must likewise +be taken into account,” and many other circumstances.¹ + + ¹ Introduction, Book I., chapter 5, pages 31, 32. I uniformly + refer to Rogers’ edition of _The Wealth of Nations_, in two + volumes, published in 1869. Touching labour, Smith further + says:――“Labour, therefore, it appears evidently, is the only + universal, as well as the only accurate measure of value, + or the only standard by which we can compare the values of + different commodities at all times and places.”――_Ibid._, + page 38. + +He explains the division of labour; the origin and use of money; the +component parts of the price of commodities; the natural and market +price of commodities; wages; the profits of stock; wages and profits +in the different employments of labour and stock; inequalities arising +from the nature of the employments themselves, and inequalities +occasioned by the policy of Europe. Then comes a long chapter on +the rent of land, concerning which he is explicit and exceedingly +interesting. Among other things he says:―― + +“As soon as the land of any country has all become private property, +the landlords, like all other men, love to reap where they have never +sowed, and demand a rent even for its natural produce. The wood of the +forest, the grass of the field, and all the natural fruits of the earth, +which, when land was in common, cost the labourer only the trouble of +gathering them, come, even to him, to have an additional price fixed +upon them. He must then pay for the licence to gather them, and must +give up to the landlord a portion of what his labour either collects or +produces. This portion, or, what comes to the same thing, the price of +this portion, constitutes the rent of land.” + +He states that the landlord exacts from the tenant for the use of a +portion of land the highest rent which the latter can afford to pay +in the circumstances, and that he even sometimes demands rent for what +is utterly incapable of human improvement. He adduces telling evidence +of this, in connection with the kelp trade and the fishing trade, in +Scotland, thus:――“Kelp is a species of sea-weed, which, when burnt, +yields an alkaline salt, useful for making glass, soap, and several +other purposes. It grows in several parts of Britain, particularly in +Scotland, upon such rocks only as lie within the high-water mark, which +are twice every day covered with the sea, and of which the produce, +therefore, was never augmented by human industry. The landlord, however, +whose estate is bounded by a kelp-shore of this kind, demands a rent +for it as much as for his corn-fields. + +“The sea in the neighbourhood of the Islands of Shetland is more than +commonly abundant in fish, which make a great part of the subsistence +of their inhabitants. But in order to profit by the produce of the +water, they must have a habitation upon the neighbouring land. The rent +of the landlord is in proportion, not to what the farmer can make by +the land, but to what he can make both by the land and by the water. It +is partly paid in sea-fish; and one of the very few instances in which +rent makes a part of the price of that commodity is to be found in that +country. + +“The rent of land, therefore, considered as the price paid for +the use of the land, is naturally a monopoly price. It is not at +all proportioned to what the landlord may have laid out upon the +improvement of the land, or to what he can afford to take; but to what +the farmer can afford to give.”¹ + + ¹ Book I., chaps. 6, 7, Volume I., pages 52, 153, 171, 175, + _et seq._ Smith treats the subject of land rent at great + length, and with marked ability; although his exposition + in some points is defective, still he comes much nearer the + truth than Ricardo, who accounts for the origin of rent on + merely abstract and imaginary grounds. + +In the second book, he treats of the nature, the accumulation, and the +employment of stock; and through five chapters expounds this division +of political economy. He explicates the nature of stocks, the effects +of its accumulation into capitals of different kinds; the effect of +the different employments of these kinds of capital; the nature and +operation of money, considered as a particular branch of the general +stock of society; and the different effects which the different +employments of capital immediately produce upon the quantity both of +national industry and of the annual produce of land and labour. + +His exposition of these matters is minute and exhaustive. Commencing +with the man of the most limited means, or the individual who has +no income but what he derives from his labour, he then proceeds to +show how the man who possesses stock and capital, after reserving a +sufficient quantity for his own immediate consumption, may employ his +capital in manufacturing wares, producing goods, and selling them again +for a profit. Or it may be employed in the improvement of land, and in +many other ways. + +Extending his view, he states that the general stock of any civilised +country is the same with that of all its inhabitants, and naturally +divides itself into three portions, each of which has a different +function. The first portion is reserved for immediate consumption, +and its characteristic is, that it affords no profit, as it consists +of the stock of food, clothes, household furniture, and so on. The +second portion of the general stock is the fixed capital, and its +characteristic is that it affords a revenue without circulating or +changing masters. It consists chiefly of the following things:――(1) +All useful machines and instruments which facilitate or abridge labour; +(2) all those profitable buildings which are the means of procuring a +revenue, not only to their proprietor, who lets them for a rent, but +to the person who occupies them, and pays that rent for them――such +as shops, warehouses, workshops, halls, farmhouses, and so on; (3) +improvements of land, by clearing, draining, enclosing, manuring, and +reducing it to the fittest condition for tillage; (4) the acquired and +useful abilities of all the members of the community, which represent +a considerable amount of fixed capital, yielding income. The third +and last portion of the general stock is the circulating capital, and +its characteristic is that it affords profit only by circulating or +changing masters. He explains the functions of money at great length, +and shows that it is merely a circulating medium of convenience and +exchange. “The great wheel of circulation, the great instrument of +commerce, like all other instruments of trade, though it makes a part +of the capital, makes no part of the revenue of the society to which +it belongs; and though the metal pieces of which it is composed, in +the course of their annual circulation, distribute to every man the +revenue which properly belongs to him, make themselves no part of that +revenue.”¹ + + ¹ Book II., chapters 2, 5; Volume I., pages 287, 289, 290, 379. + Mr. Rogers gives some very interesting notes on capital, of + which the following is a part:――“Most writers on political + economy, misled by the fact that the advances of the + capitalist are the means by which labour is for a certain + present period supported, have given excessive prominence + to the doctrine of a ‘labour fund,’ and have exaggerated the + importance of this fund to those who live by wages. The fact + is, the capitalist employer is nothing but a representative + of the division of labour, or of employments.... The + capitalist is only a convenience to labourer and consumer. + This distinction is very important. There is no fund, except + temporarily, between the capitalist and the labourer. Both + are paid wages, one for producing, the other distributing; + and the consumer pays the wages of both.”――Note by Rogers, + Volume I., page 362. + +His third book is the most interesting in the work. It is mainly +historical, and deals with the progress of opulence in different +nations. He first explains the natural progress of opulence; then the +state of agriculture in Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire; the +rise and progress of cities after the fall of the Empire; and, finally, +how the commerce of the towns contributed to the improvement of the +country. On all these subjects, though his evidence was necessarily +incomplete, Smith manifested a wonderful sagacity and accuracy in his +general conclusions. + +Within the compass of little more than forty pages, he presents a +luminous exposition of the important topics indicated in the preceding +paragraph; and in no part of his work was his peculiar powers and +insight exhibited to better advantage. In subjects on which I have made +special inquiries, I find his statements, in general, very accurate. +But it is in the clear explanation of the causes of change and progress, +that this book specially excels. + +The fourth book treats on systems of political economy――that is, the +mercantile system――and those systems which represent land as either the +sole or the principal source of the revenue and wealth of every country. +In this book also he dealt with the subject of colonies; the advantages +which Europe has derived from the discovery of America, and from the +discovery of a passage to the East Indies by the Cape of Good Hope, and +treaties of commerce. + +He discusses the mercantile system then in vogue with great force, +and exposed its errors and inconsistencies most effectively. The +prevailing notion was that wealth consisted in money, in pieces of +metal, and therefore the great affair always was to get money; to grow +rich was to get money, and wealth and money were, in common language, +considered exactly synonymous. “In consequence of these popular notions, +all the different nations of Europe have studied, though to little +purpose, every possible means of accumulating gold and silver in their +respective countries.” Accordingly, they have either prohibited their +exportation, or subjected it to a considerable duty. He shows the +fatuity of these notions, and exposes the common theory of commerce +or protection at great length, and with a weight of argument and a +fullness of illustration as yet unmatched. He discusses the subjects +of drawbacks, of bounties, the corn trade, and the corn laws; and +throughout argues in favour of free trade.¹ + + ¹ Book IV., chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; Volume II., pages 2‒3, + 62‒63, 108‒109, _et seq._ + +It was in this book also that Smith made his memorable attack upon +the East India Company. For once he thoroughly exposed the pretentions +of this Company, the mischievous character of its government, and the +wrongs which it was committing, in the most fearless and effective +style. He showed that something more and higher was required of the +rulers of a great country with a dense population, than the mere +mercantile spirit of buying and selling――making profits and paying +large dividends. He demonstrated that the selfish interests of the +Directors of the Company as merchants and traders utterly disqualified +them for being wise and just rulers of the vast population under their +sway; moreover, all the servants of the Company, from the highest to +the lowest, were actuated by the same self-seeking, money-making, and +trading spirit. These servants all traded more or less on their own +account, as Smith puts it:―― + +“All the members of the administration, besides, trade more or less +upon their own account, and it is vain to prohibit them from so doing. +Nothing can be more foolish than to expect that the clerks of a great +counting-house at ten thousand miles’ distance, and consequently almost +quite out of sight, should, upon a simple order from their masters, +give up at once doing any sort of business upon their own account, +abandon for ever all hopes of making a fortune, of which they have the +means in their hands, and content themselves with the moderate salaries +which those masters allow them, and which, moderate as they are, can +seldom be augmented, being commonly as high as the real profits of +the company’s trade can afford. In such circumstances, to prohibit +the servants of the Company from trading upon their own account can +have scarce any other effect than to enable the superior servants, +under the pretence of executing their master’s orders, to oppress such +of the inferior ones as have had the misfortune to fall under their +displeasure. The servants naturally endeavour to establish the same +monopoly in favour of their own private trade as of the public trade of +the Company. If they are suffered to act as they could wish, they will +establish the monopoly openly and directly, by fairly prohibiting all +other people from trading in the articles in which they choose to deal; +and this is, perhaps, the best and least oppressive way of establishing +it. But if, by an order from Europe, they were prohibited from doing +this, they will, notwithstanding, endeavour to establish a monopoly of +the same kind, secretly and directly, in a way that is more destructive +to the country. They will employ the whole authority of the Government, +and pervert the administration of justice, in order to harass and ruin +those who interfere with them in any branch of commerce, which, by +means of agents, either concealed, or at least not publicly avowed, +they chose to carry on.” + +He states that the interests of the masters of the Company are the same +as that of the country which they govern, but that the greed of the +mercantile spirit prevents them from seeing this. The real interests +of the servants of the Company, however, were very different from +the interests of the country: the sole aim of these servants was to +make fortunes to themselves by whatever means they could. “It is a +very singular government in which every member of the administration +wishes to get out of the country, and consequently to have done with +the government, as soon as he can, and to whose interest, the day +after he has left it, and carried his whole fortune with him, it is +perfectly indifferent though the whole country was swallowed up by an +earthquake.”¹ + + ¹ Book IV., chapter 7, Volume II., pages 221‒225. + +The fifth and last book of this great work treats of the revenue +of the Commonwealth, and in connection with this Smith handles many +important subjects, such as the defence of the State, which leads him +into a discussion of military organisation and standing armies, the +administration of justice, and the expense of public works. In relation +to the latter subject, he treats at length on education; and following +his usual historical method on this subject, he is exceedingly +interesting. He gives a clear and instructive account of educational +institutions, the systems of thought taught in the Universities and +schools, including the Church and religious instruction. Space will +not permit me to follow him into details, but a quotation or two will +indicate some of his views. + +The common course of philosophical education in the greater number +of the Universities of Europe was this:――“Logic was first taught; +ontology in the second place; pneumatology, comprehending the doctrine +concerning the nature of the human soul, and the Deity, in the third; +and in the fourth followed a debased system of moral philosophy, +which was considered as immediately connected with the doctrine of +pneumatology, with the immortality of the human soul, and with the +rewards and punishments which, from the justice of the Deity, were +to be expected in a life to come: a short and superficial system of +physics usually concluded the course. + +“The alterations which the Universities of Europe thus introduced into +the ancient course of philosophy, were all meant for the education of +ecclesiastics, and to render it a more proper introduction to the study +of theology. But the additional quantity of subtlety and sophistry, the +casuistry and the ascetic morality which these alterations introduced +into it, certainly did not render it more proper for the education +of gentlemen or men of the world, or more likely to improve the +understanding or to mend the heart.”¹ + + ¹ “This course of philosophy is what still continues to be + taught in the greater part of the Universities of Europe, + with more or less diligence, according as the constitution + of each particular University happens to render diligence + more or less necessary to the teachers. In some of the + richest and best endowed Universities, the tutors content + themselves with teaching a few unconnected shreds and + parcels of this corrupted course; and even these they + commonly teach very negligently and superficially. + + “The improvements which, in modern times, have been made in + the several different branches of philosophy, have not, the + greater part of them, been made in Universities; though some + no doubt have. The greatest part of Universities have not + even been very forward to adopt those improvements after + they were made; and several of these learned societies have + chosen to remain for a long time the sanctuaries in which + exploded systems and obsolete prejudices found shelter and + protection, after they had been hunted out of every corner + of the world. In general, the richest and best endowed + Universities have been the slowest in adopting these + improvements, and the most averse to permit any considerable + change in the established plan of education. These + improvements were more easily introduced into some of the + poorer Universities, in which the teachers, depending upon + their reputation for the greater part of their subsistence, + were obliged to pay more attention to the current opinions + of the world.”――Book V., chapter 1, Volume II., pages + 356‒357. + +He touches on the question whether the State ought to give any +attention to the education of the people, and if so, in what manner +should it be attempted. In connection with this, he notices a very +serious result of the minute division of labour――namely, that it +reduces the greater part of workers physically and mentally to a +comparatively helpless state; in fact, to be incapable of doing +anything, save the one or two simple operations to which they have +been accustomed. “But the understanding of the greater part of men is +necessarily formed by their ordinary employments. The man whose whole +life is spent in performing a few simple operations, of which the +effects too are, perhaps, always the same, or very nearly the same, has +no occasion to exert his understanding or to exercise his invention in +finding out expedients for removing difficulties which never occur. He +naturally loses, therefore, the habit of such exertion, and generally +becomes as stupid and ignorant as it is possible for a human creature +to become.... The uniformity of his stationary life naturally corrupts +the courage of his mind ... and even the activity of his body, +and renders him incapable of exerting his strength with vigour and +perseverance in any other employment than that to which he has been +bred. His dexterity at his own particular trade seems, in this manner, +to be acquired at the expense of his intellectual, social, and martial +virtues. But in every improved and civilised society this is the state +into which the labouring poor, that is, the great body of the people, +must necessarily fall, unless the government takes some pains to +prevent it.”¹ + + ¹ Book V., chapter 1; Volume II., pages 364‒366. The + manufacturing population of our large towns are not quite so + bad as they seem to have been in Smith’s time; still there + is no doubt of the truth of the tendency of the minute + division of labour which he points out. + +He argues that the public should encourage and assist the education of +the whole people, but he does not say that it should be made compulsory. +He insists upon its utility from various points of view, especially +from the political side. + +He treats at length on the institutions for the religious instruction +of the people in all ages, and his long article on this is especially +well worth reading and study. Smith himself was singularly free from +prejudice, sectarian or narrow views, and in this respect he is greatly +superior to Hume. + +The concluding chapters deal with the revenue of the State, taxes, and +national debts. His treatment of the general subject of taxation is +comprehensive and enlightened, and, like the other parts of his work, +full of information, suggestion, and instruction. He has good articles +on taxes upon land. + +Finally, we may aver that few works have had more influence in +stimulating industry, controlling legislation, and promoting reform +than the _Wealth of Nations_. But whether this influence will be +permanent in its results――whether capital will still continue to +dominate labour as it has done in the past――is a social problem, which +is constantly coming more and more to the front, and it must ere long +be resolutely met. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXVII. + + _Reid, Ferguson, Stewart, and other Writers._ + + + SECTION I. + + _Reid._ + +DR. THOMAS REID attained distinction as an opponent of scepticism +on the principles of common sense. He was born on the 26th of April, +1710, in the parish of Strachan, Kincardineshire, where his father was +minister for the long period of fifty years. Dr. Reid was educated at +Marischal College, Aberdeen, and having studied for the Church, was +appointed pastor of the parish of New Machar in 1737. In this position +he quietly performed his parochial duties for fifteen years, and gained +the esteem of the inhabitants of the parish. In 1752, he was elected +Professor of Philosophy in King’s College, Aberdeen, an office which +he held for eleven years. He was chosen in 1763 to succeed Adam Smith +in the Chair of Moral Philosophy in Glasgow, and in this famed seat of +learning continued to instruct a large class of students for a period +of eighteen years.¹ Thus, Reid performed the functions of a professor +for a period of nearly thirty years. + + ¹ Stewart’s _Account of the Life and Writings of Dr. Reid_. + +He was gifted by nature with a strong constitution. Although rather +under the middle height, his frame was vigorous, and his muscular force +unusually great. To these advantages he joined habits of exercise and +temperance and an unclouded serenity of temper. “His countenance was +strongly expressive of deep and collected thought; but when brightened +up by the face of a friend, what chiefly caught the attention was a +look of goodwill and kindness.”¹ + + ¹ Stewart’s _Account of the Life and Writings of Dr. Reid_. + Stewart says:――“The merits of Dr. Reid as a public teacher + were derived chiefly from that rich fund of original and + instructive philosophy which is to be found in his writings, + and from his unwearied assiduity in inculcating principles + which he conceived to be of essential importance to human + happiness. In his elocution and mode of instruction, there + was nothing peculiarly attractive. He seldom, if ever, + indulged himself in the warmth of extempore discourse; + nor was his manner of reading calculated to increase the + effect of what he had committed to writing. Such, however, + was the simplicity and perspicuity of his style, such + the gravity and authority of his character, and such the + general interest of his young hearers in the doctrines which + he taught, that, by the numerous audiences to which his + instructions were addressed, he was heard uniformly with the + most silent and respectful attention. On this subject, I can + speak from personal knowledge; having had the good fortune, + during a considerable part of the winter of 1772, to be one + of his pupils.”――_Ibid._, section 1. + +Dr. Reid’s writings consist of――(1) _An Inquiry into the Human Mind +on the Principles of Common Sense_, published in 1764; (2) _Essays on +the Intellectual Powers of the Mind_, 1785, and _Essays on the Active +Powers of the Mind_, 1788; (3) _An Account of Aristotle’s Logic_; (4) +_An Account of the University of Glasgow_; (5) _An Essay on Quantity_. + +The most polished of his works is the _Inquiry into the Human Mind_. +It consists of seven chapters, each of which is divided into a number +of sections. Excepting the first and the concluding chapters, the work +is mainly occupied with the treatment of the five external senses: +an analysis of sensation, in the following order:――Smelling, tasting, +hearing, touching, and seeing. The work throughout has a somewhat +polemical tone, with occasional touches of sarcasm; still it has rare +merits. His treatment of the senses is often accurate, though not +always. In the history of philosophical opinions he is frequently +inaccurate, and sometimes quite wrong; imperfect knowledge of previous +systems of thought was his weakest point. + +Reid avows that it was Hume’s _Treatise of Human Nature_ which prompted +him to undertake his own _Inquiry into the Mind_, and to reclaim +against the principles which had issued in such sceptical conclusions. +He desired to place the fundamental principles of knowledge upon firmer +grounds, though, in the execution of his task, he often declaims rather +than reasons on some of the questions at issue. + +His treatment of the external senses, especially of sight and touch, +is valuable. He makes true and ingenious remarks on natural language +and signs. Such signs he conceived to be of two kinds――(1) those which +have their meaning assigned by tacit agreement; and (2) those which, +prior to all agreement, have a distinct meaning which man understands +by the principles of his nature. Thus “language, so far as it consists +of artificial signs, may be called artificial; so far as it consists of +natural signs, I call it natural.” He argues that, if mankind had not a +natural language, they could never have invented an artificial one. He +thinks that the signs which are naturally expressive of man’s thoughts +may be reduced to three kinds――modulations of the voice, gestures, +and features. His explanation of this subject is interesting and +instructive.¹ + + ¹ Hamilton’s _Reid_, Volume I., pages 95‒96, 117‒118, _et seq._ + +Reid’s doctrine of signs is connected with his view of perception. He +distinguished perception from sensation, and stated that the simplest +operations of the mind do not admit of logical definition. He often +states that the sensations are merely signs, and that the objects +themselves are the things signified; but he does not maintain that +the sign resembles the original. He observes that the same mode of +expression is used to denote sensation and perception, but sensation +has more of the element of feeling in it than perception: mere +sensation consists in its being felt and in nothing else; when it is +not felt, it is not. Thus a sensation of pain signifies no more than +the feeling of pain: the agreeable odour of a rose considered by itself +is a pure sensation, which affects the mind in a certain way; and this +affection of the mind may be conceived, without any thought of the +rose. This doctrine, according to Reid, is applicable to every other +mere sensation.¹ + + ¹ _Ibid._, Volume I., page 182, _et seq._; and in _Essays on + the Intellectual Powers_, page 310. + +On the other hand, perception, as understood by Reid, has always an +external object, or an object distinct from the act by which it is +perceived――an object which may exist whether it be perceived or not. +He maintained that we have an immediate perception, a direct intuition +of the primary qualities of bodies. Our senses give us a direct and +distinct notion of these qualities, as to what they are in themselves; +but of the secondary qualities of bodies, our senses give us only a +relative and obscure notion. + +An act of perception of an external object he thus describes:――(1) “We +have some conception or notion of the object perceived; (2) a strong +and irresistible conviction and belief of its present existence; (3) +that this conviction and belief are immediate, and not the effect of +reasoning.” He also distinguishes perceptions into two classes――those +which are original, and those which are acquired by experience.¹ + + ¹ _Ibid._, Volume I., pages 313‒314, 258. + +Thus Reid’s doctrine of perception seems to be explicit. It has to +be observed, however, that in his accounts of the views of other +philosophers, and in his criticisms on them, he did not search out the +various theories of representative or mediate perception. This lack of +exhaustive discrimination unintentionally led him into some mistakes +which partially vitiated his criticisms of the doctrines of other +philosophers, and rendered even the cardinal point of his own doctrine +doubtful; for some hold that he is an idealist, and others that he is +a realist. A brief explanation of this seems to be requisite. + +1. First, then, some philosophers admit an immediate knowledge of a +not-ego, but not of an external not-ego; while they do not limit the +immediate knowledge of the mind to its own states, yet conceiving it +impossible that the external reality can be brought within the sphere +of consciousness, they suppose that it is represented by an image, +numerically different from the mind, but placed somewhere, either in +the brain or mind, within the sphere of consciousness. 2. Others deny +to the mind any consciousness of a not-ego at all, and hold that what +the mind immediately perceives, and mistakes for an external object, is +merely the ego itself peculiarly modified. Each of these chief theories +of a representative perception, admits of several subordinate varieties. + +Thus, taking the first of the above hypotheses, it is subdivided +according as the immediate object of perception is viewed――(1) as +material, (2) as immaterial, (3) or as neither, (4) or as both, +as something physical, as propagated from the external object, as +generated in the medium or as fabricated in the mind itself; and the +latter either in the intelligent mind or in the animal life, as infused +by God or by angels, or as identical with the divine substance――as in +the system of Spinoza, and in other pantheistic theories. In the second, +the representative modification has been sometimes viewed as a mere +product of the mind itself; or as innate, and so independent of any +mental energy.¹ + + ¹ Hamilton’s _Reid_, Volume II., pages 816‒819; _Lectures on + Metaphysics and Logic_, Volume II., pages 29‒30. + +Now Reid never adequately distinguished these views of representative +perception, either in their historical relation or as possible in +theory, but directed his attacks against what he usually calls the +“common theory of ideas,” which was merely one of the cruder forms +of the representative theory of perception; and thus it happens +that his onslaughts on Berkeley and Hume are often misdirected and +ineffective, as he did not establish the fact of the two cognitions, +the presentative and the representative, single out their contents +or evolve their conditions; and, in particular, did not show which +of these was the kind of cognition competent in our perception of the +external world. He failed to observe that representation is possible +under two forms――the egoistical and the non-egoistical; and each of +which, if perception be reduced to a representative faculty, affords +premises equally available to the absolute idealist and the sceptic. +Hence he was led into various inconsistences of a historical character, +especially in the exposition of his own doctrine of perception.¹ + + ¹ Hamilton’s _Reid_, Volume I., pages 106, 128, 130, 131, 210, + 226, 256, 257, 269, 274, 277, 293, 299, 318, 427. + +Yet, notwithstanding these defects of development and exposition, Reid +performed good service to psychology by banishing the imaginary images +interposed between perception and its objects. + +Having indicated Reid’s view of perception, I proceed to give a brief +account of his treatment of the other phenomena of the mind. He divides +the mental phenomena into the intellectual powers and the active +powers; and he classified the intellectual powers thus:――(1) The +External Senses; (2) Memory; (3) Conception or Simple Apprehension; +(4) Abstraction; (5) Judgment――First Truths; (6) Reasoning; (7) Taste. +He distributed the active powers into three parts:――I. Mechanical +principles of actions――(1) Instinct, (2) Habit; II. Animal principles +――(1) Appetites, (2) Desires, (3) Affections; III. Rational principles +――(1) Self-love, (2) Duty.¹ + + ¹ This classification is not founded upon any essential + principle of division of mental phenomena. + +Following the order just indicated, the first essay is devoted to an +explication of terms and principles taken for granted. The second essay +treats of the external senses, which we have already considered; in it +also he reviews at great length the opinions of various philosophers +touching the perception of the external world. He then passes to memory, +which he treats at length, and affirms that it is an original faculty. +He states that by memory we have an immediate knowledge of things in +the past,¹ and that it is always accompanied with the belief of that +which we remember. Under the head of memory he discusses duration +and personal identity. Of the latter he says:――“The conviction which +every man has of his identity, as far back as his memory reaches, needs +no aid of philosophy to strengthen it; and no philosophy can weaken +it, without first producing some degree of insanity.... A person is +something indivisible, and is what Leibnitz calls a monad.... The +identity of a person is a perfect identity; wherever it is real, it +admits of no degrees, and it is impossible that a person should be in +part the same, and in part different; because a person is a monad, and +is not divisible into parts.”² + + ¹ This is a mistake: we can only have a mediate knowledge + of past things or events――that is, only a representative + knowledge. + + ² Hamilton’s _Reid_, Volume I. pages 339‒345. + +He describes conception, and says that conceiving, imagining, +apprehending, and understanding are words used to express that +operation of the mind called simple apprehension; the having an idea +of a thing is, in common language, used in the same sense. He refers +to the train of thought in the mind, but he adduces nothing specially +original on the association of thoughts and ideas, and in fact he was +behind some of his predecessors in this important branch of mental +science. + +In his essay on abstraction, he explains general words, general +conceptions, and the process of classification. Then, under the general +heading of judgment, he discusses common sense and first principles. +Common sense he regards as a special faculty, and the following +quotation will indicate what Reid meant by this phrase:―― + +“In common language, sense always implies judgment. A man of sense +is a man of judgment. Nonsense is what is evidently contrary to right +judgment. Common sense is that degree of judgment which is common to +men with whom we can converse and transact business.... Men rarely ask +what common sense is; because every man believes himself possessed of +it, and would take it for an imputation upon his understanding to be +thought unacquainted with it. + +“It is absurd to conceive that there can be any opposition between +reason and common sense. It is indeed the first-born of reason, and +as they are commonly joined together in speech and in writing, they +are inseparable in their nature. We ascribe to reason two offices, or +two degrees. The first is to judge of things self-evident; the second +to draw conclusions that are not self-evident from those that are. +The first of these is the province, and the sole province, of common +sense.”¹ + + ¹ _Ibid._, Volume I., pages 421‒425. + +Thus Reid considered it the province of common sense to judge of first +principles; and he further avers that, to judge of first principles +require no more than a sound mind free from prejudice and a clear +conception of the question. The learned and the unlearned, the +philosopher and the day-labourer, are upon a level, and will pass the +same judgment, when they are not misled by some bias. He then proceeds +to deliver his views of first principles. + +Although first principles are self-evident, and cannot be proved by +arguments, yet a certain kind of reasoning may be applied in their +support:――1. To show that the principle rejected stands upon the +same footing with others that are admitted. 2. As in mathematics, a +reduction to absurdity may be employed. 3. The consent of ages and +nations, of the learned and unlearned, ought to have great authority +with regard to first principles, where every man is a competent judge. +4. Opinions that appear so early in the mind, that they cannot be the +effect of education, or of false reasoning, have a good claim to be +considered as first principles. + +He asks whether the conclusions of common sense can be enumerated and +digested in such a form as all reasonable men will assent to it. He +recognises the difficulties besetting this, and admits that his own +enumeration is not perfectly satisfactory. His classification proceeds +on the distinction between necessary and contingent truths, and may be +summarised thus:―― + +(A.) Principles of Contingent Truths:――1. Everything that I am +conscious of exists.¹ The irresistible conviction of the reality +of what we are conscious of is not the effect of reasoning; it is +immediate and intuitive, and therefore a first principle. 2. The +thoughts that I am conscious of are the thoughts of a being that I +call myself, my mind, my person. 3. Those things did really happen +that I distinctly remember. 4. Our own personal identity and continued +existence, as far back as we remember anything distinctly. 5. Those +things do really exist that we distinctly perceive by our senses, +and are what we perceive them to be. 6. We have some degree of power +over our actions and the determinations of our will. The origin of +our idea of power is not easily assigned. Power is not an object of +sense or consciousness. We see events as successive, but not the power +whereby they are produced. We are conscious of the operations of our +minds; but power is not an operation of the mind. It is evidently, +however, implied in every act of volition, and in all deliberation and +resolution. Likewise, when we approve or disapprove, we believe that +men have power to do or not to do. 7. The natural faculties, whereby +we distinguish truth from error, are not fallacious. 8. Our fellow-men +with whom we converse are possessed of life and intelligence. 9. +Certain features of the countenance, sounds of the voice, and gestures +of the body, indicate certain thoughts and dispositions of mind. The +signification of those things we do not learn by experience, but by a +kind of natural perception. Children, almost as soon as they are born, +may be frightened by an angry or threatening tone of voice. 10. There +is a certain regard due to human testimony in matters of fact, and even +to human authority in matters of opinion. 11. There are many events +depending on the will of man, possessing a self-evident probability, +greater or less, according to circumstances; as in men of sound mind +we expect a certain degree of regularity in their conduct. 12. In the +phenomena of nature, what is to be will probably be like what has been +in similar circumstances. Hume has shown that this principle is not +grounded on reason, and has not the intuitive evidence of mathematical +axioms. + + ¹ Reid treats consciousness as a special faculty which cannot + be defined. + +(B.) Principles of Necessary Truths. Regarding those Reid deemed it +enough to divide them into classes, and to mention some of each class. + +I. Grammatical Principles:――1. Every adjective in a sentence must +belong to some substantive expressed or understood. 2. Every complete +sentence must have a verb. + +II. Logical Principles:――1. Any contexture of words that does not make +a proposition is neither true nor false. 2. Every proposition is either +true or false. 3. No proposition can be both true and false at the same +time. 4. Reasoning in a circle proves nothing. 5. Whatever may be truly +affirmed of a genus may be truly affirmed of all its species, and of +all the individualps belonging to that species. + +III. The Mathematical Axioms. + +IV. The Principles of Taste:――1. The fundamental rules of poetry, music, +eloquence, and dramatic action; and 2. those of painting have always +been the same, and will be so to the end of the world. + +V. First Principles in Morals:――1. An unjust action has more demerit +than an ungenerous one. 2. A generous action has more merit than a +merely just one. 3. No man ought to be blamed for what it was not in +his power to hinder. + +VI. Metaphysical Principles:――1. The qualities that we perceive by our +senses must have a subject, which we call body, and the thoughts we are +conscious of must have a subject, which we call mind. The distinction +between sensible qualities and the substance to which they belong is +not the invention of philosophers, but is found in the structure of all +languages. 2. Whatever begins to exist must have a cause. 3. Design and +intelligence in the cause may be inferred with certainty, from marks or +signs of them in the effect. + +Reid has sometimes been severely handled for his multiplication of +first principles; and it must be admitted that his scheme is crude, +lacking in discrimination, in logical consistency, and in precision of +statement; that it includes various truths as first principles which +have no real claim to such a character; still it embodies, in a plain +form, a considerable quantity of important truths. + +He concludes his exposition of the intellectual powers with an essay +on Taste. He notices the force of custom, of fancy, and of casual +associations, in modifying taste; and observes that men differ more in +their standard of taste than their judgments in matters of truth and +error. + +His treatment of the active powers of the mind occupies five essays. In +the first, he treats of active powers in general; in the second, of the +will; in the third, of the principles of action, which he distinguishes +as already stated; in the fourth, he discusses the liberty of moral +agents; and the fifth and last essay deals with morals. + +Touching the sense of duty, he recognises and insists that we have +an original moral faculty, which we call conscience. We have the +conceptions of right and wrong in human conduct, of merit and demerit, +of duty and moral obligation; and by this faculty we perceive some +things to be right in human conduct and others to be wrong; that the +first principles of morals are the dictates of the same faculty, and +that we have the same reason to rely upon those dictates as upon the +determinations of our senses, or our other natural faculties. + +Reid contends earnestly for the freedom of the will, and discusses +the counter doctrine of necessity at length, and with much vigour.¹ +In the concluding essay, he attacks the utilitarian theory of morals +as propounded by Hume, and his objections to several points of it +were well and effectively directed. He showed that this theory did not +recognise or take account of moral rules as established and enforced +among men by the dictation of authority, which does not leave to +individuals the power of reference to ultimate ends, and that it failed +to distinguish between obligatory and non-obligatory useful acts. + + ¹ In 1793, _An Essay on Philosophical Necessity_ appeared, + by Alexander Crombie, A.M., and in which the views of Dr. + Reid on the freedom of the will are adversely discussed and + criticised, with much acuteness and ingenuity. + +To sum up, though Reid’s writings are in many points imperfect, yet +they have much psychological merit and interest. His intellect was +active and vigorous, but not of the highest and widest order; his +analytic and critical powers were limited; but he was painstaking +and patient in investigation. In truth, the natural bent of his mind +drew him more to the concrete and practical side of philosophy than +to speculation in the higher region of thought; subjectively, he was +not strong. Still his thinking power in certain directions, his native +sagacity and force of character, his candour and fairness, and the +favourable circumstances in which he was placed, enabled him to found +a school, in which some of his disciples have outvied their master in +analytic power and speculative thought. + + + SECTION II. + + _Adam Ferguson._ + +Adam Ferguson is the author of a work on moral and political philosophy, +and also of some historical books, which will be noticed elsewhere.¹ +He was appointed to the chair of moral philosophy in the University +of Edinburgh in 1764, an office which he held, with some intervals of +absence, till the year 1785. In 1766, he published an outline of his +lectures for the use of his class, and from these heads and notes he +explained his system orally to the students, always keeping his mind +open for the reception of whatever new light might dawn upon it. After +his retirement from the professorship, he rearranged his lectures +into a systematic form, and published them in 1792, under the title +of _Principles of Moral and Political Science_. In his preface he +says:――“Many, no doubt, may be conscious, that in a continued pursuit +of the same subject for so long a time, they themselves could have done +better; but in this, it is to be regretted, that they have not done so: +For in this field there is room for many labourers; and the subject, +though never new, is always interesting. It is so in the specimen of +every particular life; in the history of every particular age or nation, +and even in the lucubrations of every faithful transcriber of what +nature suggests. + + ¹ He was a son of the minister of Logierait, and was born in + 1723. Having passed through the arts classes at St. Andrews, + he came to Edinburgh to study for the Church in 1742. + Thus he became one of the literary coterie consisting of + Robertson, Blair, Home, Carlyle, Hume, and others, who were + then students in the University, or living in Edinburgh. In + 1745, he was offered a chaplaincy to the 42nd Regiment――“The + Black Watch,” and though only twenty-two years of age, and + having only completed two sessions of the divinity course, + he obtained ordination from the General Assembly on account + of his high testimonials. He accompanied this regiment to + the battle of Fontenoy, and was with difficulty prevented + from rushing into action with a broadsword. He remained + with his regiment till 1754, and obtained much influence + over the Highland soldiers; he took a keen interest in + military matters, and gained a knowledge of them which was + afterwards of use to him as a historian. He gave up the + idea of becoming a minister, as he felt that he had not the + requisite qualities for a popular preacher. + + Having returned to Edinburgh, he was appointed to succeed + Hume as Librarian of the Advocates’ Library in 1757; but + after a few years, he resigned this post, and became tutor + to the sons of Lord Bute. In July, 1759, he was appointed + to the chair of natural philosophy in the University of + Edinburgh, and by the month of October he was ready to meet + his class, which drew from Hume the remark, that “Ferguson + had more genius than any of them, as he had made himself + so much master of a difficult science――viz., natural + philosophy――which he had never studied but when at college, + in three months as to be able to teach it.” He occupied + this chair for five years, and it is recorded that he gave + universal satisfaction, by rendering his subject attractive + and popular. He published a short summary of his course + for the use of his class.――Sir A. Grant’s _Story of the + University of Edinburgh_, Volume II., pages 349, 350. + + A contemporary and friend of Ferguson’s says of him:――“He + was the son of a Highland clergyman, and had the pride and + spirit of his countrymen.... He had the manners of a man + of the world, and the demeanour of a high-bred gentleman, + insomuch that his company was much sought after; for though + he conversed with ease, it was with a dignified reserve.... + He had another talent, unknown to any but his intimates, + which was a boundless vein of humour, which he indulged when + there was none others present, and which flowed from his pen + in every familiar letter he wrote.”――_Autobiography of the + Rev. Dr. Alexander Carlyle_, pages 281‒283. 1860. + +“Although, therefore, an author may have been preceded by men of +distinguished ability in former or in present times, it implies no +degree of arrogance to follow even such reapers, in gleaning materials +from this inexhaustible field of reflection, on which mankind have +been employed from the beginning, and on which they will continue to +be employed to the end of time.” + +This work consists of two parts. The first treats of the most general +phenomena in the nature and state of man, and extends to three chapters, +which consecutively explain Man’s place in the scale of Being; Mind, or +the characteristics of Intelligence; and Man’s Progressive Nature. Each +of these chapters is divided into a number of sections, in which many +important questions and interesting subjects are examined and discussed +with rare candour and ability. The third chapter is especially +attractive, as it explains the gradual progress and organisation of +human society, the influence of habit, the progress of political and +commercial arts, the pursuits and attainments of science, the fine arts, +and the progress of moral apprehension. + +The second part contains six chapters, which, under the following +headings of a moral and political character, expound the Specific Good +incident to Human Nature; the Fundamental Law of Morality, and its +immediate Application and Sanctions; Jurisprudence, or Compulsory Law; +Touching the Defences of Men; Moral Action, and the characteristics of +a virtuous and happy Life; and, finally, Politics. Of these chapters, +the first, the second, and the fourth are the most interesting, and +present a body of well-digested information and reflection. + +Ferguson was a well-informed man, and fairly equipped with a knowledge +of the science of his time, as his method and conceptions clearly +manifest. His moral ideas were distinct and comprehensive; his +conception of human progress was accurate; and he approached nearer to +the modern idea of a gradual development of human society and political +institutions than any of his predecessors. Although, in some points, +he was a follower of Hutcheson and Reid, in others he rose above them, +especially in his admission of the idea of perfection in morality, and +generally in his grasp of reality and of principles. + +For instance, he says:――“Mind, we have reason to believe, predominates +in nature; so that, in a comprehensive survey of all that exists, +whatever is not mind, would be as nothing.... The essence of Almighty +God we must conceive as most simple, being that which necessarily +exists from eternity. Of His supreme intelligence, we have full +evidence in the system of nature, and of His distinguishing the +opposite conditions of moral good and evil, there is equally +irresistible proof.”¹ + + ¹ Volume I., pages 31, 129. + +The following sentences will give an idea of his method:――“Most +subjects in nature may be considered under two aspects――under that of +their actual state, and under that of a specific excellence, or aspect, +of which they are susceptible. Under the first, they are subjects of +mere description, or statement of fact; under the second, they are +objects of estimation or contempt, of praise or censure. In respect to +what men have actually done or exhibited, human nature is a subject of +history and physical science. Considered in respect to the different +measures of good and evil, of which men are susceptible, the same +nature is a subject of discipline and moral science. In treating of man, +as a subject of history, we collect facts and endeavour to conceive his +nature as it actually is, or has actually been, apart from any notion +of ideal perfection or defect. + +“In treating of him as a subject of moral science, we endeavour +to understand what he ought to be; without being limited, in our +conception, to the measure of attainment or failure, exhibited in +the case of any particular person or society of men. + +“To have an object or purpose, and to employ means for the attainment +of it, is the distinctive condition of mind or intelligent being; the +first implies will and choice; the second implies energy and power. +For man, therefore, to know his province, and to be qualified for +his station, requires equally that he should be acquainted with the +foundation of both.”¹ + + ¹ Volume I., Introduction, pages 1, 2. + +Thus the method of investigation in the study of human nature, +according to Ferguson, is in the first place to ascertain, on the most +comprehensive and exhaustive scale, what man actually has been in the +past and what he is now; and then, upon this knowledge, to frame a +more reasonable conception of the improvable capacity of man, a juster +idea of what he ought to be, and to devise more available and effective +moral means for advancing the progress, the happiness, and the +perfection of mankind. He insists much on this view, and often returns +to it throughout his work. + +In accordance with his progressive conception of man, Ferguson at once +discarded Hobbes’ theory that the state of nature was a continual war. +He argues that “a child may be considered apart from his parent, and +the parent apart from his child; but the latter could not have existed +without the former. And if we trace human society back to its simplest +state, even there the society was real――resting upon the fundamental +feelings of human nature; and if we trace human thought back to its +simplest exertions, even there it was an exercise of understanding +and some effort of invention or skill.” He also rejected the contract +theory of the origin of government, and argued consistently for the +historical view of the gradual growth and development of society.¹ + + ¹ Volume I., pages 190‒197, _et seq._ + +Ferguson discussed the standard of morality at length, and also the +supreme end. He admitted only a qualified and limited value to utility +as a moral principle, and the same with regard to sympathy. Utility +appeared to him to resolve the distinction of right and wrong into a +mere difference of tendency or external effect in the actions of men. +He avers that sympathy is also inadequate as the principle of moral +approbation, and argues on some points conclusively against Smith’s +theory; but he fully recognised that sympathy is an important factor +in the social nature of man.¹ + + ¹ Volume II., pages 57‒115, 117‒126. + +His own view of the principle of moral approbation is announced thus: +――“It is the idea of perfection or excellence which the intelligent +and associated being forms to himself, and to which he refers in +every sentiment of esteem or contempt, and in every expression of +commendation or censure.” + +If it be said that mankind are not agreed on this point, his reply +is:――“The idea of perfection no doubt may be associated with subjects +divested of merit; but notwithstanding the effect of such association +in warping the judgment, virtue is approved as the specific perfection +or excellence of man’s nature; and as no one ever inquired why +perfection should be esteemed, it is difficult to conceive why we +should look for any other account of moral approbation than this.”¹ + + ¹ Volume II., page 134. + +In many parts of his work the ideal conception of a progress towards +perfection is touched upon and illustrated. “Perfection is nowhere to +be found short of the infinite mind; but progression is the gift of God +to all His intelligent creatures, and is within the competence of the +lowest of mankind.... Men of humble capacity may learn to think justly +on these subjects; and as far as wisdom depends on a just conception +of familiar objects, it is the nature of created mind in the course +of experience and observation to improve its sagacity and to make +a continual approach to the highest measure of intellectual ability +of which it is susceptible.... But the virtue of goodness, whether +operating in mere innocence or in beneficence, is surely improvable +if not actually acquired by habit.”¹ + + ¹ Volume II., page 403. + +In reference to the fundamental laws of morality, Ferguson taught “that +the first law of morality, relating to the mind and its affections, +requires the love of mankind as the greatest good to which human +nature is competent.” If it should appear, however, that mankind are +not agreed as to the kinds of external actions that flow from this +principle, nor in the choice of what to expect from the beneficent, it +may be asked by what rule is the friend of mankind to conduct himself? +His general reply to this question is to the effect that mankind in +reality do not often mistake the pernicious for the useful, nor the +destructive for that which tends to their own preservation; and so the +beneficent man has little difficulty in determining what is in him, a +natural effect of benevolence or of goodwill to his fellow-creatures.¹ + + ¹ Ferguson died in 1816, having lived to the great age of + ninety-three years. + + + SECTION III. + + _Dugald Stewart._ + +Ferguson was succeeded in the chair of moral philosophy by Dugald +Stewart,¹ who discharged the duties of the chair for a period of +twenty-five years with unmatched success. He was a son of Dr. Matthew +Stewart, professor of mathematics in the University of Edinburgh, +and was born in his father’s house in the old college buildings. When +eight years of age, he was sent to the High School of Edinburgh, and at +thirteen he entered the University and attended the arts classes. But +with the object of completing his philosophical education, at the age +of eighteen he went to Glasgow and studied a session under Dr. Reid, +and greatly appreciated the spirit of the doctrines of his master.² + + ¹ Born in 1753; died in 1828. + + ² When speaking of Dr. Reid, Stewart says:――“Among the members + of this University (Edinburgh), Mr. Ferguson was the first + to applaud Reid’s success, warmly recommending to his pupils + a steady prosecution of the same plan, as the only effective + method of ascertaining the general principles of the human + frame, and illustrated happily, by his own profound and + eloquent disquisitions, the application of such studies to + the conduct of the understanding and the great concerns of + life. I recollect, too, when attending, about the year 1771, + the lectures of the late Mr. Russell, to have heard high + encomiums on the philosophy of Dr. Reid, in the course + of those comprehensive discussions concerning the objects + and the rules of experimental science, with which he so + agreeably diversified the particular doctrines of physics. + Nor must I omit this opportunity of paying a tribute to + the memory of my old friend, Mr. Stevenson, then professor + of logic, whose candid mind at the age of seventy gave a + welcome reception to a system subversive of the theories + which he had taught for forty years, and whose zeal for + the advancement of knowledge prompted him, when his career + was almost finished, to undertake the laborious task of new + modelling that useful compilation of elementary instruction + to which diffidence of his own powers limited his literary + exertions. + + “It is with no common feelings of respect and gratitude + that I now recall the names of those to whom I owe my first + attachment to those studies, and the happiness of a liberal + occupation superior to the more aspiring aims of a servile + ambition.”――Stewart’s _Account of the Life and Writings of + Reid_. + +In 1771, when only nineteen years of age, Stewart was entrusted by +his father, whose health was failing, to teach the mathematical class +in the University of Edinburgh; and, notwithstanding his youth, he +maintained order and taught well. He was formally appointed to the +chair of mathematics in 1775, and held it till 1785, when, as already +mentioned, he obtained the chair of moral philosophy, a position more +congenial to his taste and aspiration. + +According to the best testimony, Stewart was a successful and eloquent +professor, and was justly regarded as an ornament of this illustrious +University. The lectures which he delivered to his class were declared +by those who heard them to be surprisingly touching and elegant. He +was a Liberal in politics, a follower and expounder of the economical +doctrines of Adam Smith; and several scions of the Whig nobility were +placed in Edinburgh under his care and instruction. His teaching, +by means of his lectures and his writings, attained a wide influence +and contributed to diffuse a taste for elegant literature and liberal +opinions in politics throughout Scotland. Many of his pupils rose to +eminence in law, politics, and literature. + +Stewart’s teaching was influenced by the current of events and the +circumstances of his time; and practical considerations greatly +controlled all his opinions and speculations. He was deeply interested +in the French Revolution, and intensely moved by the deplorable +excesses which sprung out of it. A short quotation from the concluding +sentences of his course of lectures on political economy will +illustrate this and other features of his teaching:―― + +“It is not, however, to those who look forward to the pursuits of +science that I have addressed myself in these lectures. The greater +part of you are probably destined for the active walks of business; and +under this impression, I have uniformly endeavoured, so far as I was +able, to direct your attention to studies susceptible of a practical +application to the great concerns of humanity, whether providence may +allot to you the obscure but important duties of a private station, or +may be pleased to call you to the great and arduous scenes of public +affairs. In either event, I shall follow you with my affectionate +wishes through the various fortunes which may await you. And, believe +me, nothing will ever give me greater satisfaction than to hear that +you have carried into the different departments of life for which you +may be destined, these steady principles of religion, of integrity, and +of beneficence which can alone render you happy in yourselves and bring +blessings to mankind.” + +This was delivered in 1804, and four years later he concluded the same +course with these memorable words:―― + +“Now, gentlemen, when the connection is to be dissolved which has +for some months past subsisted between us, may I not be permitted to +express the hope which I am encouraged to entertain by the attention +with which you have honoured me:――that long after the period of +your academical education, you will recollect with satisfaction +those studies of your youth; and that by fixing in some measure your +principles concerning the nature, the duties, and the prospects of man, +they may contribute, under the various vicissitudes of fortune that +may yet await you, to fortify your virtuous resolutions, to elevate +your views above the pursuits of a vulgar ambition, and cherish +in your minds those habitual sentiments of religion, of humanity, +of justice, and of fortitude, which can alone render these talents +and accomplishments a source of permanent happiness and honour to +yourselves, a blessing to your friends, and a pledge to your country +for the perpetuity of that political fabric reared by the hand and +cemented by the blood of your ancestors; now alas! standing alone amid +the wreck of surrounding establishments, the last asylum and the only +remaining bulwark of the liberties of Europe.”¹ + + ¹ _Collected Works_, Volume IX., pages 452‒453, 464. The above + passages are admirably calculated for effect; and to have + heard them from the lips of Stewart, uttered with all the + grace, the gravity, and the dignity which he possessed, must + have produced a strong impression. + + Some people, however, thought Stewart’s political opinions + too liberal, and that he had shown rather much favour + towards some of his French contemporaries; and he seems + to have had such parties in his mind when he composed the + following note:――“I think it proper for me now to add, that + at the period when this memoir was read before the Royal + Society of Edinburgh, it was not unusual, even among men + of some talents and information, to confound studiously, + the speculative doctrines of political economy, with the + discussions concerning the first principles of government, + which happened unfortunately at that time to agitate + the public mind. The doctrine of free trade was itself + represented as of a revolutionary tendency; and some, which + had formerly prided themselves on their intimacy with Smith, + and on their zeal for the propagation of his liberal system, + began to question the expediency of subjecting to the + disputations of philosophers the arena of state policy, + and the unfathomable wisdom of the feudal ages.”――Stewart’s + _Life of Adam Smith, in Collected Works_, Volume X., page 87. + +Stewart’s works consist of――(1) _Elements of the Philosophy of +the Human Mind_, extending to three volumes, which were published +separately in the years 1792, 1814, and 1827; but in the interval +between the publication of the first and third of these volumes, +(2) his _Outlines of Moral Philosophy_ appeared in 1793; (3) his +_Philosophical Essays_ in 1810; (4) his _Dissertation on the Progress +of Metaphysical and Ethical Philosophy_ in 1814 and 1820; (5) his +_Biographical Account of Adam Smith_ in 1793, _of Dr. Robertson_ +in 1796, and _of Dr. Reid_ in 1802; (6) his work on the _Active and +Moral Powers of Man_ appeared in 1828, the year of his death; (7) his +_Lectures on Political Economy_ which were not prepared for publication +by Stewart himself, but drawn up from imperfect manuscripts, and +included in Hamilton’s collected editions of his works. This edition +extends to ten volumes, and to it my references are uniformly made. + +When Stewart entered on the duties of the chair of moral philosophy, +his mind was well trained to scientific studies, which enabled him to +take a comprehensive view of the subject. In the first volume of his +_Elements of the Philosophy of the Mind_, he explained at length what +he conceived to be the nature, the object, and the utility of mental +study; but he did not in any of his writings develop his view of the +precise relation of psychology to the philosophical sciences, nor +specify the modes of their dependence on each other; although he stated, +in general terms, the common relation which the different branches of +knowledge bear to the human mind. He indicates his view thus:――“To the +philosophy of the mind are to be referred all our inquiries concerning +the divisions and the classification of the objects of human knowledge, +and also all the various rules, both for the communication and the +investigation of truth. These general rules of science, and these +general rules of method, ought to form the subject of a rational and +useful logic.... As a philosophical system of logic would assist us +in our particular scientific investigations, by keeping steadily in +our view the attainable objects of human curiosity; so, by exhibiting +to us the relation in which they all stand to each other, and the +relation which they all bear to what ought to be their common end――the +advancement of human happiness, it would have a tendency to confine +industry and genius to inquiries that are of real practical utility.... +From such a system of logic, too, important assistance might be +expected for reforming the established plan of academical education. +It is melancholy to reflect on the manner in which this is carried on +in most, perhaps I should say in all the countries of Europe; and that +in an age of comparative light and liberty, the intellectual and moral +characters of youth should continue to be formed on a plan devised +by men, who were not only strangers to the business of the world, +but who felt themselves interested in opposing the progress of useful +knowledge.”¹ + + ¹ _Works_, Volume II., pages 55‒59, 77‒80; also Volume I. + (Dissertation, pages 477, 478.) Stewart’s remarks on + education are still worth reading. + +Although he explicitly recognised the contrast of mind and matter, +and the branches of science to which the investigation of the opposite +phenomena gives rise, still he purposely refrained from attempting +their scientific organisation. The leading aim of his efforts was to +contribute what he could to general psychology, to diffuse a taste for +reflective studies, and to induce a noble and hopeful life in man; thus +raising a liberal culture upon the firm basis of self-knowledge.¹ After +he had discussed and pointed out the shortcomings in the existing state +of things, he enounced his own purpose in the following words:――“I have +thus endeavoured to point out and illustrate a few of the important +purposes to which the philosophy of the human mind is subservient. It +will not, however, I flatter myself, be supposed by any of my readers +that I mean to attempt a systematic work on all or any of the subjects +I have now mentioned, the most limited of which would furnish matter +for many volumes. What I have aimed at has been to give, in the +first place, as distinct and complete an analysis as I could of the +principles, both intellectual and active, of our nature; and, in the +second place, to illustrate, as I proceed, the application of these +general laws of the human constitution to the different classes of +phenomena that result from them.... It will not, therefore, I hope, +be objected to me, that I have been guilty of a blameable violation +of unity in the plan of my work, till it be considered how far such +a violation was useful for accomplishing the purposes for which I +write.”² + + ¹ “It is almost unnecessary for me to remark, how much + individuals would be assisted in the proper and liberal + culture of the mind, if they were previously led to take a + comprehensive survey of human nature in all its parts, of + its various faculties, and powers, and sources of enjoyment, + and of the effects which are produced on these by particular + situations. It is such knowledge alone of the capacities + of the mind, that can enable a person to judge of his + own acquisitions; and to employ the most effective means + of supplying his defects, and removing his inconvenient + habits.... But education can never be systematically + directed to its proper objects, till we have obtained, not + only an accurate analysis of the general principles of our + nature, and an account of the most important laws which + regulate their operation; but also an explanation of the + various modifications and combinations of these principles, + which produce that diversity of talents, genius, and + character, we observe among men.”――Volume II., pages 61, 62. + + ² Volume II., pages 89, 90. + +In the discrimination of ultimate principles, Stewart manifested +admirable sagacity. He called truths “The Fundamental Laws of Belief, +or the Primary Elements of Human Reason,” meaning by this generally +what Reid termed First Principles, or the Dictates of Common Sense. +The chief point in the treatment of these principles, in which Stewart +differs from Reid, is in relation to mathematical demonstration. He +makes no pretension to an exhaustive enumeration of these primary +truths, but so far as he goes, his mode of discriminating them is +reasonable and satisfactory.¹ + + ¹ Volume III., page 41, _et seq._ + +His classification of cognition――the faculties of knowledge――is as +follows:――1. Consciousness; 2. External Perception; 3. Attention; +4. Conception; 5. Abstraction; 6. Association of Ideas; 7. Memory; +8. Imagination; 9. Reasoning, including Logic. + +This distribution of the intellectual faculties is redundant; and +though consciousness is recognised as a separate attribute of the mind, +it receives no satisfactory treatment. Attention, though an important +function, is not a separate faculty, as it is acquired by a long series +of efforts, and both its exercise and power depends upon the will. + +In regard to perception Stewart followed the doctrines of Reid. +Conception is explained as a power of the mind which enables us to form +a notion of an absent object of perception, or of a sensation formally +felt; its function being to give us an exact transcript of what we +have felt or perceived. He distinguishes his meaning of the term from +imagination, and observes that he followed Reid in this application of +the term. + +A chapter is devoted to abstraction, which is treated at great length +through eight sections, and in which there are many interesting +observations. The last section dealt with the use and abuse of general +principles in politics, and he endeavours to clear up some of the +prevailing misconceptions of the economical system――an ideal theory +of society. Stewart himself was always inclined to take a favourable +view of the future progress of mankind and the improvement of political +institutions; and in this section he directs his efforts to show that +such a result was probable.¹ + + ¹ Volume II., page 249. + +Two chapters are given to the discussion of the association of ideas, +which he considered from two points of view――(1) the influence of +association in regulating the succession of our thoughts, and (2) its +influence on the intellectual powers and on the moral character, by +the more close and indissolvable combinations which it leads us to form +in infancy and in early youth. His exposition of association extends +to about a hundred pages, and it is interesting and well illustrated +by appropriate instances and quotations. He enumerates, as obvious +modes of associative connection, Resemblance, Contrariety, Vicinity in +time and place; and as less obvious modes, Cause and Effect, Means and +Ends, Premises, and Conclusions. In his concluding remarks he avers +that “there is good reason for believing that many of the facts which +consciousness would lead us to consider, upon a superficial view, +as ultimate facts, are resolvable into other principles still more +general.”¹ + + ¹ Volume II., page 344. + +In his treatment of memory, he endeavoured to show that it cannot +be resolved into the principle of association, because association +presupposes a conservative faculty in the mind itself; but, on +the other hand, without the associative principle, our faculty of +retention would be of little use. He discusses the varieties of memory +manifested in different individuals, the improvement of memory, the +connection between memory and philosophical genius; and on all these +varied relations of memory Stewart says much that is interesting and +instructive. There are three requisites to a good memory――“(1) to be +susceptible, (2) to be retentive, (3) to be ready.”¹ + + ¹ Volume II. page 365. + +To imagination he assigns the function of making a selection of +qualities and circumstances from a variety of different objects, and, +by combining and arranging these, to form a new creation of its own. He +gives it, however, the characteristics rather of a reproductive faculty +than of a representative one. He treated imagination in its relation +to some of the fine arts, and its relation to taste and genius. He +also examined at length the influence of imagination on character and +happiness.¹ + + ¹ Volume II., pages 431‒435, 450, _et seq._ + +In the second volume of his _Elements of the Mind_, he treats of +reasoning and deductive evidence; of the Aristotelian Logic; and of +the method of inquiry according to the experimental or inductive logic. +These mixed logical discussions contain much that is interesting, +if not always profound. The third volume of his _Elements_ treats of +language; of the principle or law of sympathetic imitation; of the +varieties of intellectual character; comparisons between the faculties +of man and those of the lower animals; and several other interesting +subjects. His long chapter on the varieties of intellectual character +is exceedingly interesting. + +Stewart’s volume of philosophical essays contain some of his best +compositions, and are partly historical, critical, and literary. More +than one half of the volume is occupied with the discussion of topics +relating to Taste――the beautiful, the sublime, and allied subjects. +Explanations and criticisms of Locke, Berkeley, and the theories of +♦Hartley, Priestly, and Darwin, occupy the other parts of the volume. + + ♦ “Hartly” replaced with “Hartley” + +He classified the active powers of the mind, the emotions, feelings, +and desires thus:―― + + I. Instinctive { 1. Appetites. + Principles { 2. Desires = Knowledge, Esteem, Power, etc. + of Action. { 3. Affections = Benevolent and Malevolent. + + { 1. Prudence. + II. Rational and { 2. Moral Faculty. + Governing { 3. Decency, or regard to character. + Principles { 4. Sympathy. + of Action. { 5. The Ridiculous. + { 6. Taste. + +His treatment of these varied phenomena of the mind is always +interesting, cautious, humane, and marked by sound judgment and +sagacity; occasionally original, and, on the whole, the most valuable +part of his writings. + +He stated the aim of moral inquiry thus:――“The object of moral +philosophy is to ascertain the general rules of a wise and virtuous +conduct in life, in so far as these rules may be discovered by the +unassisted light of nature, that is, by an examination of the human +constitution, and of the circumstances in which man is placed.” With +this end, our inquiries may be arranged under three heads, according as +they refer to the intellectual powers of man; to his active and moral +powers, or to consideration of man as a member of a political body.¹ + + ¹ _Outlines of Moral Philosophy._ + +In short, to sum up his chief moral doctrines, he maintained――1. That +the Moral Faculty is an original principle of the mind; he argued +this point earnestly and at length. 2. He argued against the ethical +systems founded on Utility. 3. But he objected strongly to the doctrine +which makes morality depend on the will of God. 4. On the question +of Freewill, he contends for liberty. 5. Concerning the relation of +Morality to Religion, he assumes the benevolence of the Deity, and +avers that “when we are convinced that God is infinitely good, and +that He is the friend and protector of virtue, this belief affords the +most powerful inducements to the practice of every branch of our duty.” +6. He elaborately discussed the subject of Happiness, and presented +a classification of the most important pleasures under the following +heads:――(1) The pleasures of activity and repose; (2) the pleasures of +sense; (3) the pleasures of the imagination; (4) the pleasures of the +understanding; (5) the pleasures of taste, or fine art. + +In forming an opinion upon his merits as a writer, the aims which +he had in view, and the circumstances in which his works originated, +should be remembered. Stewart cannot be called a great original thinker; +but he was an able teacher and a good expositor. Most of his writings +could have been much improved by a process of pruning and condensation. + +His style is graceful, ornate, and flowing, and enriched by a liberal +culture. He had the power of rendering a difficult subject attractive +and easily comprehended; yet he was not, in the higher sense, a master +of method. Hence his _Dissertation on the History of Mental Philosophy_ +is very defective in arrangement and in consecutive exposition. In +short, the main defects of his style is diffuseness and repetition, and +a lack of force and strength, with a singular and lamentable want of +brief and orderly recapitulation, at the proper places. He hardly seems +to have been aware of the value of a concise and luminous statement +at the close or the beginning of a great subject as an aid to the +understanding. But after all reasonable deductions, Stewart’s works +remain a noble monument of his talents, industry, humane culture, and +his kindly nature and goodness of heart. + + + SECTION IV. + + _Gerard, Beattie, Campbell, Alison._ + +Dr. Alexander Gerard was appointed professor of divinity in Marischal +College, Aberdeen, in 1759, an office which he held for about twelve +years. He is the author of an ingenious _Essay on Taste_ which appeared +in 1758, and a second edition in 1764. The essay is divided into three +parts, and he handled the subject in the following order:――In the first +part, Taste is resolved into its simple principles, which consist of +the sense or taste of novelty; of the sense of sublimity; of beauty; +of imitation; of harmony; of oddity and ridicule; and of virtue. In +the second part, the formation of taste by the union and improvement of +its simple principles is explained. In the third part, the province and +importance of taste is discussed.¹ + + ¹ To the second edition of this essay were annexed three other + essays on the same subject, by Voltaire, d’Alembert, and + Montesquieu. + +He began by remarking that “a fine taste is neither wholly the gift +of nature, nor wholly the effect of art. It derives its origin from +certain powers natural to the mind; but these powers cannot attain +their full perfection, unless they be assisted by proper culture. +Taste consists chiefly in the improvement of those principles which are +commonly called the powers of imagination, and are considered by modern +philosophers as internal or reflex senses,¹ supplying us with finer +and more delicate perceptions than any which can be properly referred +to our external organs.” And he reduces these reflex senses in the way +indicated in the preceding paragraph. + + ¹ The reference to modern philosophers was to Hutcheson’s + _Inquiry concerning Beauty and Virtue_ and his _Essay on the + Passions_; and Dr. Gerard’s _Treatise on Taste_ is only one + of the many proofs of the influence of Hutcheson’s writings + in Scotland. + +The subject is well worked out, and his style is exceedingly clear, +simple, and easy. He observes that the internal senses are assisted by +a delicacy of feeling or passion; and, applying this to the pathetic, +he says――“Since, therefore, the pathetic is a quality of so great +moment in works of taste, a man who is destitute of sensibility of +heart must be a very imperfect judge of them. He is a stranger to those +feelings which are of the greatest importance to direct his judgment. +If a person possessed all the internal senses in perfection, without +delicacy of passion, he could estimate the principal works of genius, +only by their inferior qualities.... Delicacy of passion may interest a +person so much, that he cannot for some time examine a performance with +critical exactness; but it gives him exquisite delight in the meantime, +and enables him to pass a just sentence at last.”¹ + + ¹ Page 83. + +Dr. James Beattie¹ was elected professor of moral philosophy in +Marischal College, Aberdeen, in 1760. In 1770, his _Essay on the +Immutability of Truth_ appeared, which was intended to be a refutation +of Hume’s scepticism. It is rather a vehement than reasonable +production, and strong in passionate assertion, but weak in argument; +yet it was popular for a time, and passed through several editions. + + ¹ Born in 1735; died in 1803. + +He is the author of a work entitled _Elements of Moral Science_, which +was published in 1790‒93, in two volumes; which are mainly a summary +of the lectures on moral philosophy delivered to his class in Marischal +College. The work consists of two main divisions:――1. Psychology, +under which is included cognition; the active powers――will, feelings, +sentiments and passions; natural theology――the existence and attributes +of God; and the nature and immortality of the soul. 2. Ethics or moral +philosophy, which is followed by economics――the family and domestic +relations; then politics; and finally rhetoric and logic. Such is an +indication of Beattie’s scheme of philosophy, and the method of his +system of instruction. + +But his treatment of logic is limited to remarks on evidence; rhetoric, +however, is treated at length through one hundred and ninety-three +pages, and perhaps this is one of the most interesting parts of his +work. Beattie’s style is orderly, his sentences are generally simple, +and his line of thought easily followed; but it has not much animation +or ornament, and lacks the qualities of strength and incisiveness. + +Dr. George Campbell,¹ a minister of the Church of Scotland, became +Principal of Marischal College, Aberdeen, in 1759. His first work, _A +Dissertation on Miracles_, was published in 1762. It consists of two +parts, and presented an examination of the principles advanced by Hume +in his _Essay on Miracles_. In the first part, Campbell argues that +miracles can be proved by testimony, “and religious miracles are not +less capable of this evidence than others;” in the second part, he +maintains that “the miracles on which the belief of Christianity is +founded are sufficiently attested.” These chief points are well and +ably worked out. His mode of controversy is candid and generous; and +his examination of Hume’s principle, for there was but one principle +at the root of it――namely, experience――is carried on throughout with +admirable fairness and sagacity. + + ¹ Born in 1719; died in 1796. + +Campbell insists that Hume’s chief argument from experience is founded +on a false hypothesis; as it supposes testimony to derive its evidence +solely from experience, which is not the case. “Testimony, it is +acknowledged, is a weaker evidence than sense. But it has been already +evinced that its evidence for particular facts is infinitely stronger +than that which the general conclusions from experience can afford us. +Testimony holds directly of memory and sense. Whatever is duly attested +must be remembered by the witness; whatever is duly remembered must +once have been perceived. But nothing similar takes place with regard +to experience, nor can testimony, with any appearance of meaning, be +said to hold of it. + +“Thus I have shown, as I proposed, that the author’s reasoning proceeds +on a false hypothesis.――It supposes testimony to derive its evidence +solely from experience, which is false.――It supposes, by consequence, +that contrary observations have a weight in opposing testimony, which +the first and most acknowledged principles of ♦human reason, or, if +you like the term better, common sense, evidently shows that they have +not.――It assigns a rule for discovering the superiority of contrary +evidence, which, in the latitude there given it, tends to mislead the +judgment, and which it is impossible, by any explication, to render of +real use.”¹ + + ¹ Part I., section 1, pages 63, 64 (1797). + + ♦ “hnman” replaced with “human” + +Thus far, it seems Campbell did sway the balance somewhat against +Hume’s chief principle of estimating evidence. But his dissertation +itself must be read, for a full appreciation of the accurate, masterly, +and analytic power which it displays. Shortly after it appeared, it was +translated into the French, Dutch, and German languages. + +Campbell’s _Philosophy of Rhetoric_, which appeared in 1776, is a +valuable and ingenious work. It was universally recognised as the +greatest work on the subject which had appeared since the time of +Aristotle. His style is clear and terse, and always manifests a +comprehensive grasp of the subject. + +The Rev. Archibald Alison¹ was a son of an Edinburgh magistrate, and +educated at Glasgow and Oxford, and finally settled down in Edinburgh +as an Episcopal minister. He was the father of the well-known historian, +Sir Archibald Alison, and also of William P. Alison, an eminent +physician and professor in the University of Edinburgh. He himself is +the author of _An Essay on the Nature and Principles of Taste_, which +appeared in 1790, and has passed through six or seven editions. + + ¹ Born in 1757; died 1839. + +It is a pretty elaborate production, and its leading characteristic +is an attempt to explain the æsthetic emotions and feelings on the +principles of association. It is a work of real merit and value, and +has had a considerable influence on subsequent theories of taste and +beauty. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXVIII. + + _Dr. Brown――Mackintosh._ + + + SECTION I. + + _Dr. Brown._ + +DR. THOMAS BROWN¹ was a native of the parish of Kirkmabreck, in the +south of Scotland, where his father was minister; but he died shortly +after the birth of the future philosopher, and the family then removed +to Edinburgh. There he received the rudiments of his education from +his mother, and at the age of seven he was sent by his relatives to +school in England. At the age of fourteen he returned, entered the +University of Edinburgh, attended the logic class and Stewart’s courses +of lectures. But in 1798 he was studying law, which, however, he soon +relinquished for medicine. He attended the medical classes from 1798 +to 1803, when he graduated M.A., having been over ten years a student +in the University. Thus Brown had the advantage of the instruction of +several eminent professors who then illumined this school. + + ¹ Born in 1778; died in 1820. + +In 1805, he ventured into what has been called the Leslie controversy, +touching the heterodoxy of John Leslie, whom the clergy wished to +exclude from the chair of mathematics, on the ground that he had +enounced views on causation similar to David Hume’s; and in reference +to this, Brown published his _Inquiry into the Relation of Cause and +Effect_, defending Hume’s theory that this relation is merely one of +constant antecedence and sequence. He was for some time assistant to +Dr. James Gregory; but a wider field for the exercise of his genius +awaited him. + +It was in the summer of 1810, with the full approval of Stewart himself, +that Brown was appointed his colleague and successor in the chair of +moral philosophy. He was an interesting, cultured man, with a glowing +poetical fancy, combined with other qualities of mind of a rarer form, +and he soon became popular. Those who had the good fortune to listen to +his lectures were delighted with them; and his career as a professor, +though comparatively short, was a brilliant success. His lectures were +published shortly after his death in 1820, and attained a remarkable +popularity; for before 1852 eighteen editions had been issued in great +Britain, and more in America.¹ + + ¹ His lectures extend to one hundred, and, with his unfinished + text-book, contain all that he wrote on the philosophy of + the mind. + +They contain a systematic exposition of the philosophy of the human +mind. In his introductory lectures he explains the scope and limits of +the subject, the relation of the philosophy of the mind to the sciences +in general, and to the mental sciences, arts, and moral culture in +particular; and he did this in an interesting and attractive manner, +well suited to arrest the attention of a youthful audience. He told his +class:――“Though I shall endeavour to give as full a view as my limits +will permit of all the objects of inquiry which are to come before +us, it will be my chief wish to awake in you, or to cherish, a love of +those sublime inquiries themselves. There is a philosophic spirit which +is far more valuable than any limited acquirements of philosophy; and +the cultivation of which, therefore, is the most precious advantage +that can be derived from the lessons and studies of many academic +years――a spirit which is quick to pursue whatever is within the reach +of human intellect, but which is not less quick to discern the bounds +that limit every human inquiry, and which, therefore, in seeking much, +seeks only what man may learn――which knows how to distinguish what is +just in itself from what is merely accredited by illustrious names; +adopting a truth which no one has sanctioned, and rejecting an error +of which all approve, with the same calmness as if no judgment were +opposed to its own.”¹ + + ¹ Volume I., pages 14‒15, 18‒20. + +He devotes several lectures to an explanation of the methods of +inquiry in physical science in general, of power, cause and effect, +hypothesis and theory; and in these he manifested considerable powers +of exposition. He insisted strongly that the method of inquiry in +physical science, should also be followed in mental science. + +The chief features of Brown’s psychology may be briefly indicated +thus:――Fundamentally, it is a simple form of idealism, which recognises +primary beliefs, while its conception of method is two-fold――(1) The +mental phenomena may be viewed as successive, and so susceptible of +arrangement in the order of their succession, as causes and effects; +(2) viewed as complex, and consequently susceptible of analysis; and +it was chiefly in the latter relation that he conceived the philosophy +of the mind to be a science of progressive discovery. In this relation +it still presented an inexhaustible field of inquiry, since the mind +is continually forming new combinations, which modify its subsequent +thoughts and emotions, the results of which it is the end of mental +analysis to reduce to their original elements. In accordance with +this conception, he divided the whole phenomena of the mind into +two classes――the internal and external affections; the second class +is simple and requires few sub-divisions, but the first, as it +comprehends the far greater part of the mental phenomena, admits of +many sub-divisions, as aids to arrangement and exposition. The first +great sub-division of the intellectual class, is into the intellectual +states of mind and emotions. But our external affections have their +causes in external objects, while the internal affections arise from +the previous feelings or emotions of the mind itself; both classes +co-exist, and cannot always be considered as arising separately. +Hence the different views which have been taken of perception and the +existence of the external world. + +Brown treated sensation at length, minutely analysing the different +tribes of our sensations, as he called them, through all the external +senses. After some explanation of the physical side of the process, he +follows the same order as Reid in discussing the first four external +senses, and he avers that none of our sensations arising through +smelling, taste, or hearing afford us any original knowledge of +the existence of external things, though we seem to act on such an +assumption. He dwells long and interestingly on the early sensations +of touch, and rightly assigns to them a priority over all our other +sensations. Those qualities of bodies supposed to be made known +to us by touch he reduced to two――resistance and extension; and he +endeavoured to show that our muscular frame is the organ through which +these external qualities are originally felt. He illustrated this view +in various ways.¹ + + ¹ Volume I., pages 481, 483, 484. + +He minutely explained the points touching perception wherein he +differed from Reid. In the preceding account of Reid’s doctrines, +it was shown that he held to an intuitive knowledge of the primary +qualities of bodies; Brown maintained that we have no such intuitive +knowledge of bodies. Speaking of perception in reference to the primary +and secondary qualities of bodies, he says:――“In both, it is the effect +of the pressure of an external cause, and in both it must be relative +only, to that particular cause which produced it; the knowledge of +which cause, in the case of extension, as much as in the case of +fragrance, is nothing more than the knowledge that there is within +us something which is not our mind itself, but which exists, as we +cannot but believe, permanently and independent of our mind.... What +it is, as it exists in absolute independence of our perceptions, we who +become acquainted with it, only by those very perceptions, know not in +either case.... We must still believe our perceptions themselves to be +altogether different and distinct from the external causes, whatever +they may be, which have produced them; to be, in short, phenomena +purely mental, and to be this equally, whether they relate to the +primary or the secondary qualities of matter; our notion of extension, +in whatever way the Deity may have connected it with the presence of +external things, being as much a state of the mind as our notion of +sweetness or sound.”¹ + + ¹ Volume I., page 582, _et seq._ + +He occupies two lectures with a criticism of Dr. Reid’s claims +in regard to the ideal system of perception. He argues that Reid +misunderstood the real opinions of philosophers; that many of them held +a view of perception similar to his own; that the supposed difference +arose from Reid’s having imagined as real “what was merely intended +as metaphorical, and overthrown opinions which the authors, to whom he +ascribes them, would themselves have been equally eager to overthrow.” +His attack upon Reid’s claims is remarkably virulent.¹ But it should be +observed that neither Reid nor Brown himself was strong in the history +of philosophical opinions; in the case of both their knowledge of +systems and theories of recorded thought was limited and inaccurate. +The natural result was that both of them have sometimes fallen into +mistakes concerning the views of preceding philosophers and schools. In +short, Brown had a stronger passion for quoting poetry than for making +wise and accurate references to the doctrines of prior philosophers. + + ¹ Volume II., page 51; _Lectures_, 26, 27, 28. + +In so far as Brown’s psychology is not the issue of his own analytic +powers, it is indebted to Reid, to those British thinkers who had +given prominence to the principles of associations in explaining mental +phenomena, to Condillac, and a few other French philosophers of the +latter part of last century. He was naturally attracted towards those +thinkers who had carried analysis to the farthest limits. + +He classified the intellectual states of the mind (or cognition) into +what he called two generic capacities――(1) simple suggestion and (2) +relative suggestion. Simple suggestion meant what is usually termed the +laws of association. But he intended to give these a wider application, +and therefore adopted a classification which he conceived to be most +in accordance with the associative principle. As the influence of this +principle itself extends not merely to ideas but to every affection of +the mind, all our emotions may be revived in a certain degree by its +influence, or may become blended with the ideas or other feelings which +awaken them, in the same way as our conceptions of external objects.¹ + + ¹ Volume II., pages 189, 197‒199, _et seq._ + +His primary laws of simple suggestion are――(1) Resemblance, (2) +Contrast, (3) Contiguity; and he reduced what he called the supposed +mental faculties of memory, conception, and imagination to simple +suggestion. In his exposition of these principles of association, +he exhibited great analytic powers and an amazing fertility of +illustration. He was also masterly in summarising; and the following +quotation, touching his reduction of conception and memory to the +principle of suggestion, though abridged, will afford an indication +of his powers in this particular:―― + +“Gentlemen, the inquiries which have occupied us with respect to the +phenomena of the principle of suggestion have, I hope, shown you what +that principle is, as distinguished from other principles of our mental +constitution. It becomes necessary, however, in justification of that +simple arrangement which I ventured to propose to you, to consider +this principle, not merely in relation to the phenomena which I have +included under it, but also in relation to other arrangements, and +to show that this one general tendency of the mind is sufficient +to account for a variety of phenomena which have been referred to +peculiar powers of the understanding. This I endeavoured to prove in +my last lecture, with respect to two of these supposed intellectual +powers――conception and memory. + +“In the first place, I showed that conception, far from being +distinguished from suggestion, is only a particular operation of that +very principle; what are called the laws of association in relation +to our mere ideas, being nothing more than the general circumstances +according to which conceptions follow conceptions in our trains of +thought.... The power of suggestion is the capacity of the mind by +which we are sensible of the varieties of light; and we might as well +speak of a power of seeing a particular colour, distinct from vision, +as of a power of conceiving the same particular colour, distinct from +the general power of the mind that is termed by us suggestion. When +I hear the sound of my friend’s name, and the conception of my friend +immediately arises, there is not in the production of this one mental +state the operation both of a power of association and a power of +conception, but there is a development of the single capacity of the +mind, in consequence of which certain other conceptions arise after +certain other conceptions or perceptions.... + +“After showing our conceptions to be only particular modifications +of the general power of suggestion, I proceeded to consider our +remembrances, analysing these into two distinct parts――a particular +conception of some object or feeling remembered, and the accompanying +feeling of a certain relation of priority to our consciousness. The +simple conception which forms one of the elements of the remembrance, +and differs in no respect from the conceptions that are unaccompanied +with the notion of a relation, is of course reducible to the power of +simple suggestion, to which all our conceptions are to be referred; +the feeling of the relation of priority, which forms its other element, +is, like our feeling of every other relation, an effort of that +general susceptibility of relation suggested, which we are to consider +afterwards. The remembrance, therefore, being a complex feeling, +is a proof of these two susceptibilities of the mind, to which we +owe the constituent elementary feelings; but it is not a proof of +any third power.... What we term memory, then, in distinction from +mere conception, is not a new power, but merely a complex result of +different mental capacities.”¹ + + ¹ Volume II., pages 384‒388. + +He also classified and explained the secondary laws of suggestion. He +enumerated nine of these which he regarded as indispensable to account +for the variety in the effects of the primary laws. Thus, suggestions +are as various as the original feelings have been――(1) of longer +or shorter continuance; (2) more or less lively; (3) more or less +frequently present; (4) more or less recent; (5) more or less free from +mixture; (6) that they vary according to the difference of original +constitution; (7) according to differences of temporary emotion; (8) +according to changes produced in the state of the body; (9) according +to general tendencies produced by prior habits. The first four touch +rather the momentary feelings themselves than any particular state of +the mind of an individual, and have, as it were, a double operation. +But each one of these secondary laws alone may be sufficient to change +the suggestion, which would otherwise have arisen from the operation +of the primary laws; and it is not wonderful, therefore, that when many +of them, as they usually do, concur in one joint effect, the result in +different individuals should be so various.¹ + + ¹ Volume II., pages 282‒285, _et seq._ + +Under his second sub-division of mental phenomena he included all +feelings of relation. He employed the term relative suggestion as +nearly equivalent to comparison; and whether the relation was of two +or many external objects, or of two or many affections of the mind, the +feeling of this, arising in consequence of certain preceding states of +mind, is what he called relative suggestion. He classified relations +under two heads――(1) those of co-existence, and (2) those of succession. +To the first belong the relations of position, resemblance, proportion, +degree, and comprehension; to the second, as the word imports, all +those which stand to each other as prior in the order of time. History +is merely a succession of facts and events, together with their causes +and effects, in the order of time. Thus relations ♦of succession are +either of a casual or of invariable antecedence and consequence.¹ + + ♦ duplicate word “of” removed + + ¹ Volume II., pages 458, 459, 470‒472. + +Concerning the general terms and the early stage of generalisation, +Brown sees no reason to doubt that man can reason without language; +though it is equally true that, without general terms, reasoning +must be very limited and imperfect. He explains the early process of +generalisation thus:――“The perception of objects,――the feeling of their +resemblance in certain respects,――the invention of a name for these +circumstances of felt resemblance,――what can be more truly and readily +conceivable than this process?” He repeats this many times in varied +words.¹ + + ¹ Volume II., pages 478, 495, 504. + +He also endeavoured to reduce the supposed faculties of judgment, +reason, and abstraction to relative suggestion, and his reasoning +assumed this form:――Relative suggestions are the relations of +co-existence and those of succession; and we can easily separate the +feeling of relation from the perceptions or conceptions themselves. We +perceive or conceive objects, and feel them to be variously related; +now, with this capacity of relative suggestion, the faculty of judgment +may be considered as almost synonymous. Accordingly, he treated it +in that light. But reasoning itself is nothing more than a series of +judgments――that is, feelings of relations, which are all referable to +the capacity of relative suggestion. Abstraction, in like manner, is +only a feeling of resemblance, of partial similarity among objects. +His classification of the mind may be tabulated thus:―― + + { I. External { 1. Sensation. + { Affections. { 2. Organic States. + { + { II. Internal { 1. Simple Suggestion = Laws of Association. + Mind. { Affections. { 2. Relative Suggestion. + { + { { Emotions. { = Taste. + { { { = Moral Philosophy. + { + { III. Results. { Existence of God. + { { Immortality of the Soul. + +Brown treats the emotions in detail, under three divisions――1. +Immediate, excited by present objects; 2. Retrospective; 3. Prospective. +In the first division he includes cheerfulness and melancholy, wonder, +languor, beauty, sublimity, the ludicrous, moral feeling, love and hate, +sympathy, pride, and humility; in the second, anger, gratitude, simple +regret and gladness, remorse and its opposite; in the third, desires +of continued existence, pleasure, action, society, knowledge, power, +affection, glory, the happiness of others, evil to others, fear, hope, +expectation, and anticipation. + +His treatment and analysis of the emotions is pretty satisfactory. In +this division of mental phenomena, as in his treatment of the cognitive +side of the mind, the influence of Hume may occasionally be traced; but +his own emotional powers were of a warmer and keener cast than Hume’s. + +In the ethical department of his system Brown partly follows Stewart +and Hutcheson, but applies the principle of association more than his +predecessors. He contended for a moral faculty――an innate sentiment, +and the following will afford an idea of his views:―― + +“When we think within ourselves,――Is this what we ought to do? we +do not make two inquiries,――first, Whether the action be right? and +then, Whether we should have merit in doing wrong; or demerit in doing +what is right for us to do? We only consider whether doing it shall +excite in others approbation or disapprobation, and in ourselves a +corresponding emotion of complacency or remorse. According to the +answer which we give in our hearts, in this respect――an answer which +relates to a single feeling of moral approbation,――we shall conceive +that we are doing what we ought to do, or what we ought not to do,――and +knowing this, we can have no farther moral inquiry to make as to the +merit or demerit of doing what is previously felt by us to be right or +wrong. + +“To have merit, to be virtuous, to have done our duty, to have acted in +conformity with obligation,――all have reference to one feeling of the +merit,――that feeling of approbation, which attends the contemplation +of virtuous actions.... To this simple proposition, therefore, we +must always come in our moral estimate, whatever division, or varied +reference, we may afterwards make. Persons acting in a certain manner, +excite in us a feeling of approval; persons acting in a manner opposite +to this, cannot be considered by us, without an emotion equally +vivid of a different kind.... Why does it seem to us virtue to act in +this way? Why have we a feeling of obligation or duty, when we think +of acting in this way? The only answer which we can give to these +questions is the same in all,――that it is impossible for us to consider +the action, without feeling that by acting in this way, we should look +upon ourselves, and others would look upon us, with approving regard; +and that if we were to act in a different way, we should look upon +ourselves, and others would look upon us, with abhorrence, or at least +with disapprobation.... Why do we consider certain actions as morally +right,――certain actions as morally wrong? Why do we consider ourselves +as morally bound to perform certain actions,――to abstain from certain +other actions? Why do we feel moral approbation of those who perform +certain actions,――moral disapprobation of those who perform certain +other actions? For an answer to all these, I would refer to the simple +emotion, as that on which alone the moral distinction is formed.”¹ + + ¹ Volume III., pages 568‒573, 581, _et seq._ + +This is the most definite statement on the moral faculty in his +lectures. He seldom uses the term conscience, but leaves his meaning +to be gathered from such sentences as these:――“There is then, in the +mind of each individual, a principle which leads him to divide actions +into two classes, virtuous and vicious.” “There is in our breast a +susceptibility of moral emotion; and the principle which thus approves +or condemns in us, is the noblest of the ties that connect us with the +universal community of mankind.” “All our moral sentiments then, of +obligation, virtue, merit, are, in themselves, as we have seen, nothing +more than one single feeling, variously referred to actions, as future, +present, and past. With the loss of the susceptibility of this one +peculiar species of emotion, all practical morality would instantly +cease.”¹ + + ¹ Volume IV., pages 152, 158. + +He gives an exposition of practical morals under the most common +heads――(1) Duties to our fellow men; (2) Duties to ourselves; (3) +Duties which we owe to the Supreme Being. He treats the family and +parental duties with much insight and judgment, and with elevated +feeling. + +His lectures on the existence of God exhibit fine moral feeling and +good intention; but they lack metaphysical grasp and range of intellect. +He dwells chiefly upon the design argument, on which he worked +wonderfully well. But it is, at best, only a creeping mode of proving +the existence of a Supreme Being; and if a belief in God is to continue +among men, it must be placed upon higher grounds and arguments than the +evidence of mere mechanical design. + +Brown also treated at length on the immortality of the human soul; +and on this subject his arguments are well worked out, and worthy of +attention. On this his psychological theory of the mind was available, +and he made a good use of it. His closing lectures are devoted to an +exposition of duty of cultivating our moral sentiments, our religious +and intellectual nature, in order to render ourselves happy and +glorious; and he expatiated eloquently on these themes. + +In forming an estimate of Brown’s philosophy, we should recall +attention to his position, and the aims which he immediately had in +view. He was only thirty-two years of age when appointed to teach the +moral philosophy class, and ten years after he died in the midst of his +work. His lectures were hastily prepared for oral delivery, and many +things might be quite appropriately introduced, as merely spoken to +the students, with the object of interesting them in the subjects of +the course, but which would be out of character in a work deliberately +composed and revised for publication. His lectures, as we have them, +appear with all the imperfections of being prepared for oral delivery +to a class of students; and it may fairly be assumed that if he had +himself prepared them for publication, he would have weeded out most +of the poetical quotations, the repetitions, and other blemishes. + +His reduction of all the special faculties of cognition to simple and +relative suggestion are unfortunate attempts. Conception, memory, and +imagination are reduced to simple suggestion; and judgment, reason, and +abstraction, to relative suggestion. + +He possessed several of the qualities of a good expositor. His +conception of method was clear, his analytic power conspicuous; and +he had the command of a great store of illustrations. His style is +florid, and brilliant to excess; though some fine touches of pathos +and eloquent passages occur in his lectures. His choice of words and +phrases is sometimes ridiculously inappropriate; such as these――“tribes +of our sensations,” “nameless tribes of sensations.” In truth, he had +not a great command of subjective language; in this respect he fell +far behind Adam Smith. His lectures, however, have furnished many hints +to the association school of psychologists; and in this direction his +influence has been considerable. + + + SECTION II. + + _Mackintosh._ + +Sir James Mackintosh was a native of Inverness-shire,¹ and was educated +at King’s College, Aberdeen; thence, in 1784, he proceeded to Edinburgh, +and entered on the study of medicine. After taking his medical degree +in 1788, he went to London to push his fortune; but not having obtained +a satisfactory practice in the medical profession, he abandoned it. He +seems to have entered warmly into the politics and stormy movements of +the time, listened with intense interest to the speeches of the leading +orators, and soon became a political writer himself. In the spring of +1791, his _Vindiciæ Gallicæ_ appeared, which is a glowing defence of +the French Revolution against the vehement _Reflections_ of Burke. The +style of this pamphlet is animated, but rather diffuse; yet it soon +attained a wide circulation. + + ¹ He was born at Aldourie, on the banks of the Ness, seven + miles from Inverness, in 1765, and died in 1832. + +Shortly after, he betook himself to the study of the law, and +was called to the bar in 1795. In 1799, he delivered a course of +thirty-nine _Lectures on the Law of Nature and Nations_, which were +subsequently published. He greatly distinguished himself in 1803 by his +defence of M. Peltier against a prosecution for libel on Bonaparte. His +speech on this occasion was a great effort of forensic eloquence, and +seems to have brought him into public notice. Like many other talented +and warm-hearted young men, he cherished ambitious literary projects +which were never realised. + +In 1804, he was appointed Recorder of Bombay. He resided eight years in +India; and returned to England in 1812, with an impaired constitution. +He was elected a member of Parliament for the county of Nairn, and in +the House of Commons he advocated liberal measures. He was appointed +professor of law in the East Indian College at Haileybury in 1818. + +But his literary projects, though not entirely abandoned, made little +progress, owing to a variety of circumstances: his good nature, +pleasant humour, wide knowledge, and great conversational power made +him a favourite in every society; and thus he was diverted from his +real work. He wrote articles for the _Edinburgh Review_; an abridgment +of English History down to the Reformation; a _Dissertation on the +Progress of Ethical Philosophy_, for the _Encyclopædia Britannica_; +and a fragment which he left on the Causes of the Revolution of 1688; +which was intended to be his masterpiece, and he had collected a +large quantity of materials for it. It is, however, only his Ethical +Dissertation which comes properly within the range of this section. + +Mackintosh’s “Dissertation on the Progress of Ethical Philosophy” is +chiefly limited to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, although +it presented a brief review of earlier systems, and included Stewart +and Brown. After a luminous introduction, he devotes a section to +preliminary observations on the nature of ethical science, and the +methods of examining it. He put the main ethical questions into +a definite form; and after remarking on the universality of the +distinction between right and wrong, he observes that in the inquiry +as to the foundation of morals, the two distinct questions――touching +(1) the Moral Faculty, and (2) the Standard of Morality, have seldom +been fully discriminated.¹ The first of these problems embraces ethical +theory, and also involves certain questions of pure psychology; the +second problem relates to the standard or test of morality――of right +and wrong in action――the ultimate end. Other important questions arise +in the province of morality; but he insists strongly on the necessity +of keeping these two chief distinctions steadily in view. His own +criticisms of moral systems proceed throughout upon these lines, +which gives to them a clearness and simplicity rarely found in ethical +disquisition. + + ¹ _Dissertation_, page 62. 1837. + +He gives a brief sketch of ancient ethics, and of scholastic ethics; +and began his account of modern ethics with Grotius and Hobbes. +Grotius’ work, which was published in 1625, presented the most +authentic statement of the general principles of morals which +prevailed in Europe, before the writings of Hobbes had occasioned +those ethical controversies which more especially belong to modern +times. He appreciates Hobbes very fairly; though, of course, he exposes +the fundamental errors of his ethical system. Hobbes was the real +instigator of most of the ethical inquiries instituted in Britain, +till through the early part of the eighteenth century; and the answers +to the _Leviathan_ alone would form a library.¹ + + ¹ _Dissertation_, pages 112‒133. + +He then gives an exposition of the views concerning the moral faculties +and the social affections, and examines the systems of Cumberland, +Cudworth, Clarke, Shaftesbury, Leibnitz, Malebranche, Edwards, and +others. The main cause of the imperfect views of morality exhibited +in the writings of most of those philosophers was the want of a clear +and discriminative insight into the position and significance of the +sentiments and feelings in relation to ethical philosophy. Some of them +insisted that reason alone was the supreme principle of morality, an +assumption long since shown to be utterly untenable. + +Those philosophers who are regarded as laying the foundations of a more +just theory of ethics, embracing Butler, Hutcheson, Berkeley, Hume, +Price, Hartley, Tucker, Paley, Bentham, Stewart, and Brown, were next +treated. He gives comparatively short but candid and valuable sketches +of the systems of these philosophers; while he introduced his own +criticisms under separate headings. Mackintosh was an able, amiable, +and mild-tempered man; and I have seen it stated that his critical +authority was weakened, “by an amiable propensity to eulogistic +declamation.” But this, like many other sayings, is only half true; +as bearing on the point, as well as for its historic interest, I will +quote his opening remarks on Bentham and his school:―― + +“The disciples of Mr. Bentham are more like the hearers of an Athenian +philosopher than the pupils of a modern professor, or the cool +proselytes of a modern writer. They are in general men of competent age, +of superior understanding, who voluntarily embrace the laborious study +of useful and noble sciences; who derive their opinions not so much +from the cold perusal of his writings, as from familiar converse with +a master from whose lips these opinions are recommended by simplicity, +disinterestedness, originality, and vivacity; aided rather than impeded +by foibles not unamiable, enforced of late by the growing authority +of years and fame, and at all times strengthened by that unbounded +reliance on his own judgment which mightily increases the ascendant +of such men over those who approach him. As he and they deserve the +credit of having abandoned vulgar prejudices, so they must be content +to incur the imputation of falling into the neighbouring vices of +seeking distinction by singularity; of clinging to opinions because +they are obnoxious; of wantonly wounding the most respectable feelings +of mankind; of regarding an immense display of method and nomenclature +as a sure token of a corresponding increase of knowledge, and of +considering themselves as a chosen few, whom an initiation into the +most secret mysteries of philosophy entitles to look down with pity, +if not with contempt, on the profane multitude.... Mr. Bentham has +at length been betrayed into the unphilosophical hypothesis, that all +the ruling bodies who guide the community have conspired to stifle +and defeat his discoveries. He is too little acquainted with doubts +to believe the honest doubts of others, and he is too angry to make +allowance for their prejudices and habits. He has embraced the most +extreme party in practical politics; manifesting more dislike and +contempt towards those who are more moderate supporters of popular +principles than towards their most inflexible opponents.”¹ + + ¹ _Dissertation_, pages 285, 286. + +This is among the warmest statements in his _Dissertation_. Indeed, the +spirit in which he criticises the systems of philosophers is unusually +calm, just, and candid. I will briefly indicate his own views on some +of the chief points of morality. + +1. He considered conscience to be a derived faculty――gradually formed, +the result of a series of associations. He notes the primary feelings +that enters into it, the principal of which are gratitude, sympathy, +resentment, remorse, and shame; the secondary causes of its development +are education, imitation, general opinion, laws and government. He +traces and explains its developments, and finally, conscience attains +its distinctive character, and appears in close relation with the will. + +2. Touching the standard, he is in favour of utility, with some +limitations. Utility is the final justification of right actions, but +not the immediate motive in the mind of the agent. He says: “The laws +prescribed by a benevolent Being to His creatures must necessarily +be founded on the principle of promoting their happiness. It would +be singular, indeed, if the proofs of the goodness of God, legible +in every part of nature, should not, above all others, be most +discoverable and conspicuous in the beneficial tendency of His moral +laws.” + +He remarks that to calculate the general tendency of every kind of +human action is a possible and common operation. The general good +effects of temperance, justice, fortitude, prudence, benevolence, +gratitude, and many others, are the subjects of calculations which, +when taken as generalities, are unerring.¹ + + ¹ _Dissertation_, pages 229‒230, 350‒365. + +3. The supreme good, or theory of happiness, is embodied in his +doctrine of the delightfulness of virtuous conduct, by which he +proposes to effect the reconciliation of our own good with that of +others. “Virtue is an inward fountain of pure delight, and the pleasure +of benevolence, if it could become lasting and intense, would convert +the heart into a heaven. They alone are truly happy or truly virtuous, +that have no need of a motive in regard to outward consequences.” + + + + + CHAPTER XXXIX. + + _Hamilton――Ferrier――and Robertson._ + + +SIR WILLIAM HAMILTON,¹ the most learned of all the Scottish +philosophers, was the son of Dr. William Hamilton, professor of +anatomy in the University of Glasgow, a position formerly held by +his grandfather, Dr. Thomas Hamilton. Sir William was the lineal +representative to the title of Sir Robert Hamilton, the leader of the +Covenanting army at Drumclog, and he manifested at least one feature +of the spirit of his ancestors――the energy and will to combat when +occasion occurred. His father died when he was an infant, but he +received an excellent education. He passed through the arts classes +at the University of Glasgow, and studied medicine one session at +Edinburgh, having intended at first to follow the hereditary profession +of the family. But in 1807, having obtained a Snell exhibition, he went +to Oxford. There he entered deeply into the study of ancient philosophy, +and finally graduated in the highest class. He returned to Scotland in +1811, studied law, and was called to the bar in 1816. + + ¹ Born in 1788; died in 1856. + +In 1820, Hamilton became a candidate for the chair of moral philosophy, +vacant by the death of Dr. Brown. The contest for the chair was very +keen, and finally lay between Hamilton and John Wilson. But Hamilton +was a Whig, Wilson a Tory; and as the appointment turned upon political +grounds, the majority of the town council of Edinburgh,――the patrons +of the chair, voted for Wilson, who accordingly obtained it. It should +be observed, however, that neither of the two gentlemen had up to +that time published anything which could be referred to as evidence of +their special qualifications for the chair of moral philosophy in the +University of Edinburgh.¹ + + ¹ In reality, Wilson was quite out of his element in the chair + of moral philosophy. But “the chair of moral philosophy in a + Scottish university seems to be elastic in its adaptability. + Brown made it a chair of psychology; Ferrier, at St. Andrews, + a chair of metaphysics; Wilson made it a chair of rhetoric + and Belles Letters. It is true that he treated of the + passions, virtues, duties, and so on, but he dealt with them + in the concrete, with illustrations from literature.”――Sir + A. Grant’s _Story of the University of Edinburgh_, Volume + II., pages 345‒346. + +The following year Sir William obtained the chair of civil history in +the University of Edinburgh, and he entered on his duties with ardour +and energy; yet his success was comparatively limited. The salary +attached to the chair was only one hundred pounds a year. His wide +range of historical knowledge enabled him to handle the subject in a +comprehensive and attractive manner, and for some years he had a class +of about thirty students. He petitioned the Senatus in 1824 to include +his subject in the arts curriculum, but the arts faculty gave him no +encouragement. Hamilton then, in 1828, enunciated his views to the +Royal Commission, but the commissioners, instead of protecting the +chair of history, recommended its abolition. In 1833, when the city +became bankrupt, the small salary of the chair ceased to be paid, and +Hamilton ceased lecturing.¹ + + ¹ This chair of civil history continued in an anomalous + position, though sometimes held by able men, such as + Professor Ferrier and Cosmo Innes, until 1862, when the + Executive Commission changed the title of the chair to that + of history, and then made the lectures of the professor on + constitutional law and history necessary for a degree in law. + +In 1836, Dr. Ritchie resigned the chair of logic and metaphysics, which +he had held for a period of twenty-eight years, and four candidates +entered the field for the vacant office――namely, Sir William Hamilton, +Isaac Taylor, Patrick C. Macdougall, and George Combe, the popular +phrenologist. It was seen that the real contest would be between the +first two candidates; and after a hard struggle, of which the issue +seemed doubtful, when the final decision was taken, out of thirty-two +votes Hamilton had eighteen――a majority of four. Although then in his +forty-eighth year, he entered on his new task with all the emotion and +ardour of youth, and threw his heart and intellect into the work. + +With his exact method and lofty ideal of philosophical style, he felt +much difficulty in deciding on the character of the course of lectures +on philosophy which would meet the wants of the young students, and +at the same time do justice to the subject; and, after three months of +intense thought and reflection, at the opening of the session he had +only a few of his lectures written. Thus it happened that his lectures +on metaphysics were composed during the first session which he taught. +He often sat up nearly all the preceding night preparing his lecture +for the next day, with his loving wife by his side acting as his +amanuensis. These lectures being composed in such circumstances, +and solely designed for the instruction of his own class, it is not +surprising that they may not at all points present a consistent and +complete exposition of his philosophical views; still, so far as they +go, they may be fairly assumed to contain a reliable statement of his +chief doctrines. His lectures on logic were composed during the next +session, and under the same pressure as the former course. + +Hamilton greatly felt the want of text-books suitable for his purposes, +so he resolved to edit an edition of Reid’s works, and projected a new +work on logic. It has been affirmed by some that the dedication of his +powers to the service of Reid was a great mistake, that he should have +built entirely upon his own foundation. Be this as it may, the form +of exposition which he selected was in some respects unfortunate. His +numerous footnotes to Reid’s works were written as the text was passing +through the press in 1837 and 1838, and the supplementary dissertations +to the end of D were written and stereotyped in 1841 and 1842. + +But, in 1838, a quarrel arose between Hamilton and the town council of +Edinburgh about his lectures, which had the effect of preventing him +from delivering a separate and more advanced course of lectures on +metaphysics.¹ Then his brother died, to whom he was warmly attached. +Next came the threatened disruption of the Church of Scotland, which +he struggled hard to avert; and in 1844, in the midst of his arduous +labour and duties, a severe paralytic stroke almost deprived him of +the use of his right side for the rest of his life. Though he partly +recovered, and his mental faculties seemed unimpaired, he never +regained his former energy and health.² + + ¹ “It was a loss to the University that Sir W. Hamilton’s + separate class in metaphysics was put a stop to; but this + was due to his own uncompromising temper, as well as to the + somewhat ignorant interference of the town council.”――Sir A. + Grant’s _Story of the University of Edinburgh_, Volume II., + pages 62‒65. I may add that it was a loss to the nation and + to philosophy. + + ² Veitch’s _Memoir of Sir W. Hamilton_, pages 266, 270, 278, + _et seq._ + +So when his edition of Reid’s works was issued in 1846, it still +remained incomplete; one of his supplementary dissertations breaking +off in the middle of a sentence; and although afterwards added to, +it was never completed. The fragmentary materials which his editors +collected and published, after his death, form but a small portion of +what Hamilton originally intended to present; while only an outline +of his projected work on logic ever appeared. All hope of revising +his lectures seems to have been relinquished, save by occasional oral +interpolations. But he continued to lecture and instruct his classes, +though sometimes an assistant read his lectures, when the effort of +delivery had become too painful for himself. He expired shortly after +the close of the session of 1856, tended in his last moments by his +faithful wife, and surrounded by his children. + +Hamilton was much beloved by his pupils; and all who called on him +for information were kindly treated. Although his temper was warm and +sometimes easily roused; on the whole, however, his life was a noble +struggle; and, if he occasionally manifested an impatience of ignorant +opposition, it was only natural and human. Yet, in one or two of his +controversies with opponents of his special doctrines, his vehemence +passed the limits of fair discussion. + +His writings consist of:――1. Sixteen articles contributed to the +_Edinburgh Review_, chiefly on philosophy, education, University reform +and methods of teaching, and on literature; the first of these appeared +in 1829, and he republished the whole of them in 1852, with large +additions. 2. His notes and supplementary dissertations to Reid’s +works. 3. His lectures on metaphysics. 4. His lectures on logic. All +his writings bristle with quotations and references to the views of +previous thinkers; his erudition was vast and varied. + +In order to give his views the justice to which they are well entitled, +and to mark the gratitude for his memory which I warmly feel,¹ I will +indicate the lines on which his philosophy may be justly appreciated +and fairly expounded. The first requisite is to understand the purpose +of a writer’s works, and in the case of Hamilton, to take special +account of the immediate aims which he had in view; guided by these +considerations, I will begin the exposition of his system with his +lectures on metaphysics――his psychology, then the philosophy of the +conditioned, and close with his logic. The fundamental principles +are these:――(1) His peculiar view of the end of speculation; (2) his +theory of external perception――natural realism; (3) his doctrine of _a +priori_ laws or native notions of the mind; (4) his philosophy of the +conditioned; (5) his conception of logic, and the peculiarities of his +logical system. + + ¹ I never had the gratification of even seeing Sir W. Hamilton; + yet I may be permitted to state, that the first philosophical + writings which I ever read with interest was his volume of + discussions, which I perused shortly after the date of his + death. His edition of Reid soon after came into my hands; + and his four volumes of lectures, almost immediately after + their publication. And I now gratefully record, that his + writings first roused me to think for myself. + +In his introductory lectures he explained to the students the utility +of philosophy on its subjective and objective sides; its absolute +utility viewed simply in itself, and its value viewed in relation to +other sciences. He endeavoured to impress their minds with just ideas +of the importance of philosophy, and to clear away all superficial +misconceptions of the end and objects of education. He discussed +philosophy as means and ends in relation to the culture and happiness +of man. While man himself, being in so far a mean for the glory of God, +“must be an end unto himself, for it is only in the accomplishment of +his own perfection that, as a creature, he can manifest the glory of +his Creator.... I say it is manifest that man is by nature necessarily +an end to himself――that his perfection and happiness constitute the +goal of his activity, to which he tends, and ought to tend, when not +diverted from this, his general and native destination, by peculiar and +accidental circumstances.” In the realities of social life, however, +“each man, instead of being solely an end to himself――instead of being +able to subordinate everything to that full and harmonious development +of his own faculties, in which his real perfection and his true +happiness consists――is, in general, compelled to turn himself into the +mean towards the accomplishment of some end, external to himself, and +for the benefit of others. So the perfection of man as an end, and the +perfection of man as a mean or instrument are not only not the same, +but in reality they are generally opposed ... even admitting, therefore, +that the study of the mind is of no immediate advantage in preparing +the student for many of the subordinate parts in the mechanism of +society, its utility cannot on that account be called in question, +unless it be asserted that man ‘liveth by bread alone,’ and has no +higher destination than that of the calling by which he earns his +subsistence.”¹ + + ¹ Volume I., pages 2, 7. + +He drew a distinction between the mere possession of truth and +intellectual development; by the latter he meant the power acquired +through the exercise of the higher faculties of a more varied and +vigorous mental activity. This led him to his peculiar view of the +end of speculation, and he asks:――“Is truth or is the mental exercise +in the pursuit of truth, the superior end? this is perhaps the most +curious theoretical, and certainly the most important practical, +problem in the whole compass of philosophy. For, according to the +solution at which we arrive, must we accord the higher or lower rank +to certain great departments of study: and, what is of more importance, +the character of its solution, as it determines the aim, regulates from +first to last the method which an enlightened science of education must +adopt.” + +In practical knowledge it is clear that truth is not the ultimate end; +as the knowledge of a moral truth, a political, or a religious one, +is of value only as it affords the condition of its exercise. But Sir +William further held, “that speculative truth is only pursued, and is +only held of value, for the sake of intellectual activity.... A truth, +once known, falls into comparative insignificance. It is now prized, +less on its own account than as opening up new ways to new activity, +new suspense, new hopes, new discoveries, new self-gratulation.... +Accordingly, the sciences always studied with the keenest interest are +those in a state of progress and uncertainty; absolute certainty and +absolute completion would be the paralysis of any study.... + +“But if speculative truth itself be only valuable as a mean of +intellectual activity, these studies which determine the faculties to a +more vigorous exertion will, in every liberal sense, be better entitled, +absolutely, to the name of useful, than those which, with a greater +complement of more certain facts, awaken them to a less intense, and +consequently a less improving, exercise. It is on this ground that I +would rest one of the permanent utilities of mental philosophy.” This +doctrine is stated in other parts of his writings;¹ and he had sounded +the range of its consequences pretty definitely. + + ¹ Volume I., pages 8‒13. In the _Discussions_ he says:――“We + exist only as we energise; pleasure is the reflex of + unimpeded energy; energy is the mean by which our faculties + are developed; and a higher energy the end of which their + development proposes.... Speculative truth is subordinate + to speculation itself; and its value is directly measured + by the quantity of energy it occasions immediately in its + discovery, mediately through its consequences” (page 39). + +In his opening lecture he told his class that the communication of +knowledge was a high, but not the highest, aim of instruction; and that +he would not merely deliver lectures――“By all the means in my power +I shall endeavour to rouse you, gentlemen, to the free and vigorous +exercise of your faculties; and shall deem my task accomplished, +not by teaching logic and philosophy, but by teaching to reason and +philosophise.”¹ + + ¹ Volume I., page 18. + +In these introductory lectures he also explained the nature and +comprehension of philosophy, its causes, and the disposition with which +it ought to be studied. Touching the method of philosophy, Hamilton +affirms that there is only one possible method――a combination of +analysis and synthesis, and the purity and equilibrium of these two +elements constitute its perfection. + +Concerning the divisions of the philosophy of the mind, he adopted, +from Kant, the threefold division of mental phenomena; and the whole +subject is enounced in these three questions:――1. What are the facts +or phenomena to be observed? 2. What are the laws which regulate these +facts, or under which these phenomena appear? 3. What are the real +results, not immediately manifested, which these phenomena warrant us +in drawing? + +First, we should investigate the facts; second, discover their laws; +and third, ascertain by legitimate inference their ultimate results. +Thus we obtain three branches of mental science, which he designates +as phenomenal psychology, nomological psychology, and ontology. Each +of these chief classes of the phenomena of mind has a science, which +is conversant about its laws. But there is no general science of the +cognitive faculties; and the only one of these faculties, whose laws +form the object matter of a separate science, is the understanding, +the faculty of relations, of thought proper――logic, the science of the +laws of thought, in relation to the end which our cognitive faculties +propose, that is the true. To this head might be referred universal +grammar――philosophical grammar, or the science conversant with the laws +of language as the instrument of thought. + +The science of the laws of our capacities of enjoyment, in relation to +the end which they propose, that is, the pleasurable, has no precise +name in English. It has sometimes been called the philosophy of taste, +the theory of the fine arts, the science of the beautiful and sublime; +and on the Continent it has been termed Æsthetic; but none of these are +quite appropriate. + +The nomology of our exertive powers and tendencies constitute practical +philosophy; for it is simply the science of the laws which regulate +our will and desire, in relation to the end which our conative powers +propose, that is, the good. This, as it treats these laws in relation +to man as an individual, or in relation to man as a member of society, +will fall to be divided into two branches――Ethics and Politics; and +these again admit of various sub-divisions――such as jurisprudence and +legislation. + +Empirical psychology is limited to the facts afforded in consciousness, +considered exclusively in themselves. But these may be such as not only +to be objects of knowledge in themselves, but may also afford us the +grounds of inference to something out of themselves. As effects of a +peculiar character, they may enable us to infer the analogous character +of their unknown causes; as phenomena of particular qualities, they +may warrant us in drawing many conclusions regarding the character +of that unknown principle, of that unknown substance, of which they +are the manifestations. It is true, that the existence of God and the +immortality of the soul are not presented to us as phenomena, or as +objects of immediate knowledge; still, if the phenomena actually given +do inevitably render it requisite, for their rational explanation, then +the hypotheses of immortality and of God, we are certainly entitled, +from the existence of the former, to infer the reality of the latter. +Now, the science which treats of all such inferences of unknown being +from its known manifestations, is called ontology, or metaphysics +proper. + +The following is his tabular view of the distribution of mental +philosophy:―― + + { Facts,―― { Cognitions. + { Phenomenology. { Feelings. + { Empirical { Conative Powers + { Psychology. { (Will and Desire). + { + { +Mind or { Laws,――Nomology. { Cognitions,――Logic. +Consciousness { Rational { Feelings,――Æsthetic. +affords. { Psychology. { Conative { Moral Philosophy. + { { powers. { Political Philosophy. + { + { Results,―― { + { Ontology. { Being of God. + { Inferential { Immortality of the Soul, etc. + { Psychology. { + +Hamilton considered this distribution of philosophy as the simplest +and most exhaustive; and he specially marked out the branches which +belonged to his course of instruction.¹ In his lectures he treats only +one of the three main groups――empiric al psychology――and even this he +has not treated exhaustively; only cognitions――the cognitive faculties +are fully discussed; but one division of the second group is treated in +his lectures on logic. Will and desire receive only incidental notice. + + ¹ Volume I., pages 120‒128. As already mentioned, he originally + intended to deliver a more advanced course, and the following + sentences, bearing on the point, appear in the manuscript + of his seventh lecture:――“The plan which I propose to adopt + in the distribution of the course, or rather courses, is the + following: I shall commence with mental philosophy, strictly + so-called, with the science which is conversant with the + manifestations of mind――phenomenology or psychology. I shall + then proceed to logic, the science which considers the laws + of thought; and finally to ontology, or metaphysics proper, + the philosophy of results. Æsthetic, or the theory of the + pleasurable, I should consider subsequent to logic, and + previously to ontology” (page 128). + +A large part of the first volume is occupied with the discussion of +Consciousness, which in his system is the primary and fundamental +characteristic of mind, and the universal condition of intelligence. +He discusses the special conditions of consciousness; its relation to +the cognitive faculties; consciousness and attention; the evidence and +authority of consciousness; and violations of its authority. Many other +interesting questions are discussed, such as the general phenomena of +consciousness; whether the mind is always consciously active, or if it +is ever unconsciously modified; and an exceedingly interesting lecture +on the difficulties and facilities of studying mental science. + +While consciousness cannot be logically defined, it may be +philosophically analysed. This is effected by observing and holding +fast the facts of consciousness, comparing these, and then evolving +the universal conditions under which alone an act of consciousness is +possible. It is by following this method that we can attain to accurate +knowledge of the contents of consciousness. + +The nature of the act of consciousness may be shown thus: “When I know, +I must know that I know; when I feel, I must know that I feel; when +I desire, I must know that I desire. The knowledge, the feeling, the +desire, are possible only under the condition of being known by me. For +if I did not know that I knew, I would not know; if I did not know that +I felt, I would not feel; if I did not know that I desired, I would not +desire.... The expressions I know that I know, I know that I feel, I +know that I desire, are thus translated by: I am conscious that I know, +I am conscious that I feel, I am conscious that I desire. Consciousness +is thus, on the one hand, the recognition by the mind of its own acts +and affections; in other words, the self-affirmation that certain +modifications are known by me, and that these modifications are mine. +But, on the other hand, consciousness is not to be viewed as anything +different from these modifications themselves, but is, in fact, the +general condition of their existence within the sphere of intelligence. +Though the simplest act of the mind, consciousness thus expresses a +relation subsisting between two terms. These terms are, on the one hand, +an I or self, as the subject of a certain modification; and, on the +other hand, some modification, state, quality, effection or operation +belonging to the subject. Consciousness thus in its simplicity +necessarily involves three things: (1) a recognising or knowing subject; +(2) a recognised or known modification; and (3) a recognition or +knowledge by the subject of the modification.”¹ + + ¹ Volume I., pages 189, 190‒193. + +He explains and illustrates this fundamental characteristic of mind at +great length, and with an analytic power and clearness of statement as +yet unmatched in the annals of philosophy: “Every mental phenomena may +be called a fact of consciousness. But as we distinguish consciousness +from the special faculties, though these are all only modifications of +consciousness, only branches of which consciousness is the trunk, so +we distinguish the special and derivative phenomena of mind from those +that are primary and universal, and to give the latter the name of +facts of consciousness, as more eminently worthy of that appellation.... +A fact of consciousness in this sense is a simple, and, as we regard it, +either an ultimate or a primary datum of intelligence. It obtains also +various denominations; sometimes it is called a principle, sometimes +a fundamental law of mind, sometimes a transcendental condition of +thought, etc.” He insists on its characteristics of ultimate priority +and necessity; that, as an ultimate fact, it is also given to us with +a belief of its reality. It reveals what it is, but not why or how +it is. “To ask how any fact of consciousness is possible, is to ask +how consciousness itself is possible; and to ask how consciousness is +possible, is to ask how an intelligent being like man is possible.... +But as we did not create ourselves, and are not even in the secret of +our creation, we must take our existence and our knowledge upon trust.” + +The result of this inquiry concerning consciousness is――(1) The facts +which are given in the act of consciousness itself; and (2) the facts +which consciousness does not at once give, but to the reality of which +it only bears evidence. As to the first class of facts, no doubt can be +or ever has been entertained; it is only the authority of these facts +as evidence of something beyond themselves, only thus the second class +of facts, which become matter of discussion; it is not the reality of +consciousness, but its veracity, that may be questioned.¹ + + ¹ Volume I., pages 269‒276, _et seq._, and _Discussions_, + page 62. + +As psychology is only a developed consciousness, a scientific evolution +of the facts of which consciousness is the guarantee and revelation; +thus the Positive philosopher has a primary presumption in favour +of the elements out of which his system is constructed, whilst the +sceptical philosopher must be content to argue back to the falsehood +of these elements, from the impossibility which the dogmatist may +experience in combining them into the harmony of truth. For truth is +one, and the end of philosophy is the intuition of unity. He repeated +that:――“Philosophy is a systematic evolution of the contents of +consciousness by the instrumentality of consciousness; it therefore +necessarily supposes in both respects the veracity of consciousness.”¹ + + ¹ _Discussions_, page 85; _Lectures_, Volume I., page 267. + +His theory of attention is stated thus:――“The greater the number of +objects to which our consciousness is simultaneously extended, the +smaller is the interest with which it is able to consider each, and +consequently the less vivid and distinct will be the information it +obtains of the several objects. Such being the law, it follows, when +our interest in any particular object is excited, and when we wish +to obtain all the information concerning it in our power, it behoves +us to limit our consideration to that object, to the exclusion of +others. This is done by an act of volition or desire, which is called +attention. But to view attention as a special act of intelligence, and +to distinguish it from consciousness is utterly inapt. Consciousness +may be compared to a telescope, attention to the pulling out or in of +the tubes in accommodating the focus to the object; and we might with +equal justice distinguish in the eye the adjustment of the pupil from +the general organ of vision, as in the mind distinguish attention from +consciousness as a separate faculty. Not, however, that they are to be +accounted the same. Attention is consciousness, and something more. It +is consciousness voluntarily applied, under its law of limitations, to +some determinate object; it is consciousness concentrated.” + +Thus, though attention is not a special and separate faculty of mind, +it is an interesting and important subject, and he proceeds to consider +it in its various relations, as a general phenomena of consciousness. +As to the number of objects which the mind can attend to at once, +Stewart supposed that we could only attend to one thing at one +and the same instant; but Hamilton supposes that consciousness can +simultaneously apprehend six objects. Taking this number of objects +as the highest which it can embrace at once, the limitation of +consciousness to five, four, three, two, or one, will all be acts of +attention, differing only in degree.¹ + + ¹ Volume I., pages 231‒239, _et seq._ + +Hamilton rightly holds, that even an act of comparison or +discrimination supposes that we are able to comprehend, in the unity +of consciousness, the different objects to be discriminated. Instead, +therefore, of consciousness not being competent to cognise two things +at once, it is only possible under this condition. + +He distinguishes three kinds of attention: (1) a mere vital and +irresistible act, such as when we open our eyes, we cannot by an act of +will avert our mind from all perception of sight; (2) an act determined +by desire, which, though involuntary, may be resisted by the will; (3) +and an act determined by a deliberate volition. It is the third kind of +attention which is really of importance in thinking. + +He again refers to the law of limitation in relation to attention, and +then says:――“But whatever be its relation to the special faculties, +attention doubles all their efficiency, and affords them a power of +which they would otherwise be destitute. It is, in fact, as we are at +present constituted, the primary condition of their activity.”¹ + + ¹ Volume I., pages 246‒248, _et seq._ Hamilton gives a + clear and interesting explanation of the difficulties of + commencing real intellectual efforts, the obstacles that + must be overcome before the power of concentrated attention, + of continuous thinking, is acquired. + + It may not be quite out of character to state briefly my + own experience on the subject of attention, or the acquired + power of concentration. I admit that Hamilton’s statement + of the difficulties of commencing real intellectual efforts + is quite true, so far as it goes; yet it appears that in + many circumstances, the numerous difficulties which have to + be overcome at the initial stages are greater than what he + represents them to be. In my own case the initial stage was + extremely difficult; the circumstances were unpropitious + to the acquisition of the power of concentrating attention, + as I was almost constantly in the midst of bustle, and + seldom alone. By a prolonged course of persistent efforts, + I gradually acquired a complete power of concentrating my + mind, by an act of will, upon whatever subject I wished + to investigate. This will be understood, when I state that + the whole of this history was written, and the proof sheets + revised, upon the counter of my own small shop, in the midst + of the clattering of a stirring street, and at the same + time attending to customers coming in and out. Thus, though + often interrupted, I mentally work on, unconscious of noise. + The power of attention, of concentration, and of continuous + thinking, essentially depends on the strength of the + acquired command of the will. + +Hamilton’s whole account of attention is exceedingly interesting and +valuable, and especially what he says of it in its higher degree, +as a direct act of the will, consummated in the habit of deliberate +concentration of thought. His view of this, the highest exercise of +mind, is as true as it is lucidly expressed. + +Among the general phenomena of consciousness, he discusses the question +whether we are always consciously active? and begins by averring that +there is no pure activity or passivity in creation: that all things +in the universe of nature are in a state of continual action and +counteraction, being always active and passive at once. “God alone +must be thought of as a Being active without any mixture of passivity, +as His activity is subject to no limitation. But precisely because it +is unlimited, it is for us wholly incomprehensible.” + +We are never directly conscious of passivity; so far as we are +conscious, we are active; but whether there may be a mental activity +of which we are unconscious, is another question. He touches upon the +phenomena of dreaming, talking during sleep, and somnambulism, with +the view of ascertaining whether the mind be at any moment wholly +unconscious. He refers, as usual, to the opinions of other philosophers, +but also gives his own personal experience, that the mind remains +conscious during sleep.¹ + + ¹ Volume I., pages 310‒312, 323‒337. + +He also discussed the subject of latent mental modifications. He +observes, that the possessions of our mind are not to be measured by +its present monetary activities, but by the amount of its acquired +habits. Thus one knows a science or a language, not merely when he is +making a temporary use of it, but inasmuch as he can apply it when and +how he pleases, at the command of his will: and so the greater part of +our mental treasures lies always behind the sphere of consciousness, +hid in the recesses of the mind; this is the first degree of latency. +The second degree of latency exists when the mind contains certain +systems of knowledge, or habits of action, which it is wholly +unconscious of possessing in its ordinary state, but which are revealed +to consciousness in certain extraordinary exaltations of its powers. +Such as the abnormal states of madness, febrile delirium, somnambulism, +catalepsy, etc., when they may flash out into consciousness, and throw +into the shade of unconsciousness those other systems by which they +had for long been eclipsed and even extinguished. He insists that the +theory of latent modifications enables us to account for some of the +most perplexing phenomena of mind.¹ + + ¹ Volume I., pages 339‒352, 366, _et seq._ + +Sir William’s second volume of lectures commenced with his exposition +of the phenomena of cognition; and he classified the special faculties +of knowledge thus:―― + + { I. Presentative, { External = Perception. + { { Internal = Self-consciousness. + { + { II. Conservative, = Memory. + { + { III. Reproductive, { Without Will = Suggestion. + Cognitive { { With Will = Reminiscence. + Faculties. { + { IV. Representative, = Imagination. + { + { V. Elaborative, = Comparison = Faculty of + { Relations. + { + { VI. Regulative, = Reason = Common Sense. + +Such is Hamilton’s distribution of the intellectual powers, which he +terms the cognitive faculties. He explains distinctly what he meant by +a mental faculty,――it is merely a mode of designating a certain class +or group of mental energies. In short, all mental powers are only +names determined by various orders of mental phenomena; but as these +differ from and resemble each other in various ways, various modes of +classification may be adopted, and consequently various faculties, in +different views, may be the result. “System is only valuable when it is +not arbitrarily devised, but arises naturally out of an observation of +the facts, and of the whole facts, themselves. On the other hand, to +despise system is to despise philosophy; for the end of philosophy is +the detection of unity.”¹ + + ¹ Volume II., pages 3‒5; also footnotes to Reid, pages 221, + 242, 511. + +1. The presentative faculty on its two sides――perception of external +objects, and self-consciousness or reflection, forms the faculty of +experience; and it affords us all our contingent knowledge. It enables +us to cognise an object, when presented within the sphere of external +or internal consciousness; but if our knowledge terminated with this, +it would be small indeed. 2. So we have not only a faculty of acquiring +knowledge, but also a faculty of retaining it――which is properly called +Memory. 3. The reproductive faculty enables us to recall our knowledge +out of memory into consciousness; it is the power which regulates +the succession of our thoughts, or the laws of mental association. +4. But the general capacity of knowledge renders it requisite that, +besides the power of evoking out of unconsciousness one portion of our +retained information in preference to another, we have the faculty of +representing in consciousness what is thus evoked; and this is effected +by the representative faculty, Imagination. 5. The four preceding +faculties, or varied acts of acquisition, conservation, reproduction, +and representation, form, as it were, a subsidiary class of faculties, +furnishing the materials to a higher faculty, which elaborates +these; this is the Elaborative faculty, Comparison, or the faculty of +relations; and its chief functions are conception, judgment, reasoning, +abstraction, and generalisation. 6. The last of the faculties of +cognition he called the Regulative faculty――reason or common sense, +under which is included all notions, principles, and laws, not derived +from experience, but native to the mind, being at once the laws +which govern the mind and afford the conditions of its capacity of +knowledge.¹ + + ¹ Volume II., pages 10‒26. + +His treatment of perception is somewhat marred by his rather vehement +polemic with Dr. Brown; yet his own doctrine may be disentangled from +the discussions with which it is mixed up. He is distinguished both as +a historian and critic of the theories of perception; but, leaving the +historical points as much as possible out of account, his own theory of +perception, and his doctrine of Natural Realism, is as follows:―― + +“The question to be determined is this, Is our perception, or our +consciousness of external objects, mediate or immediate?” He gives +a general historical account of the views of philosophers touching +this subject, discusses and criticises them, with much acuteness and +great ability; the objections to natural realism are canvassed; and +finally, he takes up the consideration of the general questions of the +relation of the senses to the external world, with special reference +to the views of Dr. Reid, Stewart, and Dr. Brown. The discussion +occupies nearly nine lectures, and the same subject is treated in his +Discussions, and in the Supplementary Dissertations to Reid’s works.¹ + + ¹ I originally intended to present a more detailed account of + Hamilton’s views concerning the theories of perception, and + other points, but want of space has forced me to relinquish + this. + +He explains his own doctrine thus: “The only object ever perceived is +the object in immediate contact――in immediate relation with the organ. +What Reid and philosophers in general call the distant object, is +wholly unknown to perception; by reasoning we may connect the object +of perception with certain antecedents――certain causes, but these, as +the result of inference, cannot be the object of perception. The only +objects of perception are in all senses equally immediate. Thus the +object of my vision at present is not the paper or letters at a foot +from my eye, but the rays of light reflected from these upon the retina. +The object of your hearing is not the vibrations of my language, nor +the vibrations of the intervening air; but the vibrations determined +thereby in the cavity of the internal ear, and in immediate contact +with the auditory nerves. In both senses, then, the external object +perceived is the last effect of a series of unperceived causes. But +to call these unperceived causes the object of perception, and to call +the perceived effect, the real object, only the medium of perception, +is either a gross error or an unwarranted abuse of language. My +conclusion is, therefore, that in all the senses, the external object +is in contact with the organ, and thus, in a certain signification, all +the senses are only modifications of touch. This is the simple fact, +and any other statement of it is either the effect or the cause of +misconception. + +“In the second place――in relation to the number and consecution of +the elementary phenomena――it is, and must be, admitted, on all hands, +that perception must be preceded by an impression of the external +object on the sense.... On this point there can be no dispute. But +the case is different in regard to the two following. It is asserted +by philosophers in general: (1) That the impression made on the organ +must be propagated to the brain, before a cognition of the object takes +place in the mind,――in other words, that an organic action must precede +and determine the intellectual action; and (2) That sensation proper +precedes perception proper. In regard to the former assertion, if +by this were only meant, that the mind does not perceive external +objects out of relation to its bodily organs, and that the relation +of the object to the organism, as the condition of perception, must, +therefore, in the order of nature, be viewed as prior to the cognition +of that relation, no objection could be made to the statement. But if +it be intended, as it seems to be, that the organic affection precedes +in the order of time the intellectual cognition, of this we have no +proof whatever. The fact as stated would be inconsistent with the +doctrine of an intuitive perception: for, if the organic affection were +chronologically prior to the act of knowledge, the immediate perception +of an object different from our bodily senses would be impossible, +and the external would thus be represented only in the subjective +affections of our own organism. It is, therefore, more correct to hold, +that the corporeal movement and the mental perception are simultaneous +after the bodily has terminated,――in place of holding that the mind is +connected with the body only at the central extremity of the nervous +system, it is more simple and philosophical to suppose that it is +united with the nervous system in its whole extent.” + +Touching the latter assertion, that a perception proper is always +preceded by a sensation, though maintained by Reid and Stewart, is +more erroneous than the former assertion concerning the precedence of +an organic to a mental action. In fact, sensation and perception both +exist only as they co-exist. “They do not, indeed, co-exist in the same +degree of intensity, but they are really equally original; and it is +only by an act, not of the easiest abstraction, that we are able to +discriminate them scientifically from each other.”¹ + + ¹ Volume II., pages 185‒189. + +The following is a concise statement of his doctrine of Natural +Realism:――1. In an act of external perception, “I am conscious of +myself as the perceiving subject, and of an external reality as the +object perceived, and I am conscious of both existences in the same +indivisible moment of intuition. 2. The knowledge of the subject does +not precede nor follow the knowledge of the object; neither determines, +neither is determined by, the other. 3. The two terms of correlation +stand in mutual counterpoise and equal independence; they are given +as connected in the synthesis of knowledge, but as contrasted in the +antithesis of existence. 4. Consciousness declares our ♦knowledge of +material qualities to be intuitive. Nor is the fact, as given, denied +even by those who disallow its truth. So clear is the deliverance, +that even the philosophers who reject an intuitive perception find it +impossible not to admit that their doctrine stands decidedly opposed +to the voice of consciousness, and the natural conviction of mankind.” +5. This doctrine of Natural Realism is partly supported upon the +distinction of the qualities of matter.¹ + + ♦ “knowlege” replaced with “knowledge” + + ¹ _Discussions_, pages 53‒54; also his _Dissertations to + Reid’s Works_. In short, his _Dissertations to Reid_ + contain a body of valuable philosophical and critical matter + relating to the science of the mind. He has endeavoured to + present an exhaustive classification of all the possible + theories of perception, and his distinctions, explanations, + and critical remarks are admirable specimens of logical + power and historic genius. This is especially applicable to + his important dissertations on the “Qualities of Matter,” of + which I had prepared an abstract, and regret that I cannot + afford space for it. + + Sir William himself says, “that Natural Realism and Absolute + Idealism are the only systems worthy of a philosopher; + for, as they alone have any foundation in consciousness, + so they alone have any consistency in themselves.... The + scheme of Natural Realism may be ultimately difficult, for, + like all other truths, it ends in the inconceivable; but + Hypothetical Realism, in its origin, in its development, in + its result, although the favourite scheme of philosophers, + is philosophically absurd.”――_Dissertations to Reid_, Note + C, page 817. + +Having explicated two of the fundamental peculiarities of Hamilton’s +system――his view of the end of speculation, and natural realism――I +resume the exposition of his views of the cognitive faculties. + +Through the powers of internal and external perception, we are enabled +to acquire information, experience; but this acquisition is not of +itself independent and complete. It supposes that we are also able to +retain the knowledge acquired, as we cannot be said to obtain what we +are unable to keep. Thus the faculty of acquisition is only realised +through the faculty of memory. We have here two distinct elementary +phenomena, each depending on the other for its realisation; for without +a power of acquisition a power of retention could not be exerted, and +without the latter the former would be fruitless, for we should lose +as fast as we acquired. Further, the faculty of acquisition would be +ineffective without the faculties of reproduction and imagination, for +though the mind retained beyond the sphere of consciousness a treasury +of knowledge, this would be of no avail, if it did not possess the +power of reproducing and representing such knowledge in consciousness. +Although the faculty of memory would be fruitless without the faculties +of reproduction and imagination, we are not to confound these faculties, +or to view the act of mind which is their joint result, as a simple +and elementary power; while they mutually depend on each other, the +faculties of memory, reproduction, and imagination are governed by +different laws, and in different individuals are found to vary greatly +in their comparative vigour.¹ + + ¹ Volume II., pages 205‒207. Further on he says: “By memory, + you will see, is only meant the condition of reproduction; + and it is, therefore, evident that it is only by an + extension of the term, that it can be called a faculty, that + is, an active power ... it ought perhaps to receive rather + the appellation of a capacity” (page 209). + +Touching memory, Hamilton held that all mental energies must persist +and endure; we never wholly lose them, but they become obscure. It is +only the more vivid changes which sufficiently affect our consciousness +to become objects of its apprehension. Thus we are only conscious +of the more prominent series of changes in our mental states; the +others remain mostly latent. The law of retention extends over all +the phenomena of mind. Hence a good memory is one main condition of +reproduction. + +There is probably no mental power in which such extreme differences +appear in individuals as in memory. In a good memory two chief +qualities are requisite――the capacity of retention and the power of +reproduction.¹ To the latter I now proceed. + + ¹ Volume II., pages 211‒218. I may state that at one period I + could repeat a sermon or a lecture the morning after hearing + it. Although I state the fact of my own experience, I do not + at all approve of such stretches of verbal memory, and many + years ago I ceased from making any such efforts, and instead + cultivated the reproductive and representative faculties. + +By the faculty of reproduction, Hamilton meant the process of awakening +that which is lying dormant in the memory, as contra-distinguished +from the representation of it in consciousness as awakened. He was not +satisfied with the term reproductive, because it did not precisely of +itself mark what he wished to express. And he was right; for no single +term could be chosen which would exactly mark the process and at the +same time distinguish it from another closely related process as he +wished. “I am not satisfied, I say, with the term reproduction for the +process by which the dormant thought or affection is aroused, for it +does not clearly denote what it is intended to express.... + +“The phenomena of reproduction is one of the most wonderful in the +whole compass of psychology, and it is one in the explanation of which +philosophers have been more successful than in almost any other.... +The faculty of reproduction is governed by the laws which regulate +the association of the mental train, or, to speak more correctly, +reproduction is nothing but the result of these laws. Everyone +is conscious of the ceaseless succession of thoughts, one thought +suggesting another, which again is the cause of exciting a third, +and so on. In what manner, it may be asked, does the presence of any +thought determine the introduction of another? Is the train subject to +laws, and, if so, by what laws is it regulated?” + +He gives, as usual, an indication of the views of other philosophers +touching the laws of mental association, and he himself endeavoured to +carry up all the laws of association into the “law of redintegration,” +which he announced thus:――“Those thoughts suggest each other which had +previously constituted parts of the same entire act of cognition. Now, +to the same entire or total act belong, as integral or constituent +parts, in the first place, those thoughts which arose at the same time, +or in immediate consecution; and in the second, those thoughts which +are bound up into one by their mutual affinity. Thus, therefore, the +two laws of simultaneity and affinity are carried up into unity in the +higher law of redintegration of totality; and by this one law the whole +phenomena of association may be easily explained.”¹ + + ¹ Volume II., pages 227‒229, 231‒238. In one of his + _Dissertations to Reid_, Hamilton gives a “Contribution + towards a history of mental suggestion or association;” + this, however, deals chiefly with the views of Aristotle and + Themistitus. But he also presents an outline of a “theory + of mental reproduction, suggestion, or association,” setting + forth his own views. The outline is more developed in + thought than what is given in his lectures, but it was left + incomplete. + + I. In it he distinguishes the general laws of mental + succession from those of reproduction proper; and of this + class he specifies five laws――1. The law of succession. 2. + The law of variation. 3. The law of dependence or determined + consecution. 4. The law of relativity or integration. 5. The + law of intrinsic or objective relativity; under this head he + would also include the law of the conditioned. + + II. General laws of mental succession, as of reproduction + proper――1. The law of repetition. 2. The law of + redintegration. 3. The law of preference. + + III. Special laws of mental suggestion――1. The law of + similars. 2. The law of contrast. 3. The law of coadjacency. + +Herbert Spencer, following some of the lines indicated by Hamilton, +insists that the cohering of impressions with previously experienced +impressions of the same class is the sole law of association. This is +not the only principle which the evolution philosophy has adopted from +Sir William’s writings; the cast of Hamilton’s intellect itself was +essentially evolutionary. + +Hamilton shows that the processes of representation and reproduction +are closely related; though they are discriminated by differences +quite decisive. Reproduction operates, in part, at least, out of +consciousness; while representation is only realised as far as it is +realised in consciousness, the vivacity of the representation being +always in proportion to the vivacity of our consciousness of its +reality. The energies of representation and reproduction are not always +exerted by the same individual in equal intensity, any more than the +energies of reproduction and retention.¹ + + ¹ “Some minds are distinguished by a higher power of + manifesting one of these phenomena; others for manifesting + another; and as it is not always the person who forgets + nothing who can most promptly recall what he retains, so + neither is it always the person who recalls most easily + and correctly who can exhibit what he remembers in the + most vivid colours. It is to be recollected, however, that + retention, reproduction, and representation, though not in + different persons of the same relative vigour, are, however, + in the same individuals, all strong or weak in reference + to the same class of subjects. For example, if a man’s + memory be more peculiarly retentive of words, his verbal + reminiscence and imagination will, in like manner, be more + particularly energetic.” (Volume II., page 260.) + +According to Hamilton’s view of the fundamental processes of the mind, +the function of representation is simply the energy of the mind in +holding up to its contemplation what it is determined to represent. +But he distinguishes as essentially different, the representation, and +the determination to represent; for the reproductive faculty is the +immediate source whence the representative receives both the material +and the determination to represent; and the laws which control the +reproductive faculty also control the representative. So if there were +no other laws in the combination and construction of thought than those +of association, the representative faculty would be solely determined +in its manifestation by the reproductive faculty; but comparison――the +faculty of relations also comes into operation. Comparison plays +an important part in determining in what combinations objects are +represented. By its aid, the complex groups of phenomena called up +by the representative faculty undergo various operations; they are +separated into parts, analysed into elements; and these parts and +elements are again compounded and combined in innumerable ways. While +in all this, the representative faculty――imagination co-operates; as it +first exhibits the facts as called up by the laws of association; it +then exhibits them as variously arranged by the analysis and synthesis +of the comparative faculty, thus acting as a subsidiary both to the +reproductive and elaborative faculties. Still, in these operations the +imaginative power is often the most active element in the process; it +is a condition of the analytic operations, as it holds up the objects +in a vivid light to the analytic grasp, that it may observe the various +circumstances of relation, and the new reconstruction――the result of +its own elaboration. + +A vigorous power of imagination――of representing objects, is +indispensable in every department of thought; but there are many kinds +and degrees of imagination. There is the imagination of abstraction, +representing to us certain phases of an object to the exclusion of +others; the imagination of reason, which represents a principle in +connection with its consequences, the effect in dependence on its +cause; the imagination of feeling, which represents the accessory +images allied to some particular sentiment, which thus confer on it +greater compass and intensity; the imagination of the passions, and +so on.¹ + + ¹ Volume II., pages 263‒266. Hamilton holds, that the organs + which imagination employs in the representation of sensible + objects, are the organs of sense themselves, on which the + original impressions were made, and through which they were + originally perceived. This is the same as Hobbes’ view. + +He discusses the elaborative faculty――comparison, or faculty of +relations, at length, and in an exceedingly interesting style, under +the heads of classification, abstraction, generalisation, judgment, +and reasoning. A class of subjects which form the transition from +psychology to logic, from the analysis and laws of the mental phenomena, +“to the science of thought as thought.” In connection with these, he +discusses, in his usual historic form, the interesting subjects of +nominalism and conceptionalism, and also the curious question as to +“the primum cognitum,” the first cognition, as it was called in the +schools. The latter question assumes this character, Does language +originate with general names or proper names? Did mankind in the +evolution of language, and do children in their first applications +of it, begin with general terms or with particular words; or, in +other words, does knowledge begin with general notions, or particular +notions? There are many illustrious philosophers on each side of the +question. Hamilton himself held that our knowledge neither begins +with the general nor the particular, but with the vague and confused, +and thence proceeds by degrees to evolve both the general and the +particular.¹ + + ¹ Volume II., page 279. + +The reduction of complicated processes to greater simplicity, or to a +single principle, was a marked feature of Hamilton’s intellect; and the +following statement touching comparison is an instance in point. “In +opposition to the views hitherto promulgated in regard to comparison, +I will show that this faculty is at work in every, the simplest, act of +mind; and that from the primary affirmation of existence in an original +act of consciousness to the judgment contained in the conclusion of +an act of reasoning, every operation is only an evolution of the same +elementary process,――that there is a difference in the complexity, +none in the nature of the act; in short, that the various products +of analysis and synthesis, of abstraction and generalisation, are all +merely the results of comparison, and that the operations of conception +or simple apprehension, of judgment, and reasoning, are all only acts +of comparison, in various applications and degrees.”¹ + + ¹ Volume II., pages 319, 335. + +He proceeds to develop and to prove this view of comparison. The +process of classification is simply an act of comparison, determined +by the necessities of the mind――the nature and limits of its powers. +In classifying, the mind greatly depends on language for its success, +on general names, general and abstract terms, which are used to +denote complex and abstract notions. Abstraction, or rather exclusive +attention to a particular object or quality of an object, is evidently +the work of comparison; it is a process quite familiar to the most +uncultured minds. Generalisation is dependent on abstraction, and +supposes it; but abstraction does not involve generalisation. It is +the process through which we obtain general notions and ideas; thus +the points in which a number of objects or things agree, having been +discovered, we arrange them by these common points of agreement or +similarity, into classes; and from the lowest class ascending step by +step till we reach at the highest class.¹ + + ¹ Volume II., pages 279‒283, 293‒295. + +Under the last of the special faculties of cognition――the regulative +faculty, which is not, properly speaking, an active faculty――he +included those primary notions of intelligence or common sense, +variously designated as the fundamental principles of intelligence, +laws of thought, necessary cognitions, primary data of consciousness. +“There are cognitions in the mind which are not contingent,――which +are necessary, which we cannot but think, which thought supposes as +its fundamental condition. These cognitions, therefore, are not mere +generalisations from experience. But if not derived from experience, +they must be native to the mind.... These native――these necessary +cognitions, are the laws by which the mind is governed in its +operations, and which afford the conditions of its capacity of +knowledge. These necessary laws, or primary conditions of intelligence, +are phenomena of a similar character; and we must, therefore, +generalise them or collect them into a class; and on the power +possessed by the mind of manifesting these phenomena, we may bestow +the name of the Regulative Faculty.” + +It should be observed that the primary and necessary notions of +the mind here announced as the laws which afford the conditions +of knowledge, are embodied by Hamilton in his philosophy of the +conditioned. He recognised a considerable number of primary or ultimate +notions and principles; but did not pretend to give an exhaustive and +complete enumeration of such notions. What he really did, was to argue +that there was such a class of notions and principles, and actually +employed a certain number of them in the construction of his psychology, +his philosophy of the conditioned, and his logic. + +With regard to the essential characteristics for discriminating the +principles of common sense――the original data of consciousness, he +says: “These characters, I think, may be reduced to four: (1) Their +incomprehensibility, (2) their simplicity, (3) their necessity and +absolute universality, (4) their comparative evidence and certainty.”¹ + + ¹ Hamilton’s _Reid_, page 754. + +What has just been stated, taken in connection with what was said +before, of the immediate facts of consciousness, and the intuitive +character of perception, will be sufficient to indicate Hamilton’s +view of the primary and ultimate notions of the mind. Thus far I have +signalised three of the fundamental and distinctive principles of his +philosophy. But to complete the exposition of his psychology, it is +requisite to notice briefly his treatment of the feelings. + +These, the second great class of mental phenomena, in his +classification, is not exhaustively treated; but so far it is +satisfactory, and exceedingly interesting. He devoted six lectures to +the feelings, one of which is occupied with an historical account of +the theories of pleasure and pain. His classification and division of +the feelings may be indicated thus: + +I. First, sensations――the five senses and organic sensations. II. The +sentiments and internal feelings: first, the contemplative, subdivided +into (1) those of the subsidiary faculties, including those of +self-consciousness, and (2) those of imagination, order, symmetry, +unity in variety; (3) those of the elaborative faculty, wit, the +pleasures of truth and science, and the gratification of adapting means +to ends; (4) beauty and sublimity springing from the conjoint energy +of the imagination and the understanding. III. The practical feelings +relate to (1) self-preservation――hunger and thirst, loathing, sorrow, +bodily pain, anxiety, etc.; (2) the enjoyment of our existence; (3) the +preservation of the species; (4) the tendency towards development and +perfection; and (5) moral law. + +He delivered a theory of pleasure and pain, and applied it to explain +this general mental phenomena; in other words, he considered the +feelings as causes――causes of pleasure and pain; and he then considered +them as effects, or products of the action of our different powers. The +scope of his standpoint is thus stated by himself:―― + +“What are the general conditions which determine the existence of pain; +for pleasure and pain are the phenomena which constitute the essential +attribute of true feeling, under all its manifestations?... I shall, +first of all, state the abstract theory of pleasure and pain, in +other words, enounce the fundamental law by which these phenomena are +governed, in all their manifestations.” Under the ninth and last head +of his theory, the following is enounced:――“Pleasure is thus the result +of certain harmonious relations――of certain agreements; pain, on the +contrary, the effect of certain unharmonious relations――of certain +disagreements. The pleasurable is, therefore, not inappropriately +called the agreeable; the painful, the disagreeable; and in conformity +to this doctrine, pleasure and pain, may be thus defined:――Pleasure is +a reflex of the spontaneous and unimpeded exertion of a power, of whose +energy we are conscious. Pain a reflex of the overstrained or repressed +exertion of such a power.” As already stated, he illustrates the +application of his theory in the explanation of pleasure and pain at +some length,¹ with keen insight and rare breadth of view. In the two +last lectures, he treats the feelings as effects――as products of the +action of our different powers; and thus considered, his exposition is +often very happy. + + ¹ Volume II., pages 434‒440, _et seq._ + +Hamilton’s Philosophy of the Conditioned is simply an attempt to +systematise the conditions of the thinkable, in the form of an Alphabet +of human thought. In its fundamental conception it is restrictive and +conservative. Probably he was as well informed and aware of the many +aberrations of human thought and speculation as any man that ever lived; +and he was fully cognisant of the systems and speculations of those +philosophers who had pretended to walk through the dark mountains of +eternity and infinity without stumbling, and to return with positive +knowledge. Knowing this, he was, therefore, well entitled to make an +effort to lay down the conditions and limits of human thought; and thus +he has done great service to real philosophy, to science, and mankind. + +He grounded his own theory of the Conditioned upon the recognised +laws of identity, non-contradiction, excluded middle, and the law of +relativity. Thus when he speaks of the Conditioned it is in special +reference to relativity; and by existence conditioned is meant +existence thought under relation. Relation may be understood to +contain all the categories and forms of positive thought. We should +not, however, think it as a law of things, but simply as a law of +thought; for we find that there are contradictory opposites, one of +which, by the rule of Excluded Middle, must be true, but neither of +which can be positively thought, as possible. Thinking, under this +condition, is synthetic. The condition of Relativity is brought to bear +under three principal relations: the first springs from the subject +of knowledge――the mind thinking, the relation of knowledge; the second +and third from the object of knowledge――the thing thought about, the +relations of Existence. + +1. The relations of knowledge are those arising from the reciprocal +dependence of the subject and of the object of thought, self and +not-self――subjective and objective. Everything that comes into +consciousness is thought by us, either as belonging to the mental +self exclusively, or as belonging to the not-self exclusively, or as +belonging partly to both. + +2. The relations of Existence arising from the object of knowledge +are twofold; as the relation is either Intrinsic or Extrinsic. As the +relation of Existence is Intrinsic, it is that of Substance and Quality. +It may be called qualitative. But, as the relation of Existence is +Extrinsic, it is threefold; and as formed by three kinds of quantity, +it may be called quantitative. It is realised in or by: (1) Protensive +quantity, or time; (2) Extensive quantity, Extension or Space; (3) +Intensive quantity, or degree. + +3. Time, or protensive quantity, called also Duration, is a necessary +condition of thought; and it may be considered both in itself and in +the things which it contains. + +Considered in itself, Time is positively inconceivable, if we attempt +to construe it in thought; on the one side, as absolutely commencing or +absolutely terminating, or on the other, as infinite or eternal. It is +positively conceivable, if conceived as an indefinite past, present, +or future; and as an indeterminate mean between the two unthinkable +extremes of an absolute least and an infinite divisibility: for thus +it is relative. + +Things in Time are either coinclusive or coexclusive. Things +coinclusive, if of the same time, are identical, apparently and in +thought; if of different times, as causes and effect, they appear +as different, but are thought as identical. Things coexclusive are +mutually either prior and posterior, or contemporaneous. + +The impossibility we experience of thinking as non-existent, +non-existent, consequently, in time, aught which we have conceived as +existent,――this impossibility affords the principle of Causality, which +will be subsequently explained. + +Time applies to both Substance and Quantity; and includes the other +quantities, Space and Degree. + +4. Space, extension or extensive quantity, is likewise a necessary +condition of thought; and may also be considered, both in itself and +in the things which it contains. + +Considered in itself, Space is positively inconceivable: as a whole, +either infinitely unbounded, or absolutely bounded; as a part, either +infinitely divisible, or absolutely indivisible. Space is positively +conceivable, as a mean between these extremes; that is, we can think +it either as an indefinite whole, or as an indefinite part. For thus it +is relative.¹ So much touching the foundation of the philosophy of the +Conditioned. + + ¹ _Discussions_, pages 577‒582. + +He enounced the Law of the Conditioned thus:――“All positive thought +lies between two extremes, neither of which we can conceive as +possible, and yet, as mutually contradictory, the one or the other +must necessarily be true.”¹ We have already seen that we cannot think +past time as beginning to be; on the other hand, we cannot conceive it +going backwards without limit――eternity baffles our imagination. But +time either had a beginning or it had not. So of space, we are unable +to conceive space as finite or bounded; we are equally powerless to +realise in thought an idea of infinite space. “You may launch out +in thought beyond the solar walk, you may traverse in fancy over the +universe of matter, and rise from sphere to sphere in the regions +of empty space, until imagination sinks exhausted;――with all this +what have you done? You have never got beyond the finite, you have +attained at best only to the indefinite, and the indefinite, however +expanded, is still always the finite.... The infinite is infinitely +incomprehensible.” Thus the conceivable or the thinkable “lies always +between two inconceivable extremes, as illustrated by every other +relation of thought.”² + + ¹ _Discussions_, page 591; also Reid’s _Works_, page 911. + Hamilton states the Law of the Conditioned repeatedly in his + different writings; and some of its positions are stated at + greatest length in the second volume of his _Lectures_. + + ² _Discussions_, page 591; _Lectures_, Volume II., pages + 366‒372. + +The chief applications of the Law of the Conditioned are to the +principles of substance and causality: and taking substance first, +which he has not treated with much detail. We cannot think a quality +existing entirely in or of itself. We are constrained to think it as +inhering in some substance; but this substance is only conceived by +us the unapparent――the inconceivable correlative of certain appearing +qualities. If we attempt to think it positively, we only think it by +transforming it into a quality or bundle of qualities, which again +we refer to an unknown substance, now supposed for their incognisable +basis. Thus, everything may be conceived as the quality, or as the +substance of something else; but absolute substance and absolute +quality are both inconceivable.¹ + + ¹ _Discussions_, page 580. + +The phenomenon of causality is the Law of the Conditioned applied to a +thing thought as existing in time. We cannot know, nor think a thing, +except under the attribute of existence, and existing in time; and we +cannot know or think a thing to exist in time, and think it absolutely +to commence. This imposes on us the judgment of causality. An object is +given to us by our perceptive faculties, as given, we cannot but think +it existent, and existent in time; but to say this, is to say, that we +are unable to think it non-existent,――to annihilate it in thought, and +this we cannot do; for once thinking it to exist, we cannot think it +not to exist. This will be admitted of the present, but probably denied +of the past and future, under the belief that we can think creation or +annihilation. Matter or objects may change their forms in innumerable +ways; but we cannot conceive that there can be an atom absolutely added +to, or taken away from, existence as a whole. Let us try it:―― + +“We are able to conceive the creation of a world; this indeed as easily +as the creation of an atom. But what is our thought of creation? It is +not a thought of the mere springing of nothing into something. On the +contrary creation is conceived, and is by us conceivable, only as the +evolution of existence from possibility into actuality, by the fiat of +the Deity. Let us place ourselves in imagination at its very crisis. +Now, can we construe it to thought, that the moment after the universe +flashed into material reality, into manifest being, that there was a +larger complement of existence in the universe and its author together, +than the moment before there subsisted in the Deity alone? This we are +unable to imagine. And what is true of our concept of creation, holds +of our concept of annihilation. We can think no real annihilation, +no absolute sinking of something into nothing. But, as creation +is cogitable by us, only as a putting forth of divine power, so is +annihilation by us only conceivable as a withdrawal of that same +power.... In short, it is impossible for the human mind to think what +it thinks existent, lapsing into non-existence, either in time past or +in time future.”¹ + + ¹ _Discussions_, pages 591‒593; _Lectures_, Volume II. pages + 400‒406. + +He thinks that his theory of causality is preferable to others, because +to explain the phenomenon of the causal judgment, it postulates no +new or express principle, not even a positive power; while it shows +that the phenomenon is only one of a class, it assigns as their common +cause, only a negative impotence. He also thinks that it affords a +philosophical defence of the freedom of the will. He points out the +inconsistencies and contradictions of his predecessors; but he admits +that speculatively we are unable to understand how moral liberty is +possible in man. But practically, our consciousness of the moral law +gives a decisive preponderance to the doctrine of freedom over the +doctrine of fate. We are free in act, if we are accountable for our +actions. That the philosophy of the Conditioned has a real foundation +in the human mind, appears to be evident, when considered in its +relation to the universe. The necessities of its capacities and +faculties of knowledge, their limits and imperfection, as well as the +actual position in which man finds himself in the universe of nature, +all plainly indicate that his powers of knowledge are anything rather +than absolute and infinite. This much may be averred; still, it is open +to anyone to question, if Hamilton’s applications of his own theory +were in all points the most legitimate. I will now proceed to his logic. + +He viewed Logic as a formal science, and divided it into pure and +modified. In his lectures on this subject, he proceeds on a definite +and interesting style of exposition; he first states the leading +doctrines in separate paragraphs, and then in a running commentary +explains and illustrates them. The first paragraph is this:――“A system +of logical instruction consists of two parts――(1) Of an introduction +to the science; (2) of a body of doctrine constituting the science +itself.” These he discussed in their order: the introduction to logic +should afford answers to the five following questions: What is logic? +what is its value? what are its divisions? what is its history? what +are the best books on the subject? These questions are treated in a +concise and animated style; and the answer to the first one is given +in his definition of logic, which is this:――“Logic is the Science +of Thought as thought.” But he says that this definition cannot be +understood without a clear exposition of its several parts, which he +proceeds to present. + +What he meant by “the laws of thought as thought,” is thus explained: +the term thought is used in two significations, in a wider, and in a +narrower and stricter sense, and it is with thought in the latter +sense――thought proper, that logic is concerned. “All thought is a +comparison, a recognition of similarity or difference; a conjunction or +disjunction, in other words, a synthesis or analysis of its objects.... +But thought simply is still too undetermined; the proper object of +logic is something still more definite; it is not thought in general, +but thought considered merely as thought, of which this science +takes cognisance.... What is meant by thought as thought? It is the +recognition of a thing as coming under a concept; in other words, the +marking an object by an attribute or attributes previously known as +common to sundry objects, and to which we have accordingly given a +general name. Logic is properly conversant with the form of thought +to the exclusion of the matter. + +“But the limitation of the object――matter of logic to the form of +thought, is not yet enough to determine its province from that of +other mental sciences; for psychology is, in like manner, among other +mental phenomena, conversant about the phenomena of formal thought. A +still further limitation is, therefore, requisite; and this is given +in saying, that logic is the science not merely of thought as thought, +but the laws of thought as thought, ... or the science of the formal +laws of thought, or the science of the laws of the form of thought; +these being three various expressions of the same thing.”¹ + + ¹ _Lectures_, Volume III., pages 3‒26. + +He gives further explanations, of which this is one:――“Abstract logic +considers the laws of thought as potentially applicable to the objects +of all arts and sciences, but as not actually applicable to those of +any; concrete logic considers these laws in their actual and immediate +application to the object-matter of this or that particular art or +science. The former of these is one, and alone belongs to philosophy, +whereas the latter is as multiform as the arts and sciences to which +it is relative.”¹ + + ¹ Volume III., page 53. + +Abstract logic is divided into pure and modified; and the former he +divides into two parts: (1) The Doctrine of Elements, which are either +laws or products; and (2) Methodology, or the doctrine of Method――the +means of thinking well. Modified logic falls into three parts: (1) The +first treats of the nature of Truth and Error, and of the higher laws +for their discrimination; (2) the second of the Impediments to thinking, +with the means of their removal; (3) the third of the Aids of thinking. + +In passing, I may remark that Hamilton’s treatment of modified logic, +although not exhaustive, is exceedingly clear and valuable so far as it +goes. This part of his lectures should be attentively read by those who +wish to cultivate their minds, or to study the laws of criticism and +historical evidence. + +The following is his tabular view of the divisions of logic: + + { { i. Doctrine { 1. Noetic: Nomology. + { { of Elements. { + { { { 2. Dianoetic: { a. Conception. + { { { Dynamic. { b. Judgment. + { I. Pure. { { { c. Reasoning. + { { + { { ii. { Clear thinking: 1. Definition. + General { { Method- { Distinct thinking: 2. Division. + or { { ology. { Connected thinking: 3. Probation. + Abstract { + Logic. { { i. Truth and Error: Certainty and Illusion. + { { + { { ii. Impediments { 1. The Mind. + { { to thinking, { 2. The Body. + { II. Mod- { with { 3. External circumstances. + { ified. { + { { iii. Aids or { 1. The Acquisition + { { Subsidiaries { of Knowledge. + { { to thinking, { 2. The Communication + { { through { of Knowledge. + +After stating the fundamental laws of thought, he proceeds to the +doctrine of Elements――to the exposition of concepts, judgment, and +reasoning. Five lectures are given to an explication of concepts +or notions: (1) Their general character is described; (2) then +their special objective relation, in regard to quantity; (3) their +subjective relation, in regard to quality; (4) their imperfection; +(5) their reciprocal relation, in regard to the quality of extension +――subordination and co-ordination; (6) their reciprocal relations in +regard to the quantity of comprehension, which are all explained with +remarkable clearness.¹ + + ¹ Volume III., page 137, _et seq._ + +He expounds his doctrine of judgments in two lectures, and it is in +connection with the quantification of the predicate of propositions +or judgments that Sir William claims to have made improvements on +formal logic.¹ I am aware that his claim, even on this point, has been +disputed since his death, but my limits will not permit me to enter +into a discussion of the subject; yet I think that the varied materials +printed in the second volume of his _Lectures on Logic_ afford the +means of placing it in its true light. Hamilton there notices many +partial anticipations of this doctrine. + + ¹ In a footnote to his article on Logic, he says:――“It will be + seen from the tenor of the text, that, by the year 1833, I + had become aware of the error in the doctrine of Aristotle + and the logicians, which maintains that the predicate in + affirmative propositions could only be formally quantified + as particular, nay, that Aristotle, in his practice in the + inductive syllogism, virtually contradicts the speculative + precept which he, over and over, expressly enounces for + syllogism in general.... The doctrine of a thorough-going + quantification of the predicate, with its results, I have, + however, publicly taught since the year 1840, at the latest.” + ――_Discussions_, page 162. + +As already stated, his projected work on logic was never finished. He +introduced, however, several modifications in syllogistic theory, and +signalised various distinctions, tending toward more simplicity, and +constructed an ingenious scheme of logical notation.¹ There can be +no doubt that he spent a considerable part of his life in prosecuting +inquiries connected with logic. + + ¹ See _Discussions_, pages 614‒620, and the appendices to the + second volume of his _Lectures on Logic_. His final scheme + of logical notation is inserted at the end of this volume. + I can only notice a few points:―― + + 1. “That we can only rationally deal with what we already + understand, determines the simple logical postulate――to + state explicitly what is thought implicitly. + + 2. “All mediate inference is one――that incorrectly called + Categorical; for the Conjunctive and Disjunctive forms of + hypothetical reasoning are reducible to immediate inferences. + + “Mentally one, the Categorical Syllogism, according to its + order of enouncement, is either Analytic (A) or Synthetic + (B). Analytic, if what is inappropriately styled the + conclusion be expressed first, and what are inappropriately + styled the premisses be then stated as its reasons. + Synthetic, if the premisses precede, and, as it were, + effectuate the conclusion. These general forms of syllogism + can with ease be distinguished by a competent notation; + and every special variety in the one has its corresponding + variety in the other. + + “Taking the syllogism under the latter form (B), which, + though perhaps less natural, has been alone cultivated by + logicians, and to which therefore, exclusively all logical + nomenclature is relative,――the syllogism is again divided + into the non-figured (a) and figured (b).”――_Discussions_, + pages 614‒616. + + 3. “Quantity and quality combined constitute the only real + discrimination of syllogistic mood. Syllogistic figure + vanishes, with its perplexing apparatus of special rules; + and even the general laws of syllogism proper are reduced + to a single compendious canon.... + + “We have shown that a judgment or proposition is only + a comparison resulting in a congruence, an equation, or + non-equation of two notions in the quantity of extension; + and that these compared notions stand to each other, as the + one subject and the other predicate, as both the subject, + or as both the predicate of the judgment. If this be true, + the transposition of the terms of a proposition sinks into + a very easy and a very simple process; whilst the whole + doctrine of logical conversion is superseded as operose and + imperfect, as useless and erroneous.”――_Lectures_, Volume + IV., Appendix, pages 275‒276. + +He also wrote very effectively on Education, chiefly on the higher +branches, and in reference to University reform. His views were +comprehensive, enlightened, and liberal, far in advance of his +time. But occasionally he was extremely outspoken and severe on the +prevailing abuses and shortcomings of the Universities. He did not +limit himself to Scotland, but wrote powerfully on the state of the +English Universities, with especial reference to Oxford. He argued +that dissenters ought to be admitted into the public Universities. +Altogether, his articles on education contain a body of varied, +curious, interesting, and valuable information. + +To sum up, I have presented a brief account of Hamilton’s psychology +and philosophy; its fundamental principles have been explained. He +taught the doctrine that man, in so far as he is a mean for the glory +of God, must be an end to himself, inasmuch as his perfection and +happiness constitute the goal of his activity. He seemed to value the +pursuit of truth more than its possession, or rather that its pursuit +afforded man more pleasure than its possession, which is quite true. +He embraced the doctrine of intuitive perception――natural realism; +and drew up a scheme of all the possible theories of perception. He +maintained that the human mind possesses native notions, necessary +cognitions, which afford the requisite conditions of knowledge. His +own vast and varied knowledge of recorded thought and philosophical +systems afforded him innumerable instances of the aberrations of +thought, contradictions, and vain presumptions; and so he constructed +his Philosophy of the Conditioned, which indicates the limits of human +thought. He took a strictly formal and limited view of the province of +logic; and upon this conception his exposition of the science is clear +and masterly. He also endeavoured to simplify the common syllogistic +system, and introduced several useful improvements. + +His conception of method, his skill and care in arrangement, and +in brief and clear summaries, are admirable; while his powers of +exposition were of the highest order. The style of his lectures is +lighted with a fire and glow of thought and a genuine human feeling +rarely found in philosophical literature. + +Hamilton attained a European reputation in his own lifetime, chiefly +through his articles in the _Edinburgh Review_, and his teaching in +the University of Edinburgh. Since his death his writings have had a +considerable influence. He had of course a certain number of direct +followers, very few of whom are now alive. But several other schools of +thought are indebted to Hamilton; and perhaps Herbert Spencer is more +indebted to him for the fundamental conceptions and principles of his +system of philosophy than to any other philosopher. This of course, +mainly refers to Spencer’s _First Principles_, but partly also to +his _Psychology_. On the other hand, Hamilton’s philosophy has been +subjected to severe criticism from various quarters.¹ I can, however, +only mention the fact, and must refrain from entering into any +discussion. + + ¹ J. S. Mill’s _Examination of Hamilton’s Philosophy_ is + well known, and it is an able and acute work; but I affirm + that Mill did not, in all respects, present a fair and + just estimate of Hamilton. He did not take any account + of the circumstances in which Hamilton was placed; and so + when reckoning up the little that Hamilton had produced + in philosophy in comparison to what he might have done, + and began to seek for reasons to explain this, it never + occurred to him to assign any weight to these circumstances. + Unfortunately Hamilton’s father died when he was an infant; + Mill’s father not only lived to bring him up, but also to + educate him personally, and to cram him with all kinds of + knowledge and science, so that long ere he reached the years + of manhood, he was a prodigy; then, when he came of age, + his father got him into a position in the Indian Office, + where he had only to work a few hours a day. Thus his father + did everything for him that could be done. Mill never knew + the difficulties of finding a post for himself, or the + humiliation of going about seeking employment. Hamilton had + to face a very different career, as he had to struggle hard + for existence, and fight many a battle ere he attained a + position. + + But Mill himself avows that he wrote his _Examination of + Hamilton’s Philosophy_ for the express purpose of reducing + his too great reputation, and explicitly declares in his own + _Autobiography_ that it had fully effected its original aim! + +Dr. J. F. Ferrier was an intimate friend of Sir William Hamilton, +and at one time he was professor of civil history in the University +of Edinburgh; but in 1846 he was appointed to the chair of moral +philosophy in the University of St. Andrews, which he held until +his death in 1864. When the chair of logic and metaphysics in the +University of Edinburgh became vacant on the death of Hamilton, Ferrier +entered the field as a candidate for it, but he was not successful. +However, in connection with this he published a pamphlet in 1856, +entitled _Scottish Philosophy, the Old and the New_, the new being +his own. In this pamphlet he complained against the town council of +Edinburgh for allowing themselves to be influenced by certain outside +parties in favour of candidates who professed to teach the old Scottish +philosophy in preference to the new. It seems that he was greatly +disappointed when he failed to obtain the Edinburgh chair.¹ + + ¹ In this pamphlet he replied to criticisms on his own + metaphysics, and says:――“It has been asserted that my + philosophy is of German origin and complexion. A broader + fabrication than that never dropped from human lips or + dribbled from the point of pen. My philosophy is Scottish + to the very core; it is national in every fibre and + articulation of its frame. It is a natural growth of old + Scotland’s soil, and has drunk in no nourishment from any + other land.” (page 12). + +Ferrier’s _Institutes of Metaphysics, the Theory of Knowing and Being_, +appeared in 1854. It consists of an introduction, partly historical +and partly critical, and three sections, the first of which treats of +the theory of knowledge, the second of the theory of ignorance, and +the third of the theory of being. He adopted the demonstrative method +of exposition, states his propositions and counter propositions in +a series, and reasons them out in a precise and rigorous form. His +thinking is acute, definite, vigorous, and easily followed. In short, +his style is unusually clear, simple, and concise. + +Ferrier’s first proposition is headed, “The primary law or condition +of knowledge,” and it is worded thus:――“Along with whatever any +intelligence knows it must, as the ground or condition of its knowledge, +have some cognisance of itself.” This is a very primitive truth, +and he tells us over and over that it is the keystone of his system. +“Looked at in itself, or as an isolated truth, our first proposition +is of no importance; but viewed as the foundation of the whole system, +and as the single staple on which all the truths subsequently to be +advanced depend, it cannot be too strongly insisted on or too fully +elucidated. Everything hinges on the stability which can be given to +this proposition, on the acceptance it may meet with. If it falls, the +system entirely fails; if it stands, the system entirely succeeds. It +is to be hoped that the reader will not be stopped or discouraged by +the apparent truism which it involves. He may think that if the main +truth which this philosophy has to tell him is that all his cognitions +and perceptions are known by him to be his own, he will have very +little to thank it for. Let him go on and see what follows.” + +He remarks that if this first proposition is not very clearly confirmed +by experience, it is not refuted by experience; for by no effort can +anyone ever apprehend a thing to the entire exclusion of himself. A +man cannot leave himself altogether out of his account and proceed to +the consideration of the surrounding objects. But experience can only +establish it as a limited matter of fact, and this is insufficient +for the purposes of his subsequent demonstrations. “It is reason alone +that can give to this proposition the certainty and extension which are +required to render it a sure foundation for all that is to follow.... +It must be established as a necessary truth of reason――as a law binding +on intelligence universally――as a conception the opposite of which is a +contradiction and an absurdity. + +“Strictly speaking, the proposition cannot be demonstrated, because, +being itself the absolute starting point, it cannot be deduced from any +antecedent data; but it may be explained in such a way as to leave no +doubt as to its axiomatic character. It claims all the stringency of a +geometrical axiom, and its claims, it is conceived, are irresistible.... +A man has knowledge, and is cognisant of perceptions only when he +brings them home to himself. If he were not aware that they were his, +he could not be aware of them at all. Can I know without knowing that +it is I who know? No, truly. But if a man in knowing anything, must +always know that he knows it, he must always be self-conscious.” + +But this had been fully recognised before by the Scottish School. For +there is nothing more explicit in Hamilton, than that consciousness is +the primary, the necessary, and the universal condition of knowing, and +of knowledge. It would be unfair, however, to adduce this as detracting +in any way from the candour and the merit of Ferrier’s work; and I +shall quote a part of what he says regarding anticipations of his own +first proposition:―― + +“But passing over all intermediate approximations, we find +anticipations of this first principle in the writings of the +philosophers of Germany. It has no claim to novelty, however novel may +be the uses to which these institutes apply it. Kant had glimpses of +the truth; but his remarks are confused in the extreme, in regard to +what he calls the analytic and synthetic of consciousness. This is one +of the few places in his works from which no meaning can be extracted. +In his hands the principle answered no purpose at all. It died in +the act of being born, and was buried under a mass of subordinate +considerations before it can be said to have even breathed. Fichte got +hold of it, and lost it; got hold of it, and lost it again, through a +series of eight or ten different publications, in which the truth slips +through his fingers when it seems just on the point of being turned to +some account. Schelling promised magnificent operations in the heyday +of his youth, on a basis very similar to that laid down in this first +proposition. But the world has been waiting for the fulfilment of these +promises――for the fruits of that exuberant blossom――during a period +of more than fifty years.... Hegel――but who has ever yet uttered one +intelligible word about Hegel? Not any of his countrymen, not any +foreigner――seldom even himself. With peaks, here and there, more +lucent than the sun, his intervals are filled with a sea of darkness, +unnavigable by the aid of any compass, and an atmosphere or rather +vacuum, in which no human intellect can breathe. Hegel had better not +be meddled with just at present. It is impossible to say to what extent +this proposition coincides, or does not coincide, with his opinions; +for whatever truth there may be in Hegel, it is certain that his +meaning cannot be wrung from him by any amount of mere reading, any +more than the whisky which is in bread――so at least we have been +informed――can be extracted by squeezing the loaf into a tumbler. He +requires to be distilled, as all philosophers do, more or less, but +Hegel to an extent which is unparalleled.”¹ + + ¹ Pages 82‒84, 90‒92. Since the above passage was written, + a considerable change has occurred in Scotland with regard + to Hegel. Dr. Stirling’s efforts to explain Hegel are well + known; and Dr. Seth, now Professor of Logic and Metaphysics + in the University of Edinburgh, after criticising the + principle of the Relativity of Knowledge, and generally + commenting unfavourably on Hamilton’s principles, speaks + of Hegel thus:―― + + “So far as I can see, Hegel alone of all metaphysicians + lifts us completely clear of Relativism. He alone has gone + systematically to work to lay bare the abstractions on + which it depends; and in so doing he has to a great extent + transformed the character of metaphysics, and so rendered + unjust many of the epithets which popular phraseology still + associates with the science. + + “We have Hegel’s own word for it that the method is nothing, + unless we bring the whole nature of thought with us.... + The Method sums up a thought which may almost be said + to constitute Hegel’s philosophy, and one which, in my + opinion, gives him a signal advantage over all his modern + predecessors. + + “The thought in question is primarily a logical principle; + a fact which may partly explain why Hegel made his logic + the centre of his system. It is the principle to which we + have already referred so often, the systematic recognition + of the fact that thought is founded upon difference; + whereas identity had hitherto been the god of the logician’s + idolatry.... I do believe that here we have a principle, not + of arbitrary invention, but drawn from the heart of things, + from the nature of the self-conscious spirit itself.... + The essential point in a systematic philosophy is simply + the possession of some outline or scheme, by reference to + which each conception may be judged and receive its place + and meaning. In self-consciousness, Hegel seems to hold + a position, from which, in the nature of the case, it is + impossible to dislodge him.”――Seth’s _Lectures on Scottish + Philosophy_, pages 167, 171, 174, ♦183, 195‒197. + + ♦ “83” replaced with “183” + +His theory of Ignorance seems the most effective section of his +_Institutes_. Its principle is that ignorance is a defect, privation, +or shortcoming; and that there can be an ignorance only of that +which can be known. But Ferrier’s _Institutes_, and also several +dissertations published after his death, are almost entirely occupied +in clearing the ground of prevailing contradictions and inconsistencies +of thought. His own positive views consist of a few remarks and brief +indications. + +George Croom Robertson was born in Aberdeen on the 10th of March, 1842. +He was educated at the Grammar School there, and at the University +of Aberdeen, where, after a very distinguished career, he graduated +in 1861 with highest honours in classics and mental philosophy. The +same year he gained the Ferguson Scholarship, in these two subjects, +one of the great prizes open to all Scottish graduates. Subsequent +to this Mr. Robertson pursued his philosophic studies for upwards of +two years at Heidelberg, Berlin, Göttingen, and Paris, where he made +the acquaintance of Trendeleburg, Du Bois, Reymond, Bona Meyer, Lotze, +and other distinguished teachers and thinkers, and profited greatly +by their instruction and intercourse. He returned to Aberdeen in 1863, +and continued to devote his attention to philosophical study. + +Having elaborated a number of valuable and interesting notes from his +German studies, he assisted Dr. Bain in the revision and amplification +of his work, entitled, _The Senses and the Intellect, the Emotions +and the Will_, for a second edition. He also aided Dr. Bain in the +ethical part of the excellent manual――_Mental and Moral Science_, and +contributed to it the articles on the Neo-Platonists, the Scholastic +Ethics, Hobbes, Cumberland, Cudworth, Kant, Cousin, and Jouffroy. In +these there is ample evidence of Robertson’s philosophic, critical, and +literary powers, scholarship, and research. + +In 1864 he was appointed assistant to Professor Geddes in the +University of Aberdeen, and held the post for two sessions; he also +assisted in teaching the Greek classes. In December, 1866, he was +appointed to the Chair of Mental Philosophy and Logic in University +College, London, and opened his class in January, 1867. He carefully +prepared courses of lectures for his classes on Systematic Psychology, +Ethical Theory, and Logic――inductive and deductive. He mainly directed +his teaching to the elaboration and explication of psychological +doctrines, and the history of philosophy. His knowledge of recorded +thought, and of the great philosophical systems, ancient and modern, +was wide and accurate, while his clear style of stating psychological +doctrines and expository powers were remarkable. + +For ten years he was Examiner in Philosophy in the University of London. +He also acted as Examiner in the University of Aberdeen for two terms. +Occasionally he delivered popular lectures at Manchester, Newcastle, +and the Royal Institution, London. For several years he gave the +philosophical course of lectures to the College of Preceptors. He took +an active interest in the business and management of University College, +as a member of the Senate, and subsequently as one of the Senate’s +Representatives on the Council. + +In 1874 Dr. Bain originated a proposal for establishing a Quarterly +Journal of Philosophy, and consulted Robertson on the subject. Dr. +Bain desired that Professor Robertson should be editor, and after +consideration he accepted the editorship. Time, however, was required +to obtain the approbation and promise of support from, at least, some +of the eminent living writers on philosophy. Accordingly both made +efforts by personal interviews and correspondence, and they received +sufficient encouragement to make arrangements for the publication. +Under the title of _Mind: a Quarterly Journal of Psychology and +Philosophy_, the first number appeared in January, 1876. Robertson +was editor of _Mind_ for sixteen years, and expended a great amount of +thought and labour upon it. Besides his own original articles, and many +reviews of works on psychology, ethics, and philosophy, he carefully +revised most of the articles contributed by others before they appeared +in the pages of _Mind_. This quarterly publication――the first entirely +devoted in the English language to the discussions of mental philosophy, +has, during the last twenty years, had a considerable influence upon +philosophic thought. + +Professor Robertson’s health began to fail twelve years before his +death. During the sessions from 1883 to 1888 he had several times to +employ substitutes for his teaching work in the College. In the later +years of his life he suffered much severe pain, which he bore with +great patience. He resigned his Chair in the College on the 7th of May, +1892. His wife died on the 29th of May, the same year; and he himself +died on the 20th of September following.¹ + + ¹ _Philosophical Remains of George Croom Robertson, with a + Memoir_, 1894. This volume was edited by Dr. Bain and Mr. + T. Whittaker, who had long acted as Robertson’s assistant + in preparing notices for _Mind_. + +Owing to weak health in the later part of his life, and his death at +the comparatively early age of fifty, his writings are not voluminous. +Yet they touch on a considerable variety of subjects of much interest, +embracing biography, psychology, and philosophy treated historically +and associated with the characteristics of an elevated and candid +criticism. + +He contributed to the _Dictionary of National Biography_ biographies of +George Grote, the historian, and his wife, and two of the historian’s +brothers――John and Arthur. His contributions to the ninth edition of +the _Encyclopædia Britannica_ extended to eight articles, two of which +were historical. One of these dealt with Abelard, the famous lecturer +and teacher of the twelfth century, a very able and interesting article. +Another article was on the remarkable philosopher, Hobbes, a subject to +which he had given much attention, and subsequently treated in a book. +The remaining articles were philosophical, and treated on Analogy, +Analysis, Analytic Judgments, Autonomy, Association, and Axion. All +these are admirable specimens of method, clear thought, polished style, +and lucid exposition of difficult mental processes. + +At an early stage of his life he intended to write a large work on +Hobbes, and to treat the subject on comprehensive historic lines. +He rightly formed the conception that Hobbes was an important +historic character, as he lived and wrote in one of the stirring and +revolutionary periods of the history of the Island. He had made some +progress in research and had prepared much material for such a work, +but untoward circumstances of health prevented him from realising his +original conception. He, however, as mentioned before, contributed an +article on Hobbes to the _Encyclopædia_; and in 1886 a volume on Hobbes +appeared as one of the series, entitled _Philosophical Classics for +English Readers_. It is not written on a large scale, yet it is a +compact and excellent treatise. He shows a fine historic insight +into the social and political conflicts of the period, with reference +to their influence upon Hobbes’s views and opinions. Robertson’s +remarkable historic faculty is clearly manifested in this volume. +His appreciation and criticism of Hobbes’ works, and his influence on +subsequent writers, is marked by thoroughness, candour, and accuracy. +The treatise is a model of its kind, and is recognised as the best +existing monograph on the subject. + +To conclude, the preceding account of Scottish Philosophy covers +nearly two centuries. The Scottish Philosophers mainly concentrated +their efforts on mental philosophy――the explication of the human mind, +psychology, moral and political science. Their works present a body of +doctrines and reflective thought which are well worth careful study. +For the mind alone constitutes the distinctive glory and dignity of +man. Insomuch, that it is only by the culture of the mind and the moral +sentiments that mankind can hope to attain a more elevated and higher +stage of civilisation. + + + + + CHAPTER XL. + + _Literature of Scotland in the Eighteenth + and Nineteenth Centuries._ + + + SECTION I. + + _Historical Literature of the Eighteenth Century._ + +AFTER the union various external influences began to touch Scottish +literature. Ere indicating these, and dealing with the eminent +historians of the period, a few of the historical writers who preceded +them may be briefly noticed. + +Dr. Patrick Abercromby was descended from the Abercrombies of +Tullibody in Fife, and was born at Forfar in 1656. He was educated at +the University of St. Andrews, and obtained the degree of doctor of +medicine in 1685. His family were supporters of the Stuart line, and he +was appointed one of the physicians of James VII. After the Revolution +of 1688 he lived abroad, but returned to Scotland in the reign of Queen +Anne, and directed his attention to the study of national antiquities. +The first volume of his work, entitled _The Martial Achievements of the +Scots Nation_, was published in 1711, and the second in 1715. This work +is interesting, but it has little historical value. + +James Anderson, a son of the Rev. Patrick Anderson, was born in 1662. +He was educated at the University of Edinburgh, and graduated in 1680; +and having subsequently studied Law, in 1691 he became a member of the +Society of Writers to the Signet. + +When the question of the Union was stirring the feeling of the Scottish +people, Mr. Attwood, a lawyer, in 1704 issued a pamphlet, in which all +the old claims of Edward I. over Scotland were reasserted. In 1705 Mr. +Anderson published an answer to Attwood’s pamphlet, entitled _An Essay, +showing that the Crown of Scotland is Imperial and Independent_. This +effort was well received in Scotland, while Parliament passed a vote +of thanks and a reward to Mr. Anderson, which was presented to him by +the Chancellor in presence of the Royal Commissioner. Then Attwood’s +pamphlet and others of a similar character were ordered to be burned at +the Cross of Edinburgh by the common hangman. The value of Anderson’s +essay mainly consisted in the important charters attached to it. + +In research connected with his essay, he had collected a number +of valuable national documents. He obtained the patronage of the +Scottish Parliament to a plan for engraving and publishing a series +of facsimiles of royal charters prior to the reign of James I., and of +coins and seals from the earliest times to the end of the seventeenth +century. In November, 1706, the Scottish Parliament granted him three +hundred pounds to promote the work, and he proceeded with it. By +the beginning of March, 1707, he had expended this sum and about six +hundred pounds of his own on the work. This was reported to Parliament, +and a majority of the House recommended that the Queen should grant +to him an additional sum of one thousand and fifty pounds. It said, +however, that the money voted to Anderson by the expiring Parliament +was never paid to him, yet he proceeded with the work. In 1728 he died, +leaving his great undertaking unfinished. The year after his death +the plates of the work were sold for £530. At last his work, under +the title of _Selectus Diplomatum et Numismatum Scotiæ Thesaurus_, +appeared, carefully edited by the well-known scholar, Thomas Ruddiman, +who contributed an elaborate preface. At that time the work had much +historical value as a book of reference. Anderson was also the author +of _Collections relating to the History of Mary, Queen of Scotland_, +published at Edinburgh in 1727‒8 in four volumes, which contains a +great number of original documents touching the Marian controversy. + +Dr. John Campbell,¹ a son of Campbell of Glenlyon, attained some +distinction as an historical writer. His _Military History of the Duke +of Marlborough and Prince Eugene_ was published in 1736 in two volumes, +and was well received. In 1742‒44 his _Lives of the Admirals_ appeared +in four volumes, which, owing to the interest of the subject, was long +popular. His work, _The Present State of Europe_, was issued in 1750, +and passed through many editions. He wrote a portion of the _Biographia +Britannica_, and contributed a number of articles to the _Modern +Universal History_. His last work was a _Political Survey of Britain_, +published in 1774 in two volumes, which was much admired. He was a +candid and well informed man, and an industrious writer. + + ¹ Born at Edinburgh in 1707; died in 1775. + +Walter Goodal¹ was a native of Banffshire, and was educated at King’s +College, Aberdeen. In 1730 he obtained employment in the Advocates’ +Library at Edinburgh, and assisted Ruddiman in the compilation of the +first Catalogue of the Library, which was printed in 1742. When Hume +succeeded Ruddiman, Goodal continued to act as sub-librarian. He was an +ardent Jacobite, and an enthusiastic defender of Mary, Queen of Scots. +He contemplated writing a life of Mary, but ultimately limited his +effort to _An Examination of the Letters said to be written by Queen +Mary to James, Earl of Bothwell_, which appeared in 1754. It is an +important work. His conclusion is that the famous “Casket Letters” were +not written by Queen Mary. The subsequent defenders of the unfortunate +Queen, including Skelton, usually refer with confidence to Goodal’s +conclusion on the Letters as decisive. + + ¹ Born in 1706; died on the 28th July, 1766. + +He published an edition of _Scott of Scotestarvet’s Staggering State of +Scots Statesmen, with Notes_; an edition of _Fordun’s Scotichronicon, +with a Latin Introduction_; and also contributed to _Keith’s Catalogue +of Scottish Bishops_. + +Thomas Innes was a native of the Valley of the Dee, Aberdeenshire. He +left Scotland when young, completed his education abroad, and became +a Roman Catholic priest. He is the author of _A Critical Essay on +the Ancient Inhabitants of Scotland_, published in 1729. The preface +extends to fifty pages, and the Essay itself is elaborate, and shows +evidence of much research. His effort has the merit of being the first +that questioned the legendary history of Ireland and Scotland. The +value of his work, however, was not recognised till after his death. + +Early in the eighteenth century indications of a literary revival +appeared in Scotland. The awakening influences were mainly native, +though external circumstances partly aided it. The energy and genius +of the Scots under favourable conditions, soon manifested itself in +literature as in other fields of enterprise. The external influence +which aided the literary revival came from English literature, at a +somewhat later stage and in a slighter degree from French literature. +The culture of style became a special object of study, and attempts +were made to acquire the idiomatic expression of classic English +writers.¹ + + ¹ One stimulus of the literary revival was the Clubs + and Societies which were specially formed for literary + conversation and improvement in composition. To promote + these objects, in 1716 the Rakenian Club was instituted in + Edinburgh, and it continued to meet till 1760. In the roll + of its members the names of a number of Scottish literary + men appeared, including ♦Maclaurin, the mathematician; Rev. + Dr. Robert Wallace; Dr. Young, a distinguished physician; + Rev. George Turnbull, author of a work on moral philosophy, + and a treatise on Ancient Painting; Alexander Boswell, a + Lord of Session, and father of Johnson’s biographer. This + Club was pretty successful in disseminating freedom of + thought, taste, and attention to composition. At a somewhat + later time societies with similar or wider aims were formed + in other cities in Scotland. In 1750 the Select Society + projected by Allan Ramsay, the painter, was instituted + in Edinburgh, for the purposes of literary discussion, + philosophical inquiry, and improvement in public speaking. + It continued active for seven years, and amongst its members + were――Hume, Dr. Robertson, Adam Smith, Adam Ferguson, + Lord Kames, Lord Hales, Lord Monboddo, John Home, and + other celebrated men. Dugald Stewart says the Society + produced――“Debates such as have not often been heard + in modern assemblies――debates where the dignity of the + speakers was not lowered by the intrigues of policy, or the + intemperance of faction, and where the most splendid talents + that have ever adorned this country were roused to their + best exertions by the liberal and ennobling discussions + of literature and philosophy.”――_Life and Writings of Dr. + Robertson_, page 15. + + ♦ “Maclurin” replaced with “Maclaurin” + +In the department of history an important change appeared in the +eighteenth century. The critical examination of historical evidence +began to be recognised and applied, and a clearer conception of the +requisites of historical inquiry was shown. Yet it cannot be affirmed +that adequate historic conceptions of the human race were attained by +the historians of the period. + +David Hume avowed that he was actuated by a passionate love of literary +fame, which led him to turn aside from philosophical studies and try +his skill in historical composition. In 1747 he formed a resolution +to write some historical work. As he had also a desire to counteract +the prejudice against the Stuart Kings, he resolved to commence his +_History of Great Britain_ with the reign of James VI. With the view +of facilitating his historic studies, in 1752 he assumed gratuitously +the office of Librarian to the Faculty of Advocates in Edinburgh; and +in the Advocates’ Library, amid a rich store of books and historical +materials, he began to write his history. The first volume, embracing +the reigns of James VI. and Charles I., appeared in 1754, the second +in 1757, the third and fourth in 1759, and the fifth and sixth in +1762. The first volume was bitterly assailed by the Whigs, and Hume was +greatly disappointed by the attacks upon his work, and also on account +of its slow sale. In a short time, however, his history became popular, +new editions were issued in rapid succession; and at last Hume was +placed in the front rank of English historians. + +Recognising his great abilities, easy circumstances, and the varied +store of historical matter at his command, yet it has to be regretted +that his work is not of high historical authority. He did not reach a +high standard either in research or the accurate statement of facts; +though he was well qualified to estimate every description of evidence, +still he fell into many mistakes. On some important religious and +political subjects, such as the Covenanting struggle, and the period +of persecution in Scotland, Hume was constitutionally disqualified +for forming just views of his suffering countrymen. Having made +these adverse comments on his history, I will indicate some of its +special merits. Looking at the general character of his work, in many +points it is much superior to the annals and compilations of previous +British historians. His sagacity enabled him to sink much of the offal +and draff which encumber the pages of less gifted writers. While he +exhibited a lamentable deficiency in appreciating some of the movements +of the seventeenth century, yet on other occasions the views of +conflicting parties are grasped and estimated with rare fairness, and +presented with much effect. He recognises the importance of literature +and culture, which is specially treated in certain portions of his +history. His narrative is admirable. His style is clear, easy, and +polished. + +The following on the character of Queen Elizabeth is a fair specimen +of his style:――“There are few personages in history who have been more +exposed to the calumny of enemies and the adulation of friends than +Queen Elizabeth; and yet there is scarcely any whose reputation has +been more certainly determined by the unanimous consent of posterity. +The unusual length of her administration, and the strong features of +her character, were able to overcome all prejudices; and obliging her +detractors to abate much of their invectives, and her admirers somewhat +of their panegyrics, have at last, in spite of political factions, and +what is more, of religious animosities, produced a uniform judgment +with regard to her conduct. Her vigour, her constancy, her magnanimity, +her penetration, vigilance, and address, are allowed to merit the +highest praise, and appear not to have been surpassed by any person +that ever filled a throne: a conduct less vigorous, less imperious, +more sincere, more indulgent to her people, would have been requisite +to form a perfect character. By the force of her mind she controlled +all her more active and stronger qualities, and prevented her from +running into excess: her heroism was exempt from temerity, her +frugality from avarice, her friendship from partiality, her active +temper from turbulency and vain ambition: she guarded not herself with +equal care or success from lesser infirmities; the rivalship of beauty, +the desire of admiration, the jealousy of love, and the sallies of +anger.” + +Dr. William Robertson¹ was a native of the parish of Borthwick, in the +county of Edinburgh, where his father was minister. He was educated +for the Church, and in 1743, was appointed minister of Gladsmuir in +Haddingtonshire; but in 1758, he removed to one of the churches of +Edinburgh. He delivered his first speech in the General Assembly in +1751, which at once produced a marked impression, and was subsequently +the leader of the moderate party in the Church of Scotland. + + ¹ Born in 1721; died 1793. An interesting account of his life + and writings was written by Dugald Stewart. + +His works consist of: (1) _The History of Scotland during the Reigns +of Queen Mary and James the VI._, which appeared in 1759; (2) _History +of the Reign of Charles V._, in three volumes, published in 1769; +(3) _History of America_, (1777); and (4) _A Historical Disquisition +on Ancient India_, a slight sketch, (1791). For the copyright of his +_History of Scotland_, he received £600, and £4500 for his _History of +Charles V._ + +Shortly after the publication of his _History of Scotland_, he was +appointed principal of the University of Edinburgh, and historiographer +royal for Scotland. + +Dr. Robertson was a man of great intellectual power and grasp of +mind, combined with a singularly clear and sober judgment. Guided and +enlightened as his faculties were by a pretty broad and varied culture, +the works which he produced were all stamped with enduring qualities, +and still remain monuments of his industry and genius. Although his +works are not remarkable for exhaustiveness of research, he possessed +in a high degree the rarer qualification of seizing the essential +features of a subject, and presenting them in a lucid and attractive +way. His introductory chapter on Scottish history prior to the birth +of Queen Mary, though only a slight retrospective sketch, is remarkable +for its grasp and luminous view of the subject. It is true that this +period of history is now better understood than it was in his day; yet +with the materials within his reach, he drew a wonderfully accurate +picture of the subject. + +His _History of Scotland_ is intensely interesting; the period itself +was a stirring one, full of important, varied, and tragic events; +his narrative is masterly, and his style flowing and clear. The first +volume of his _History of Charles V._, which describes the state of +society in Europe prior to the sixteenth century, is one of the most +valuable parts of his works, and exhibits his highest qualifications +as a historian to the best advantage. Soon after its appearance the +work was translated into French. _His History of America_ is full of +deep interest, presenting a clear narrative teeming with picturesque +features and touching incidents, accompanied with striking and +philosophical reflections, which charmed the literary world. A short +extract from his account of the discovery of America may be given. The +land had been descried about midnight, and great joy was manifested by +the crews of the ships:―― + +“As soon as the sun arose, all their boats were manned and armed. They +rowed towards the island with their colours displayed, with warlike +music, and other martial pomp. As they approached the coast, they +saw it covered with a multitude of people, whom the novelty of the +spectacle had drawn together, whose attitudes and gestures expressed +wonder and astonishment at the strange objects which presented +themselves to their view. Columbus was the first European who set foot +on the new world which he had discovered. He landed in a rich dress, +and with a naked sword in his hand. His men followed, and kneeling down, +they all kissed the ground which they had so long desired to see. They +next erected a crucifix, and prostrating themselves before it, returned +thanks to God for conducting their voyage to such a happy issue. They +then took solemn possession of the country for the crown of Castile and +Leon, with all the formalities which the Portuguese were accustomed to +observe in acts of this kind in their new discoveries. + +“The Spaniards, while thus employed, were surrounded by many of the +natives, who gazed in silent admiration upon actions which they could +not comprehend, and of which they did not foresee the consequences. +The dress of the Spaniards, the whiteness of their skins, their beards, +their arms, appeared strange and surprising. The vast machines in which +they had traversed the ocean, that seemed to move upon the waters with +wings, and uttered a dreadful sound resembling thunder, accompanied +with lightning and smoke, struck them with such terror that they +began to respect their new guests as a superior order of beings, and +concluded that they were children of the sun, who had descended to +visit the earth. + +“The Europeans were hardly less amazed at the scene now before +them. Every herb and shrub and tree was different from those which +flourished in Europe. The soil seemed to be rich, but bore few marks +of cultivation. The climate, even to the Spaniards, felt warm, though +extremely delightful. The inhabitants appeared in the simple innocence +of nature, entirely naked. Their black hair, long and uncurled, floated +upon their shoulders, or was bound in tresses on their heads. They +had no beards, and every part of their bodies was perfectly smooth. +Their complexion was of a dusky copper colour, their features singular +rather than disagreeable, their aspect gentle and timid. Though not +tall, they were well-shaped and active. Their faces and several parts +of their bodies were fantastically painted with glaring colours.... +Towards evening Columbus returned to his ships, accompanied by many +of the islanders in their boats, which they called canoes; and though +rudely formed out of the trunk of a single tree, they rowed them +with surprising dexterity. Thus, in the first interview between +the inhabitants of the old and new worlds, everything was conducted +amicably and to their mutual satisfaction. The former, enlightened and +ambitious, formed already vast ideas with respect to the advantages +which they might derive from the regions that began to open to their +view. The latter, simple and undiscerning, had no foresight of the +calamities and desolation which were approaching their country.” + +William Guthrie, a son of an episcopal minister, was born at Brechin +in 1708. He was educated at King’s College, Aberdeen, and afterwards +proceeded to London to push his fortune. He was for some time engaged +writing as a supporter of the Government, and received from the Pelham +Ministry a pension of £200 per annum. He became a voluminous writer, +and was connected with many literary undertakings. He wrote a History +of England in three volumes, which begins with the Conquest and closes +with the Commonwealth. In 1767 he published a History of Scotland in +ten volumes. His _Historical and Geographical Grammar_ was his most +successful work. It had reached its twenty-first edition in 1810, and +was translated into French. He died on the 9th of March, 1770. + +Dr. ♦Smollett, the novelist, wrote a _History of England_, published +in 1758, in four large volumes; but it is not of much historical value. +It was hastily composed without sufficient preparation and study, and +it is full of mistakes and inconsistencies. The portion of this history +from 1688 to the death of George II. has often been printed as a +continuation to Hume’s history. + + ♦ “Smollet” replaced with “Smollett” + +Mr. William Tytler of Woodhouselee, published in 1759 _An Inquiry into +the Evidence against Mary Queen of Scots_, in which he combated the +views advanced by Robertson and Hume, touching Queen Mary. Tytler’s +work is acute and candid, but not at all conclusive. He also rendered +good service to the national literature by his publication of the +Poetical Remains of James I., with a dissertation on the life and +writings of the royal poet. + +Dr. Gilbert Stuart was born at Edinburgh in 1742. He is the author +of a _History of Scotland_, a _History of the Reformation_, and a +_Dissertation on the British Constitution_. He also wrote many articles +for periodicals in which he bitterly attacked the works of some of his +contemporaries. His style is florid and flowing, but much affected. He +died in 1786. + +In 1771, the first volume of Dr. Robert Henry’s¹ _History of Great +Britain_ appeared, and four others followed at intervals from this date +to 1785. In this work special attention was directed to the state of +the people and domestic manners; but it only came down to the reign of +Henry VIII. The author received for his work £3300; and was rewarded +with a pension from the Crown of £100 a year. + + ¹ Born in 1718; died in 1790. + +Lord Hailes, a son of Sir James Dalrymple, was born in Edinburgh in +1726. He distinguished himself at the Scottish bar, and was raised +to the bench in 1766. He was a man of considerable erudition, an able +lawyer and conscientious judge. He was, moreover, a man of wit, and +had a strong feeling of the comic and ridiculous in human conduct and +character, “which gave a keen edge of irony both to his conversation +and writings.... How much he excelled in painting the lighter +weaknesses and absurdities of mankind, may be seen from the papers of +his composition in the _World and the Mirror_.... In a word, he was +an honour to the station which he filled, and to the age in which he +lived. He died in his 67th year, on the 29th of November 1792.”¹ + + ¹ _Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Lord Kames_, by A. F. + Tytler, Volume I., pages 182‒183; 1807. + +The first part of Lord Hailes’ _Annals of Scotland_ was published in +1776, and the second part, which brought the work down to the death +of David II., appeared in 1779. It is a work of very high merit and +historical value, and it has been long well known and esteemed by +historical students. He was gifted with the critical faculty in a +high degree, and the power of discriminating and estimating historical +evidence. Lord Hailes was also the author of a number of legal and +antiquarian treatises; of the _Remains of Christian Antiquity_, +containing translations from the Fathers, etc., and of _An Inquiry +into the secondary causes assigned by Gibbon for the rapid spread of +Christianity_. + +Dr. Adam Ferguson’s _Essay on the History of Civil Society_ appeared +in 1766, and his _History of the Progress and Termination of the Roman +Republic_ in 1783. In the first named work, he introduced the method +of studying mankind in groups, and of tracing the gradual progress of +entire societies, or what is now called the science of sociology. As +already stated, Ferguson’s views of the progress of mankind and the +gradual growth of social institutions, approached nearer to the modern +conception of the historical development of the human race than those +of any of his predecessors. In his _History of the Roman Republic_ +he showed much careful research, skilful arrangement, and just +philosophical reflections. But his style, though exceedingly clear and +vigorous, is rather compressed and sententious. + +Dr. William Russell¹ was a native of Selkirkshire, and raised himself +to literary distinction in the midst of many difficulties. He was the +author of a useful _History of Modern Europe_, of which the first two +volumes appeared in 1779, and three others in 1784, bringing it down to +1763. This history was long popular, and continuations have been made +to it by Dr. Coote and others. + + ¹ Born in 1741; died 1793. + +Dr. Robert Watson,¹ professor of rhetoric in the University of St. +Andrews, is the author of a History of Philip II. of Spain, which was +published in 1776, and was intended as a continuation of Robertson’s +History of Charles V. He also left unfinished a History of Philip III., +which was completed by Dr. Thomson, and published in 1783. + + ¹ Born in 1730; died 1780. + +Dr. John Gillies,¹ historiographer for Scotland to His Majesty George +III., wrote The _History of Ancient Greece, its Colonies and Conquests_, +which appeared in 1784. It is a work which exhibits historic ability +and research. The sixth edition of it was issued in four volumes in +1820. He was the author also of a _View of the Reign of Frederic II. +of Prussia_; a _History of the World from the Reign of Alexander +to Augustus_, which was published in 1807‒10; and produced English +Translations of Aristotle’s Ethics, Politics, and Rhetoric. + + ¹ Born in 1747; died 1836. + +To his translation of the Rhetoric he prefixed a long introduction in +which, after showing its importance as a work of taste and criticism, +and its connection with Aristotle’s other writings, he opened an +attack on modern philosophy in general, and on the Scottish School in +particular. He animadverts adversely on the views of Adam Smith, Reid, +Lord Kames, and especially on the writings of Dugald Stewart. Their +views he maintained were all wrong, while those of the mighty Stagirite +were alone right. + +George Chalmers,¹ a native of Fochabers, in Morayshire, is the author +of a number of works on various subjects. His _History of the United +Colonies, from the Settlement to the Peace of 1763_, appeared in +1780; among his other writings may be mentioned, a _Life of Sir David +Lindsay_, with an edition of his works, and a _Life of Mary Queen +of Scots drawn from the State Papers_. But his greatest work is +_Caledonia_, the first volume of which was published in 1807; other two +large volumes were issued in his lifetime, but it was left unfinished. +This work contains a mass of minute antiquarian details of the early +periods of Scottish history, together with topographical and historical +accounts of the different counties; it embodies a vast collection of +facts and incidents of much value, but there is little method in it, +and his style is not attractive. A new edition of it has recently been +published by Mr. Gardner, which includes a large quantity of manuscript +prepared by Chalmers, but left unprinted when he died, thus completing +the work as far as possible. + + ¹ Born 1742; died 1825. + +Malcolm Laing¹ is the author of a History of Scotland. He was educated +for the Scottish bar, and passed advocate in 1785. In 1800 his _History +of Scotland, from the Union of the Crowns in 1603 to the Union of +the Kingdoms in 1707_, was published. It is an able work, and of very +high historical value. He possessed analytic and critical powers which +enabled him to estimate evidence at its value; and notwithstanding his +strong Whig opinions, and his love of liberty, his historical integrity +is unimpeachable. But he attacked Macpherson, the translator of Ossian, +with unmerciful severity. Though a clear and vigorous thinker, he was +not a great master of historic style. + + ¹ Born in 1762; died 1818. There are other historical writers + of more or less note, a few of whom I can only briefly + mention. Ruddiman, the eminent Latin grammarian, edited an + edition of Buchanan’s _History of Scotland_, and published + several historical memoirs. Dr. Alexander Adam, rector + of the High School of Edinburgh, is the author of _Roman + Antiquities_ and _A Summary of Geography and History_, etc. + John Pinkerton was a native of Edinburgh, born in 1758, + and died at Paris in 1825. He distinguished himself by the + vehement controversial tone of his historical writings, and + by the obstinacy of his unreasoned notions; still, he was + an industrious collector of forgotten fragments of ancient + history. + + His first historical effort was a _Dissertation on the + Origin of the Goths_, in which he enounced the strange + theory which he maintained to the end of his days, namely, + that the Celts of Ireland, Wales, and Scotland are savages, + and have been savages since the world began. He next + produced an _Inquiry into the History of Scotland preceding + the Reign of Malcolm III._, in which he argued at great + length on the history of the Goths, and the conquests which + he asserts they achieved over the Celts in their progress + through Europe. In 1796, he issued a _History of Scotland + during the Reign of the Stuarts_, the most valuable of all + his works. He also edited, but very indifferently, a series + of Ancient Lives of Scottish Saints under the title _Vitæ + Antiquæ Sanctorum Scotiæ_, a revised and enlarged edition of + which has recently been issued. + + + SECTION II. + + _Historical Literature of the Nineteenth Century._ + +The nineteenth century has been remarkable for an increasing interest +in all departments of historical literature; for more thorough research, +critical examination of evidence, more exhaustive treatment, and withal +a perceptible broadening and deepening of historic conceptions. The +methods of investigating historical subjects, and social phenomena, +have undergone a marked change within the present century; and, as a +consequence, the opinions and the convictions of the people have also +been greatly modified. + +Dr. Thomas M‘Crie¹ is best known as the author of the _Life of John +Knox_, and the _Life of Andrew Melville_. The first appeared in 1813, +and has passed through many editions; the second has not been so +popular, though it is an able work. He also wrote _Memoirs of Veitch +and Brysson_, two Scottish ministers and supporters of the Covenant. +He composed able and valuable Histories of the Reformation in Italy and +in Spain, and various other sketches and papers. Dr. M‘Crie was gifted +with a vigorous intellect, and all his writings display much varied and +careful research, and a masterly literary ability. His style is clear, +animated, and easy; and his works are highly esteemed by all students +of history. + + ¹ Born 1772; died 1835. + +Mr. James Mill attained distinction as a historian as well as a +philosopher and a political writer; he was a man of great intellectual +power.¹ His _History of British India_, which was begun in 1806, was +published in 1817‒18, in five volumes, and is probably the ablest work +on our Indian Empire which has yet appeared. His analytic powers and +grasp of principles enabled him to master social phenomena, which less +gifted minds fail to see or to seize. + + ¹ An excellent account of his life and writings, by Dr. Bain, + has been published. + +John Dunlop, Esquire, a Scottish advocate and sheriff of Renfrewshire, +wrote a _History of Fiction_, which appeared in 1814, in three volumes. +It is a work of much merit and value. He also wrote a _History of Roman +Literature_, from the earliest period to the close of the Augustan +age, in three volumes. His latest work was _Memoirs of Spain during the +Reigns of Philip IV. and Charles II._, which was published in 1834, in +two volumes. He died in 1842. + +Patrick F. Tytler¹ was the author of a _History of Scotland_, and other +works――chiefly of a biographical character. His _History of Scotland_ +embraces the period from the accession of Alexander III. to the union +of the Crowns of England and Scotland in 1603. The first volume was +published in 1828, and the others followed at intervals till the work +was completed in nine volumes. It is a work of high historical value. +His pages evince the results of much original research and great +industry. Many documents and State papers were printed for the first +time in the appendices to the volumes. His style is plain and animated, +but somewhat diffuse and redundant. + + ¹ Tytler belonged to the family of Woodhouselee, whom I have + already mentioned in a preceding section. In the latter + years of his life be enjoyed a pension of £200 per annum. + He died in December, 1849; and an interesting account of his + life has been published by the Rev. John Burgon, M.A., in + 1859. + +Sir Archibald Alison was a son of the Rev. Archibald Alison, as already +incidentally mentioned, and was born in 1792. He was educated in +Edinburgh, studied law, and was called to the Scottish bar in 1814. He +was appointed sheriff of Lanarkshire in 1832, and was created a baronet +in 1852. The idea of his _History of Europe_ was conceived when on a +visit to Paris in the eventful year of 1814; and henceforth he devoted +much research and study to its preparation. + +The work covers the period from the commencement of the French +Revolution in 1789 to the restoration of the Bourbons in 1815. Its +first instalment appeared in 1833, and the concluding volumes in 1844. +It has since gone through nine or ten editions. It contains a vast +store of facts and details relating to a very important and memorable +period of modern history. In the later years of his active life, he +produced a continuation of his _History_ to the accession of Louis +Napoleon in 1852, in eight volumes, which appeared at intervals from +1852 to 1859. But the continuation is not equal in accuracy and merit +to the earlier history, and some of his peculiar opinions are pushed to +greater extremes. In politics he was a firm Conservative, and a strong +opponent of Free Trade. Sir Archibald died in May, 1867. + +Alison’s _History of Europe_, as might be expected in so wide and +great a subject, has merits and defects. His exertions in personal +observation of many of the localities of the events and scenes which +he described, his industry in collecting available materials, and his +patient and careful researches, are great merits, which imparted a +freshness to his narrative and an animation to his descriptions rarely +met with in any history. His mastery of method and arrangement was also +creditable; but on the other hand, his style has often been severely +animadverted on――he has been charged with verbosity and excessive pomp, +with being careless, turgid, and obscure. On the whole, the work has +been exceedingly popular, it has been translated into all European +languages; this, however, may be partly accounted for by the intensely +absorbing interest of the period and the events of which it treats. +Although Alison cannot be called a great historian, still he has +produced an interesting work. + +Thomas Carlyle was a noted man of genius and a voluminous writer. He +was a son of a farmer, and born on the 4th of December, 1795, at the +village of Ecclefechan, in Annandale, a beautiful pastoral district, +rich in Border traditions, old castles, and historic associations. +He was educated at the Grammar School of Annan, and the University +of Edinburgh. At the University he was distinguished in mathematics, +and subsequently he acted as teacher of mathematics in Annan, and +afterwards in Kirkcaldy. In 1818 he went to Edinburgh, where he had +the use of the University Library, and he then wrote a number of short +biographies and other articles for the _Edinburgh Encyclopædia_. He +wrote a _Life of Schiller_, and also commenced to translate German +works. In 1824 he translated Goethe’s _Wilhelm Meister_, which was +favourably received. He married Miss Jane Welsh in 1825. She was a +descendent of John Knox, a daughter of Dr. Welsh, Haddington; and +through her Carlyle acquired the small property of Craigenputtoch, in +Dumfriesshire, at which he resided for eight years. In this retired +residence he wrote articles for the _Foreign Review_, and his _Sartor +Resartus_, which first appeared in _Fraser’s Magazine_ in 1833‒34. +Carlyle left Craigenputtoch in 1834 and went to London, and finally +settled in the famous House, Number 5 Cheyne Row, Chelsea. In 1837 he +delivered a series of lectures on German Literature in London, and in +the following year another course on the Successive Periods of European +Culture. Again in 1839 he delivered a course of lectures on the +Revolutions of Modern Europe, and another on Heroes and Hero Worship in +1840. These lectures greatly extended his popularity. The lectures on +Heroes and Hero Worship were published in book form, and widely read. + +Carlyle wrote on many branches of literature, embracing critical essays, +political and satirical pamphlets in various forms, and biography and +history. His critical and miscellaneous essays extend to seven volumes, +and treat on many subjects. Some of them are exceedingly good, such as +those on Burns, Edward Irving, Voltaire, Goethe, and others; and the +whole of his essays are characteristic and interesting. His political +views were presented in a pamphlet entitled “Chartism,” published +in 1839, and in another, “Past and Present,” which appeared in 1843. +In these he enunciated some important truths, and made scathing +observations against all shams, cant, formulas, and so on; yet he +has very little to offer in the form of constructive remedies for +the existing evils of society, either political or social. He issued +another series of political tracts in 1850, entitled “Latter-day +Pamphlets,” and in these he appeared as the vehement and irate Censor, +with all the exaggerating peculiarities of his style in greater +profusion. He assumed the characteristics of a mere worshipper of force, +and an ardent advocate of all coercive measures. Improved prisons and +schools for the reform of criminals, poor laws, the churches, the +aristocracy, Parliament, and other institutions, as then constituted, +were all attacked and ridiculed in a scathing style. On some political +points and administrative abuses, however, his bold and stinging satire +was quite justifiable. + +It was chiefly in biography and history that Carlyle attained +distinction and fame as a writer. In 1837 his famous work, _The French +Revolution, a History_, was published. It is the best of all Carlyle’s +works, and is a very remarkable book. It presents a masterly and +vivid panoramic view of the Revolution. He exerted his great powers of +description in this work with striking effect.¹ As a specimen of his +style, I will quote the passage on the death of Marie Antoinette:―― + + ¹ A very fair analysis and criticism of Carlyle’s style is + given in the late Professor Minto’s _Manual of English Prose + Literature_. + +“Is there a man’s heart that thinks without pity of those long months +and years of slow-wasting ignominy; of thy birth, self-cradled in +imperial Schonbrunn, the winds of heaven not to visit thy face too +roughly, thy feet to light on softness, thy eye on splendour; and +then of thy death, or hundred deaths, to which the guillotine and +♦Fouquier-Tinville’s Judgment-bar was but the merciful end? Look there, +O man born of woman! The bloom of that fair face is wasted, the hair is +gray with care; the brightness of those eyes are quenched, their lids +hang drooping, the face is stony pale, as of one living in death. Mean +weeds, which her own hand has mended, attire the Queen of the World. +The death-hurdle where thou sittest pale, motionless, which only curses +environ, has to stop; a people, drunk with vengeance, will drink it +again in full draught, looking at thee there. Far as the eye reaches +a multitudinous sea of maniac heads, the air deaf with their triumph +yell! The living-dead must shudder with yet one other pang; her +startled blood yet again suffuses with the hue of agony that pale face +which she hides with her hands! There is there no heart to say, God +pity thee! O think not of these; think of Him whom thou worshippest, +the crucified――who also treaded the wine-press alone, fronted sorrow +still deeper; and triumphed over it and made it holy, and built of it +a sanctuary of sorrow for thee and all the wretched! Thy path of thorns +is nigh ended, one long last look at the Tuilleries, where thy step was +once so light, where thy children shall not dwell. The head is on the +block, the axe rushes――dumb lies the world; the wild yelling world and +all its madness is behind thee.” + + ♦ “Forquier” replaced with “Fouquier” + +Carlyle’s collection of Oliver Cromwell’s _Letters and Speeches, with +Elucidations_, appeared in 1845, in two volumes. It is an excellent +work, and a valuable contribution to the historical materials of +the seventeenth century. His own additional Elucidations, historic +and descriptive, are important, and often very characteristic and +interesting. + +His _Life of John Stirling_ was published in 1851. It is a warm tribute +by Carlyle to the memory of a personal friend. Stirling was an amiable +and accomplished man, and his friends were much attached to him. He had +written some attractive volumes in prose and verse; and he died in 1844, +in his thirty-eighth year. + +Carlyle had been long working on his _History of Friedrich the Great of +Prussia_, and in 1858 the first and second volumes of it appeared, the +third and fourth in 1862, and the fifth and sixth completing the work +in 1865. It is a work evincing great research, admirable descriptions +of battle-fields and historic scenes, vivid and sage remarks on men +and things, and touches of pathos and humour. Yet, viewed according +to a recognised standard, it fails to reach the higher and genuine +characteristics of history; and in truth, it is rather a personal +biography and a glorification of the hero, Friedrich II., enlivened and +widely varied by the writer’s rare genius. If Carlyle was not a pure +worshipper of mere force and might, he had, at least, an excessive +veneration of individual great men――heroism; so he made them the +central conception and wove events and movements around them for their +special glorification, treating other men with scorn, and ignoring +many important historic influences. He scouted the idea of tracing the +relation of causes and effects in history, or the gradual development +of political institutions. For the sake of the central hero, he sums +up an estimate of the eighteenth century thus:――“What little it did, +we must call Friedrich; what little it thought, Voltaire.” + +In spite of his veneration of might, and some unreasoned impulses, +he was a great historical biographer. His fine power of description, +insight of character, and the power of seizing reality, the faculty of +discerning and selecting appropriate facts and incidents, and weaving +these into a stirring narrative, enabled him to attain a marked +distinction in this branch of literature. He had many readers and +admirers, and his influence has been widely felt. + +He was elected Lord Rector of the University of Edinburgh, and on +the 2nd of April 1866, delivered his installation address. Before +he returned home, his wife died at London, on the 21st of April. His +subsequent writings mostly consisted of short addresses and articles +on the topics of the day; and a _History of the Early Kings of Norway_, +published in 1875. He died on the 4th of February, 1881.¹ + + ¹ His _Reminiscences_, edited by Mr. Froude, were published in + 1881, in two volumes. + +Dr. John Hill Burton, a native of Aberdeen, was born in 1809; and +having studied law, was called to the bar in 1833. He was a hard +working student, and at an early period of his life, produced a work on +the _Scottish Bankruptcy Law_, and a _Manual of the Law of Scotland_. +He was also the author of a small volume, now much sought after, _On +Political and Social Economy_, published in 1849. He was an exceedingly +industrious writer, chiefly in the field of Scottish history and +biography. + +In 1846, his _Life and Correspondence of David Hume_ was published +in two volumes; and the following year, his _Lives of Lord Lovat_ +and _Duncan Forbes of Culloden_ appeared. Both works are valuable +contributions to the historic literature of Scotland. In 1864, his work +entitled _The Scot Abroad_ appeared in two volumes; it consists of an +account of the relations of Scotland and Scotsmen to foreign countries, +and contains many interesting sketches and anecdotes. + +His longest work is _The History of Scotland, from Agricola’s Invasion +to the Revolution of 1688_, which appeared in 1867‒70; he had before +written a _History of Scotland from the Revolution to the extinction +of the last Jacobite Insurrection_, which was published in 1853. Thus, +presumably following the example of Hume, he wrote and published the +latest part of his history first.¹ This History is much marred by the +author’s prejudice against the Celtic people of Scotland. A revised +edition of the whole work has been published. + + ¹ One of Hume’s opponents, who had a waggish turn, once said + that he had written his history backwards. + +Besides the important works mentioned above, Dr. Burton occasionally +contributed papers to the _Westminster Review_, _Blackwood’s Magazine_, +and other literary journals, and sometimes articles to the _Scotsman_. +Moreover, he edited several of the volumes of the _Records of the +Scottish Privy Council of the Sixteenth Century_, and wrote a preface +to the first volume. He also contributed many articles to biographical +dictionaries. His last work was a _History of Britain in the Reign of +Queen Anne_, in three volumes, published in 1880. He died in 1881. + +The late Robert Blakey was the author of a number of works:――_History +of the Philosophy of the Human Mind_, in four volumes, in which a +pretty complete account of works on philosophy, especially British +works in this department, is given down to about the middle of the +present century. His _History of Political Literature_, published in +1855, in two volumes, is a very useful and interesting work, written +in a clear, animated, and vigorous style. + +Dr. William F. Skene was born on the 7th of June 1809. Having studied +for the profession of law, he became a member of the Society of Writers +to the Signet in 1831. After the death of Dr. John H. Burton, Dr. Skene +was appointed Historiographer Royal for Scotland. + +He edited a publication entitled _The Four Ancient Books of Wales_, +which appeared in 1868. The work contains an English translation, +rendered by two eminent Welsh scholars, of the Cymric poems, tales, and +romances connected with the early history of Wales. The translation is +from the oldest known Welsh manuscripts, and the work has considerable +historical value. Dr. Skene edited another volume under the title of +_The Chronicles of the Picts and Scots_, which consists of a number of +short pieces, fragments, and some extracts from early Irish chronicles, +to which he wrote a long and interesting preface. He also edited and +wrote introductions to several of the series of volumes known by the +title of _The Historians of Scotland_. + +His chief work is the _History of Celtic Scotland_, published in +1876‒81, in three volumes, of which a second edition has been issued. +He announced that this work was designed to ascertain all that could +be extracted from the early authorities; and it may be granted that +when he had written matter to work upon, his conclusions were fairly +satisfactory. He was very industrious and painstaking; but his mind was +narrow and glimmering. He had no philosophic grasp, and very little of +the critical faculty. He shows lamentable defects in the discrimination +and estimation of historical evidence, and seemed to be unconscious +of the value of circumstantial evidence, and its use for limiting, +correcting, or confirming, incomplete and erroneous statements of +facts and events. Thus he often placed too much reliance on fragments +of writings, old chronicles, and traditions. He introduced into his +History a fanciful body, viz., “The Seven Earls of Scotland,” who +enjoyed the privilege of controlling the Kings in early times. In truth, +his _Celtic Scotland_ has been rather much praised. He died in August, +1892. + +In a chapter on Scottish historical literature, it seems requisite to +give some account of the Record scholars, and those who have worked +in order to place important historical materials within the reach of +historical students. The first who claims to be remembered is Mr. +Thomas Thomson, the able and careful editor of the _Scots Acts of +Parliament_, and other national records. For many years he worked hard +in the General Register-house in Edinburgh, and under him others were +trained and encouraged by his example in this branch of research. Space +would fail to signalise all those who have followed in the footsteps of +Mr. Thomson, and have rendered valuable service to their country in the +wide field of national records and historical materials. + +Mr. Cosmo Innes, a native of the parish of Durris, Kincardineshire, +was an eminent Record scholar and an industrious historical student. He +edited the first volume of the _Scots Acts of Parliament_, containing +all the earliest laws and fragments of legislation of Scotland, several +of the _Old Spalding Club_ publications, and a number of the volumes +printed by the Clubs in the south, all containing valuable historical +materials. He also edited the earlier volumes of the _Facsimiles of the +National Manuscripts of Scotland_, a magnificent work, issued under the +direction of the Record Commission, as well as the first volume issued +by the Burgh Record Society; and spent years of labour in preparing +an exhaustive index to the _Scots Acts_. Mr. Innes was also the author +of three notable works: _Scotland in the Middle Ages_, 1860; _Sketches +of Early Scottish History_, 1861; and _Legal Antiquities_; all these +formed valuable contributions to the history of Scotland. + +Another notable man of this class was Dr. John Stuart, a native of the +parish of Forgue, in Aberdeenshire. He was an advocate in Aberdeen, +and for many years acted as the secretary of the Old Spalding Club, of +which he was one of the originators; but for a number of years before +his death, which happened in the summer of 1877, he was employed in the +General Register-house at Edinburgh. + +He edited and wrote the prefaces to the well-known work, _The +Sculptured Stones of Scotland_. His prefaces and notes to this work are +admirable specimens of antiquarian research, clear and well reasoned +exposition. To the _Book of Deer_, which he edited, he wrote a long +and very valuable preface. He also edited and wrote prefaces to other +volumes of the Old Spalding Club, including the _Burgh Records of +Aberdeen_. + +Joseph Robertson, a native of Aberdeen, born in 1810, also one of the +original members of the Old Spalding Club, was a distinguished Record +scholar; and edited a number of volumes for the Club. But it is in the +work entitled _Statuta Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ_, a collection of the Canons +of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland prior to the Reformation, +that his Record scholarship is fully manifested. The painstaking labour +which he devoted to this work is almost incredible, his research is +both accurate and exhaustive to the minutest detail. His preface to +the work is a monument of scholarship, sound judgment, and historic +elucidation, while the body of notes and illustrations are of deep +interest and great historic value. He is also the author of a history +of the city of Aberdeen, entitled the _Book of Bon-accord_, which +unfortunately he left unfinished. He died in 1866. + +The late Dr. David Laing, a gifted and esteemed gentleman, who for long +held the office of librarian to the Writers to the Signet, was a large +contributor to the historic materials of Scottish history. Laing’s¹ +efforts were specially directed to the culture and the elucidation +of the literary history of Scotland in the early periods, and to the +history of art. He published some collections of early poetry, and +edited the poems of Hendryson, Dunbar, and Sir David Lindsay; and in +many other ways endeavoured to advance the culture of history and art.² + + ¹ I have already noticed his service to the nation by his + edition of Knox’s works.――_History of Civilisation in + Scotland_, Volume II., page 346. + + ² It may be mentioned that Laing, after the death of Dr. David + Irving, edited his _History of Scottish Poetry_, which in + its first form was published in 1804; but Irving seems to + have worked and revised at it almost to the end of his life. + Laing published the work in its final form in 1861, with a + memoir of the author. Irving was also the author of a series + of biographical sketches of eminent Scotsmen. + +_The Criminal Trials in Scotland from the end of the Fifteenth Century +to 1624_, carefully edited and ably illustrated by Robert Pitcairn, +W.S., form a valuable contribution to the history of domestic life and +manners. He died in 1855. In this connection, _The Domestic Annals of +Scotland_, by Dr. Robert Chambers, are well worthy of notice. Dr. R. +Chambers was also the author of an excellent _History of the Rising of +1745_, which has passed through eight editions. It is an interesting +and very valuable contribution to our historical literature. + +Mr. E. W. Robertson was the author of a work entitled _Scotland under +her early Kings_, published in 1862, in two volumes, which presents +a history of the kingdom down to the close of the thirteenth century. +It shows much research and industry, and commendable exactness of +statement in matters of fact. Mr. Robertson also published a volume of +historical essays in 1872. + +Mr. William Mure, of Caldwell,¹ was the author of _A Critical History +of the Language and Literature of Ancient Greece_, published in 1850‒53, +in four volumes. A fifth volume appeared in 1857, but the work was +left incomplete when he died. He devoted a considerable portion of his +history to an examination of the Iliad and Odyssey, and the conclusion +which he arrived at is, that each of these poems was originally +composed substantially as we now possess them. This is a subject +which has engaged the attention of many able classical scholars. Mure +presented an interesting account of the origin and the early history of +Greek prose literature, and a long critical examination of Herodotus. + + ¹ Born in 1799; died 1860. + +George Grub, LL.D., was born in Old Aberdeen in 1812. He was educated +at King’s College, Aberdeen, and graduated in 1829. Having studied +law, he was admitted a member of the Society of Advocates in 1836, +and in 1843 he was appointed Lecturer on Scots Law and Conveyancing in +Marischal College. At the union of the Colleges in 1860, Dr. Patrick +Davidson became Professor of Law, and Dr. Grub was appointed his +substitute. On the death of Dr. Davidson in 1881, Dr. Grub succeeded +him in the Chair. He retired from the professorship in 1891; and died +on the 23rd of September in 1892. He was a very considerate and kindly +gentleman.¹ + + ¹ Robbie’s _History of Aberdeen_, page 490. 1893. + +He was one of the original members of the Old Spalding Club, and +edited several of the works issued by it. He is the author of _The +Ecclesiastical History of Scotland_, published in 1861, in four volumes. +It is a work of much merit and research, and remarkable for its candour +and impartiality. His style is plain and clear. + +In conclusion, though perhaps all the historical writers have not been +enumerated that might be named, still enough has been given to show +that a considerable amount of effort and talent has been devoted to +history during the last and present century, and that the taste for +this branch of literature has been steadily spreading amongst the +people. + + + + + CHAPTER XLI. + + _Literature of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries + (continued)_ + + + SECTION I. + + _Poetry of the Eighteenth Century._ + +IN the preceding volumes of this work some account of the ballad +literature and the poetry of Scotland was presented. In the period now +under review, the number of poetical writers had largely increased, and +it should be understood that the poets noticed in the following pages +may not in every case be the ones most worthy of attention. Among them +will be found poets who wrote in English, and others who composed in +their native tongue. + +The fierce struggles of the seventeenth century were unfavourable to +efforts of culture of any kind, but during the eighteenth century the +internal condition of the country improved. When Allan Ramsay¹ appeared +as an author, the nation was not altogether unprepared to receive his +humorous and lively sketches of Scottish life. Although he had a keen +literary taste, he applied himself attentively to business, and did +not commence writing till he was about twenty-five years of age. His +writings are pretty various, and consist of comic, satirical, pastoral +pieces, songs, and tales; he sometimes wrote in English, but usually +in Scotch, in which his best efforts appeared. Ramsay’s tales are +very humorous, but occasionally rather indelicate. Some of his songs +were long favourites, such as “The Last Time I came o’er the Moor,” +“Lochaber no More,” and “The Yellow Haired Laddie.” + + ¹ He was born in the village of Leadhills, in Lanarkshire, + in 1686, his father having died when he was an infant. + Allan remained at Leadhills till his fifteenth year, + and was educated at the village school, where he learned + a smattering of Latin. At the age of fifteen he was + apprenticed to a wig-maker in Edinburgh, at which occupation + he worked for thirteen or fourteen years. He then set up as + a bookseller, and soon embarked in earnest on his literary + career. The Easy Club was founded in 1712, and Ramsay + addressed it in a rhymed effusion. He was a social man, and + to this Club read a number of his early efforts in verse, + which gave him confidence. He died in 1758. + +In 1721 he published a collection of his poems, which had before +appeared in leaflets. In 1724 the first volume of his well-known +collection, _The Tea Table Miscellany_, appeared, and was followed at +intervals by other three volumes, which contained some of his own songs. +Soon after he published _The Evergreen_, a collection of Scottish poems +written before 1600, in which he presented as ancient poems two pieces +of his own. In one of these, “The Vision,” he has obviously drawn +inspiration from an Ossianic source, as may be seen in the following +lines:―― + + “Great daring darted frae his e’e, + A braid sword shogled at his thie, + On his left arm a targe; + A shining spear filled his right hand, + Of stalwart make in bane and brawnd, + Of just proportion large; + A various rainbow-coloured plaid + Owre his left spaul he threw, + Down his braid back, frae his white head, + The silver wimplers grew.” + +In 1725, his celebrated pastoral drama, _The Gentle Shepherd_, appeared, +and was received with almost universal approbation; and his fame soon +extended beyond the limits of Scotland. An edition of his poetical +works was published in London, in 1731, and another in Dublin, in 1733. +This drama is Ramsay’s greatest work; its conception and construction +are exceedingly natural. He drew his shepherds from real life, placed +them in scenes which he had seen, and makes them utter the idiomatic +speech of their own native vales and hills. His art is chiefly shown in +the selection of materials, in the grouping of natural and well-defined +characters, in the clear conception of an interesting, natural, and +romantic plot; and in the forming of every character, speech, and +incident into a harmonious and pleasing unity, which finally results in +a charming work. + +Ramsay possessed several of the qualities of a real poet, imagination, +the elaborative faculty, passion, wit, humour, and pathos. The pathos +in some of his poems and songs, is very remarkable; his “Lochaber no +More” breathes a strain of genuine feeling with touches of pure pathos. +Though not a very original genius or a great poet, yet he has the merit +of having led the Scottish poetical revival of the eighteenth century.¹ + + ¹ Allan Ramsay was the first that established a circulating + library in Scotland. In his shop many of the wits of + Edinburgh used to meet for amusement, and to hear the news + of the day. He continued to sell and lend out books till + towards the close of his life. + +William Hamilton, of Gilbertfield, wrote several pieces of verse which +were printed in Watson’s Collection. He also entered into a poetical +correspondence with Ramsay, and through this, his verses were printed +along with Ramsay’s works. Hamilton’s verses are not of high poetical +merit, though some of them present keen humorous characteristics. +In 1722 his modernised edition of Blind Harry’s _Wallace_ appeared, +which was long popular among the country people. He died in 1751 at an +advanced age. + +Robert Crawford was a contributor to Ramsay’s _Tea-table Miscellany_, +and was the author of two fine lyrics――“The Bush aboon Traquair,” +“Tweedside,” and other songs. He was drowned when coming from France +in 1733, in his thirty-eighth year. + +James Thomson was born at Ednam in Roxburghshire, in 1700, where his +father was minister. He was educated at the University of Edinburgh; +but the death of his father, in 1720, seems to have cut short his +University career. He manifested a taste for poetry at an early age, +and wrote in English. The earliest printed specimen of his poetry +appeared in 1720, in the _Edinburgh Miscellany_ issued by the Athenian +Society. In 1725 Thomson proceeded to London to push his fortune, where +he had a pretty hard struggle. His description of Winter was published +in 1726, for which he received three guineas; and a second and a third +edition appeared the same year. In 1728 his work, entitled _The Four +Seasons_, was published by subscription. His tragedy of _Sophonisba_ +appeared in 1730, and had a brief success on the stage. _The Castle of +Indolence_, on which he had worked long, was published in May, 1748. In +the end of the following August he died. + +Although a highly-gifted poet, he advanced slowly, by often repeated +efforts, toward the realisation of his ideal of poetic style and finish +of composition. This is seen in the different editions of his _Seasons_, +on each succeeding one he made many improvements in thought and diction; +while the superiority in style and taste of _The Castle of Indolence_, +compared with his earlier efforts, is very manifest. In short, he was +staidly working to his strength, when cut off in the prime of life. +His genius was luxuriant, glowing, and enthusiastic, but required +disciplining. His feelings were warm and wide, his sympathies universal, +embracing all mankind. His love of nature was intense; and his heart +and soul throbbed with humanity. The following few stanzas from The +_Castle of Indolence_ may be taken as a brief specimen of his powers +and style:―― + + “Behold! ye pilgrims of this earth, behold! + See all but man with unearned pleasure gay: + See her bright robes the butterfly unfold, + Broke from her wintry tomb in prime of May; + What youthful bride can equal her array? + Who can with her for easy pleasure vie? + From mead to mead with gentle wing to stray, + From flower to flower on balmy gales to fly, + Is all she has to do beneath the radiant sky. + Behold the merry minstrels of the morn, + The swarming songsters of the careless grove, + Ten thousand throats! that from the flowering thorn, + Hymn their good God, and carol sweet of love, + Such grateful kindly raptures then emove; + They neither plough, nor sow; ne, fit for flail, + E’er to the barn the nodding sheaves they drove; + Yet theirs each harvest dancing in the gale, + Whatever crowns the hill, or smiles along the vale. + Outcast of nature, man! the wretched thrall + Of bitter dropping sweat, of sweltry pain, + Of cares that eat away the heart with gall, + And of the vices, an inhuman train, + That all proceed from savage thirst of gain: + For when hard-hearted Interest first began + To poison earth, Astræa left the plain; + Guile, violence, and murder, seized on man, + And, for soft milky streams, with blood the rivers ran! + Come, ye who still the cumbrous load of life, + Push hard up hill; but at the furthest steep + You trust to gain, and put an end to strife, + Down thunders back the stone with mighty sweep, + And hurls your labours to the valleys deep, + For ever vain; come, and, withouten fee, + I in oblivion will your sorrows steep, + Your cares, your toils, will steep you in a sea + Of full delight: O come, ye weary wights, to me.” + +Thomson wrote a number of short poems and songs, some of which were +popular; but his fame mainly rests on the two poems――_The Seasons_ and +_The Castle of Indolence_. The appearance of these two poems marked +an era in the history of English poetry. The chief characteristics +of these poems consist in the genuine and charming realisation of +the beauty of external nature; and it was in this that his genius and +originality appeared. Although he was not the founder of a school, yet +he wielded a marked influence over the poets of his time, and also on +some eminent English poets of a later period. + +David Mallet, whose original name was Malloch, was a native of +Perthshire, and born about the end of the seventeenth century. He +studied for some time under Professor Ker at King’s College, Aberdeen; +and subsequently, having obtained a situation as tutor in the family of +the Duke of Montrose, in 1723 he went to London with the Duke’s family. +In 1724 his ballad, entitled _William and Mary_, appeared, which was +long popular, and continued to be printed in school books till past the +middle of the present century. Afterwards he engaged in a variety of +literary ventures, none of which had much real merit. In 1728 his poem, +_The Excursion_, was published, in which the imitation of Thomson’s +_Seasons_ is simply shameless. He wrote several tragedies, and a _Life +of Bacon_. He seems to have been a venal writer, and not a very honest +man. He died at London in 1765. + +John Armstrong, the son of a minister, was born in 1709 at Castleton in +Roxburghshire. He studied medicine in Edinburgh, and graduated in 1732. +Shortly after he went to London, and became a friend of Thomson and a +writer of verses. In 1744 his didactic poem in blank verse, entitled +_The Art of Preserving Health_, was published, which is his chief work. +It is divided into four books, and the tone of the verse rises or sinks +according to the character of the subject. The first book treats on +air; the second on diet; the third on exercise; and the fourth on the +passions. There are a few touching passages in the poem, but on the +whole it is rather stiff. He wrote a considerable number of pieces of +verse on various subjects. He died in 1779, and left £3000. + +Robert Blair¹ was a native of Edinburgh, the son of a Scottish minister, +and, having studied for the Church, in 1731 he was appointed minister +of the parish of Athelstaneford, in East Lothian. He was a cultured man, +a botanist and florist, and of pleasing manners. He had a large family, +and one of his sons, an eminent lawyer, rose to be Lord President of +the Court of Session. He was the author of a poem entitled _The Grave_, +which is written in blank verse, and appeared in 1743. Although of +limited scope, it is a powerful poem. The following lines are from his +description of the death of the strong man:―― + + ¹ Born in 1699; died in 1746. + + “Strength, too, thou surly and less gentle boast + Of those that laugh loud at the village ring! + A fit of common sickness pulls thee down + With greater ease than e’er thou didst the stripling + That rashly dared thee to the unequal fight. + What groan was that I heard? deep groan, indeed, + With anguish heavy laden let me trace it: + From yonder bed it comes, where the strong man, + By stronger arm belaboured, gasps for breath + Like a hard-hunted beast. How his great heart + Beats thick, his roomy chest by far too scant + To give the lungs full play! What now avail + The strong-built sinewy limbs and well-spread shoulders? + See, how he tugs for life, and lays about him, + Mad with his pain! Eager he catches hold + Of what comes next to hand, and grasps it hard, + Just like a drowning creature. Hideous sight!” + +William Hamilton, of Bangour,¹ was descended from an old Ayrshire +family, and attained some distinction as a poet. He was a contributor +to Ramsay’s _Tea Table Miscellany_, and usually lived in Edinburgh. In +1745 he joined the standard of Prince Charles, but in 1749 he received +a pardon; and in 1750, on the death of his brother, he succeeded to +the estate of Bangour. A collection of his poems was published at +Glasgow in 1760. His language and style is English, and rather ornate. +He composed a serious poem on “Contemplation,” and a national one +on the “Thistle,” in blank verse. He had a lively fancy, but lacked +intellectual power, and his verse wants strength. The best of his +efforts is his ballad called “The Braes of Yarrow.” + + ¹ Born in 1704; died in 1754. + +Alexander Ross was born in 1699 at Kincardine O’Neil in Aberdeenshire, +and was educated at Marischal College. After graduating in 1718 he +acted as schoolmaster in the parish schools of Moyne and Lawrencekirk, +and in 1732 he was appointed schoolmaster of Lochlee in Forfarshire. At +Lochlee he spent the rest of his life. He was the author of _Helenore_, +or, _The Fortunate Shepherdess_, published in 1768, and composed in +Scotch. Dr. Beattie took a warm interest in Ross, and addressed a +letter and a poetical epistle in praise of the poem to the _Aberdeen +Journal_, and the work soon became popular. _Helenore_ is a pastoral +narrative poem, extending to upwards of 4000 lines, and it has much +merit; it is as bold and true to nature as Ramsay’s _Gentle Shepherd_, +though his poetic gift was inferior in some points to that of +his predecessor. His poem is vigorous, interesting, and the chief +characters well drawn. He was also the author of a number of songs, of +which the most popular are “The Rock and the Wee Pickle Tow,” “Woo’d +an’ Married an’ a’,” and “To the Begging we will Go.” These have +energy and much humour. Ross left a number of ♦unpublished writings +in verse and prose. He died at Lochlee in 1784, at the advanced age +of eighty-five. + + ♦ “unpubblished” replaced with “unpublished” + +John Skinner was born in 1721 at Birse, Aberdeenshire, where his +father was parish schoolmaster. He became an Episcopal minister, and +officiated at Linshart, Longside, in Aberdeenshire. He was a humble, +very amiable, and cultured gentleman. After the suppression of the +Rising of 1745, for his Church’s political and his own poetical +offences, he was arrested and imprisoned in 1753 for six months in +Aberdeen. His son, John Skinner, was elected bishop of Aberdeen in +1782. After a long, a conscientious and industrious life, he died in +his son’s house at Aberdeen in 1807, at the age of eighty-six years. + +Skinner was gifted with a vigorous mind. He had imaginative power, +keen feelings, and a fine sense of the humorous; while a number of his +poetical pieces and songs show characteristic merits. The most noted +of his songs are “Tullochgorum,” “John O’ Badenyon,” and “The Ewie wi’ +the Crooked Horn.” He was also the author of _Ecclesiastical History +of Scotland_, published in 1788, in two volumes, and a number of other +religious and theological works. + +Dr. Thomas Blacklock, the son of a bricklayer, was born at Annan, +Dumfriesshire, in 1721. When an infant of six months he was entirely +deprived of sight by small-pox. But his father amused the solitary boy +by reading to him, and he became familiar with the writings of some of +the English poets, and particularly with the works of Thomson and Allan +Ramsay. When he was nineteen years of age his father was accidentally +killed. Shortly after Dr. Stevenson took him to Edinburgh, where he +was enrolled as a student of divinity. A volume of his poems appeared +in 1746, which was re-issued in 1754 and 1756. He was licensed to +preach in 1759, and was appointed minister of Kirkcudbright. But the +parishioners were opposed to church patronage, and to the exercise of +it in favour of a blind man, and he relinquished the appointment on +receiving a small annuity. He afterwards resided in Edinburgh, and took +boarders into his house. Notwithstanding the want of his eyesight, he +had acquired a considerable degree of learning, and was an exceedingly +amiable man. He was a warm friend of Burns, who often refers to him. In +August, 1789, he addressed a poetical epistle to Burns, of which a few +lines may be quoted:―― + + “Dear Burns, thou brother of my heart + Both for thy virtues and thy art. + + * * * * * + + Most anxiously I wish to know, + With thee of late how matters go; + How keeps thy much-loved Jean her health? + What promises thy farm of wealth? + Whether the Muse persists to smile, + And all thy anxious cares beguile? + Whether bright fancy keeps alive? + And how thy darling infants thrive?” + +Although the poems of Blacklock are not remarkable for strong sentiment +or imaginative power, yet he was a fluent versifier. He also wrote +several treatises on religious subjects, and an article on blindness +for the _Encyclopædia Britannica_. He died in 1791. + +Dr. T. G. Smollett, already mentioned in a preceding section, +occasionally tried his hand at poetry as well as history and fiction. +He was born in Dalquharn House, Dumbartonshire, in 1721, and educated +at the Grammar School of Dumbarton, and the University of Glasgow. He +served his apprenticeship with a medical practitioner in Glasgow, and, +before he was twenty, proceeded to London to seek his fortune. But it +is beyond my scope to narrate his chequered career. He produced no long +poems, but he was the author of a number of short pieces of some merit, +such as his “Ode to Independence,” “Ode to Leven Water,” and the “Tears +of Scotland.” The latter was written soon after the battle of Culloden, +and refers to the cruelties committed by the English forces in the +Highlands. It is a touching and powerful piece, and extends to seven +stanzas. There is both fire and real pathos in it, as these lines +show:―― + + “Mourn, hapless Caledonia, mourn + Thy banished peace, thy laurels torn! + Thy sons, for valour long renowned, + Lie slaughtered on their native ground; + Thy hospitable roofs no more + Invite the stranger to the door; + In smoky ruins sunk they lie, + The monuments of cruelty. + + The wretched owner sees afar + His all become the prey of war; + Bethinks him of his babes and wife, + Then smites his breast, and curses life. + Thy swans are famished on the rocks, + Where once they fed their wanton flocks; + Thy ravished virgins shriek in vain; + Thy infants perish on the plain. + + * * * * * + + Oh! baneful cause, oh! fatal morn, + Accursed to ages yet unborn; + The sons against their fathers stood, + The parent shed his children’s blood. + Yet, when the rage of battle ceased, + The victor’s soul was not appeased: + The naked and the forlorn must feel + Devouring flames and murdering steel. + + The pious mother, doomed to death, + Forsaken wanders o’er the heath, + The bleak wind whistles round her head, + Her helpless orphans cry for bread; + Bereft of shelter, food, and friend, + She views the shades of night descend: + And stretched beneath the inclement skies, + Weeps o’er her tender babes, and dies. + + While the warm blood bedews my veins, + And unimpaired remembrance reigns, + Resentment of my country’s fate + Within my filial breast shall beat; + And, spite of her insulting foe, + My sympathising verse shall flow: + ‘Mourn, hapless Caledonia, mourn + Thy banished peace, thy laurels torn.’”¹ + + ¹ “I was in the coffee-house with Smollett when the news of + the battle of Culloden arrived, and when London all over was + in a perfect uproar of joy.... About 9 o’clock I wished to + go home to Lyon’s, in New Bond Street.... I asked Smollett + if he was ready to go, as he lived at Mayfair; he said he + was, and would conduct me. The mob were so riotous, and the + squibs so numerous and incessant, that we were glad to go + into a narrow entry to put our wigs in our pockets, and to + take our broadswords from our belts and walk with them in + our hands, as everybody then wore swords; and after warning + me not to speak a word, lest the mob should discover my + country and become insolent, ‘For, John Bull,’ says he, + ‘is as haughty and valiant to-night as he was abject and + cowardly on the black Wednesday when the Highlanders were + at Derby.’... When I saw Smollett again, he showed me the + manuscript of his ‘Tears of Scotland,’ which was published + not long after, and had such a run of approbation. Smollett, + though a Tory, was not a Jacobite, but he had the feelings + of a Scotch gentleman on the reported cruelties that + were said to be exercised after the battle of Culloden.” + ――_Autobiography of the Rev. Alexander Carlyle_, page 190. + Dr. Robert Anderson, the biographer of the British poets, + wrote a life of Smollett. + +John Home, the author of _The Tragedy of Douglas_, was born in Leith in +1722. He was educated for the Church, and succeeded Blair as minister +of Athelstaneford. In the end of the year 1756 _Douglas_ was first +acted in Edinburgh, and proved a complete success, as it held the stage +for many nights, and was attended by all the literary notabilities +and some of the judges. The citizens were greatly elated that a +Scotsman had written a first-rate tragedy, and that its merit was +first submitted to their judgment; though there were a few opposers, +who pretended to superior taste in literature, and endeavoured to cry +down the performance in pamphlets and ballads, while one section of +the clergy were unanimous against it. But _The Tragedy of Douglas_ +maintained its hold on the stage for more than fifty years, and still +ranks amongst the better class of the productions of the modern English +drama. + +A party of the clergy, and especially Home’s own presbytery, raised a +clamour, and were preparing a prosecution against him, when he resigned +his charge, and withdrew from the Church.¹ Lord Bute, however, rewarded +Home with the sinecure office of conservator of Scots privileges +at Campvere; and when George III. ascended the throne he received a +pension of £300 per annum. He wrote several other tragedies which were +soon forgotten; yet, with an income of about £600 a year, he lived +in easy and happy circumstances. In the later years of his life, he +wrote a _History of the Rising of 1745_, published in 1802; it is +not, however, of much historical value. He survived all the literary +associates and companions of his youth, and having attained the great +age of eighty-six, died in 1808. + + ¹ _Autobiography of the Rev. Alexander Carlyle_, pages 310‒325. + + Richard Gall, while working as a painter in Edinburgh, wrote + several songs which became popular. One entitled, “My only + Jo and Dearie O,” and another, “Farewell to Ayrshire,” has + often been printed as a composition of Burns. Gall was born + in 1776, and died in 1800. + +William Falconer, the son of a barber, was born at Edinburgh in 1732. +He went early to sea, and before he was eighteen years of age, had +attained the rank of second mate in the _Britannia_, which, when +trading between Venice and Alexandria, was wrecked off Cape Colonna. +Falconer and other two men alone escaped. It was his experiences on +this occasion which formed the subject of his poem, “The Shipwreck.” +This poem appeared in 1762, and was very successful. In 1764 a second +edition was issued, enlarged by nine hundred new lines; and a third was +published in 1769, with two hundred lines added to the poem, and many +alterations of the text. But his literary activity was closed by an +untimely death. In 1769 he sailed on board a vessel bound for India, +which reached the Cape of Good Hope in December, but was never after +heard of. Since Falconer’s death, several editions of his poem has been +published. + +Although “The Shipwreck” is very unequal, it has the merit of being +exceedingly animated and interesting. As he wrote of what he actually +saw and felt, the poem has the characteristic attraction of truth and +reality. + +A great stir was raised in literary circles in Scotland, especially in +Edinburgh, by the publication of Macpherson’s translation of Ossian’s +poems. James Macpherson was born at Kingussie, in Inverness-shire, +in 1738. He was intended for the Church, and was educated at the +University of Aberdeen. In 1760 he published a small volume entitled +_Fragments of Ancient Poetry Translated from the Gaelic_, which +attracted much attention. His friends encouraged him to make a tour in +the Highlands to collect other pieces. As the result of his journey, he +published, in 1762, _Fingal_, an ancient epic poem, in six books; and +in 1763, _Temora_, another epic poem in eight books. The sale of these +poems was great, and it is reported that Macpherson realised a sum +of £1200 from them. His patrons, Mr. Home, Dr. Blair, Dr. Alexander +Carlyle, and others, were much pleased and rejoiced. But many doubted, +and some disbelieved that the poems were genuine; and then a vehement +controversy arose on the subject of their authenticity, which raged +long. Meanwhile, Macpherson fixed his residence in London, and became +a popular pamphleteer in support of the Government of the day; and +finally he entered parliament as the representative of the Borough of +Camelford. Having realised a large fortune, in 1789 he purchased the +estate of Raitts, in his native parish, built upon it a fine residence, +in the style of an Italian villa, in which he died on the 17th of +February, 1796. In accordance with his own explicit directions his +remains were interred in Westminster Abbey, while a monument was +erected to his memory on his own estate, which may be seen by the +roadside near Kingussie. + +That Macpherson was gifted with remarkable abilities, his career amply +demonstrates; but considering his extreme vanity, his veracity is +a totally different question. There is no doubt that he collected a +certain quantity of the traditional pieces of verse and fragments of +ancient Gaelic poetry, which was then current among the Celtic people +of the Highlands. The only question is, how much Macpherson himself +added to complete the poems which he published. When the circumstances +connected with the subject are fairly weighed, the question is not a +very difficult one; and the obvious conclusion is, that he drew from +his own imaginative and elaborative faculties all that was needed to +give the poems the completed and finished form in which they appeared +in his published translations. The original material of these poems +was probably not very bulky, and perhaps more than the half of the two +published epic poems, should be assigned to the genius of Macpherson. + +Dr. James Beattie, already mentioned, was a poet as well as a writer +and teacher of moral philosophy. In 1760, he published a collection of +his poems, with some translations, which was reprinted in 1766, without +the translations. The first part of his _Minstrel_ appeared in 1771, +the second in 1774. The volume met with a flattering reception, while +honours flowed in on the author. He visited London, and was admitted +to its brilliant circles; he also had an interview with the king and +queen, and received a pension of £200 per annum; while the University +of Oxford conferred upon him the degree of LL.D. + +Beattie’s fame now chiefly rests on _The Minstrel_, which is a didactic +poem, in the Spenserian stanza, intended to “trace the progress of a +poetical genius, born in a rude age, from the first dawning of fancy +and reason till that period at which he may be supposed capable of +appearing in the world as a minstrel.” The poem, though left unfinished, +is well worked out so far as it goes, and there are many fine passages +in it. He had good descriptive powers, and the command of appropriate +and expressive language, but he was deficient in grasp and range of +thought. The following lines describing a morning landscape is a fair +specimen of his poetry: + + “Even now his eyes with smiles of rapture glow, + As on he wanders through the scenes of morn, + Where the fresh flowers in living lustre blow, + Where thousand pearls the dewy lawns adorn, + A thousand notes of joy in every breeze are borne. + But who the melodies of morn can tell? + The wild brook babbling down the mountain side; + The lowing herd; the sheepfold’s simple bell; + The pipe of early shepherd dim descried + In the lone valley; echoing far and wide + The clamorous horn along the cliffs above; + The hollow murmur of the ocean tide; + The hum of bees, the linnet’s lay of love, + And the full choir that wakes the universal grove. + The cottage curs at early pilgrim bark; + Crowned with her pail the tripping milkmaid sings: + The whistling ploughman stalks a field; and hark! + Down the rough slope the ponderous waggon rings; + Through rustling corn the hare astonished springs; + Slow tolls the village clock the drowsy hour; + The partridge bursts away on whirring wings; + Deep mourns the turtle in sequestered bower, + And shrill lark carols clear from her aerial tower.” + +John Logan¹ was a native of the parish of Fala, in Midlothian, the son +of a small farmer. He was educated for the Church, and in 1773 he was +appointed one of the ministers of South Leith. He delivered a course +of lectures on the philosophy of history in Edinburgh, the substance of +which was published in 1781. In 1782 he published his poems, and the +following year he issued a tragedy entitled “Runnymede,” founded on the +signing of Magna Charta. But his congregation were displeased at this +application of his powers, and unfortunately Logan himself had fallen +into dissipated habits; the result was that he resigned his charge and +went to London, where he resided till his death. + + ¹ Born in 1748 and died in 1788. In 1770 Logan edited the poems + of Michael Bruce, an ingenious and persevering youth, who + died in his twenty-second year, Bruce’s poems were reprinted + in 1784, and afterwards included in Anderson’s edition of + the poets. Among the best of Bruce’s pieces is “Lochleven,” + a descriptive poem in blank verse. If his life had been + spared, it is probable he would have taken a high rank among + the national poets. + +When in London, Logan contributed papers to _The English Review_, +and wrote a pamphlet on the charges against Warren Hastings――an able +defence of the accused, and attack on his accusers, which led to the +trial of Stockdale the printer, and to one of the most memorable of +Erskine’s speeches. Among Logan’s MSS. were found some unfinished +tragedies, thirty lectures on Roman History, and a collection of +sermons, from which two volumes were selected and published by his +executors. The best of Logan’s poetical efforts are his “Visit to the +Country in Autumn,” and his ballad stanzas on the “Braes of Yarrow.” +In his lines on the death of a young lady, the following occurs:―― + + “What tragic tears bedew the eye! + What deaths we suffer ere we die! + Our broken friendships we deplore, + And loves of youth that are no more! + No after-friendship e’er can raise + The endearments of our early days, + And ne’er the heart such fondness prove, + As when it first began to love.” Amen. + +The genial Robert Fergusson was a native of Edinburgh,¹ a poet whose +life was short. He has sometimes been called the poet of Scottish +city-life. He was educated at the University of St. Andrews, where he +spent four years; but it seems that he had failed to form a definite +end in life, and unhappily he became a victim of dissipation. His +chief characteristics as a poet are――a keen sense of the ludicrous, +a strong vein of original comic humour, a talent for describing the +peculiarities of local manners, and a copious command of expressive +language. He wrote poems both in English and Scotch; his Scotch +pieces, however, are most esteemed. He was a genius, but his career +was short, having died in his twenty-third year. In 1773 he collected +and published his poems in a volume, which was well received. Some of +the most notable of his pieces are “The King’s Birthday,” “The Sitting +of the Session,” “Guid Braid Claith,” and “Auld Reekie,” that is, +Edinburgh. + + ¹ Born in 1751, and died in 1774. + +Burns avowedly had an excessive admiration for the writings of +Fergusson, and even preferred them to those of Ramsay. Perhaps a few +lines from Fergusson’s effusion entitled “Cauler Water” will indicate +why it was that Burns admired him so much:―― + + “When father Adie first pat spade in + The bonny yard o’ ancient Eden, + His aumrie had nae liquor laid in + To fire his mou, + Nor did he thole his wife’s upbraidin’ + For bein’ fou. + + A cauler burn o’ siller sheen + Ran cannily out-ower the green, + And when our gutcher’s drouth had been + To bide right sair, + He loutit down and drank bedeen + A dainty skair. + + His bairns had a’ before the flood + A langer tack o’ flesh and blood, + And on mair pithy shanks they stood + Than Noah’s line, + Wha still hae been a feckless brood + Wi’ drinkin’ wine. + + The fuddlin’ bardies now-a-days, + Rin maukin-mad in Bacchus’ praise, + And limp and stoiter through their lays + Anacreontic, + While each his sea of wine displays + As big’s the Pontic. + + * * * * * + + But we’ll hae nae sic clitter-clatter; + And, briefly to expound the matter, + It shall be ca’d guid cauler water; + Than whilk, I trow, + Few drugs in doctors’ shops are better + For me or you. + + * * * * * + + What makes Auld Reekie’s dames sae fair? + It canna be the halesome air; + But cauler burn, beyond compare + The best o’ ony, + That gars them a’ sic graces skair, + And blink sae bonny. + + On May-day, in a fairy ring, + We’ve seen them round St. Anthon’s spring,¹ + Frae grass the cauler dew-draps wring + To weet their een, + And water, clear as crystal spring, + To synd them clean.” + + ¹ A well on Arthur’s Seat, near Edinburgh, to which it is still + the practice of young Edinburgh maidens to resort on May-day. + +A student of Burns will hardly fail to observe in the above, and in +many other of Fergusson’s verses, certain turns of thought, modes of +feeling and strains, common to both poets, although the latter had not +the volume of passion nor the intellectual power of the former. + +So much has been written about Burns, and his poems and songs are so +well known among all classes throughout Scotland, that any lengthened +account of them is unnecessary; but something may be said, however, on +the influence which his writings have had on the imaginative literature +of the nation, and of his general influence upon the people. + +Burns was a great reader, and an assiduous student. He was familiar +with the history of his native country and the heroic national +struggles. He was well acquainted with the early ballads, songs, and +poetry of Scotland, and also the poetical writings of his immediate +predecessors and contemporaries. He says himself:――“I have paid more +attention to every description of Scots songs than perhaps any body +living has done.” His “Remarks on Scottish Songs and Ballads” afford +evidence that this statement was well founded. His knowledge, however, +was not limited to songs and poetry; he knew a good deal about general +literature, and even philosophy. In some fragments of his Common Place +Book he says: “I entirely agree with that judicious philosopher, Mr. +Smith, in his excellent _Theory of Moral Sentiments_, that remorse +is the most painful sentiment that can embitter the human bosom. Any +ordinary pitch of fortitude may bear up tolerably well under these +calamities, in the procurement of which we ourselves have had no hand, +but when our follies or crimes have made us miserable and wretched, +to bear up with manly firmness, and at the same time have a proper +penitential sense of our misconduct, is a glorious effort of +self-command. + +“I have often observed in the course of my experience of human life +that every man, even the worst, has something good about him, though +very often nothing else than a happy temperament of constitution +inclined him to this or that virtue. For this reason, no man can say +in what degree any other person besides himself can be, with strict +justice, called wicked. Let any of the strictest for regularity among +us examine impartially how many vices he has never been guilty of, +not from any care or vigilance, but for want of opportunity or some +accidental circumstance intervening; how many of the weaknesses +of mankind he has escaped, because he was out of the line of such +temptations; and what often, if not always, weighs more than all the +rest, how much he is indebted to the world’s good opinion, because the +world does not know all. I say, any man who can thus think, will scan +the failings, nay, the faults and crimes, of mankind around him with a +brother’s eye.” This is pretty good philosophy. + +“I have every possible reverence for the much talked of world beyond +the grave, and I wish that what piety believes, and virtue deserves, +may be all matter of fact. + +“Strong pride of reasoning, with a little affectation of singularity, +may mislead the best of hearts. I likewise, in the pride of despising +old women’s stories, ventured in ‘the daring path Spinoza trod,’ but +experience of the weakness, not the strength, of human powers, made me +glad to grasp at revealed religion.” + +He had a high ideal of the poet’s functions, and says――“I glory in +being a poet, and I want to be thought a wise man.... Poets, of all +mankind, feel most forcibly the powers of beauty. If they are really +poets of nature’s making, their feelings must be finer, and their taste +more delicate, than those of most of the world. In the cheerful bloom +of spring, or the pensive mildness of autumn, the grandeur of summer, +or the hoary majesty of winter, the poet feels a charm unknown to the +rest of his species. Even the sight of a fine flower, or the company of +a fine woman (by far the fairest of God’s works below), have sensations +for the poetic heart that the herd of mankind are strangers to.” + +The first edition of Burns’s poems appeared in the summer of 1786, +and consisted of 600 copies, and several other authorised editions +were published in his lifetime――one in 1787, another in 1793, with the +addition of “Tam o’ Shanter” and other pieces. Since his death, one +hundred years ago, the number of editions of his works published amount +to upwards of three hundred and forty.¹ + + ¹ When on a visit to Glasgow recently, the intelligent and + amiable librarian of the Mitchell Library, Mr. Barrett, + kindly showed me through every department of the + establishment under his charge; and I was delighted to find + that this Library possessed a special corner containing a + most extensive and valuable collection of editions of the + works of Burns, embracing upwards of a 1000 volumes, and + comprises 343 separate editions of his works, in from one + to eight volumes each. The citizens of Glasgow may well be + proud of this special and memorable collection. + +The influence of Burns on the imaginative literature of Scotland has +been deep and abiding. Many Scotsmen have been so touched, moved, and +stirred by his writings, as to arouse an irrepressible feeling within +then to compose verse themselves; and to-day there are many in the +humble walks of life who can write passable and even animated verse +and song, and appreciate the highest works of the imaginative and +elaborate faculties of the race. Burns has exercised much influence +over the mind of the Scottish people by removing prejudice and +superstition, fostering liberty and independence of spirit, and +greater freedom of thought. In regard to prejudice and superstition, +the satirical and comic features of many of Burns’ pieces have had +a very beneficial effect upon the mind of the people. In conjunction +with other influences, these have contributed greatly to enlighten the +understanding, and thus enabled the people to banish from their minds +a host of delusive and absurd fears.¹ + + ¹ For instance, in such pieces as his “Address to the Deil,” + though he adopted the common superstitions of the people + concerning the attributes of Satan, the elements of the + ludicrous, the sly humour, and the veins of satire and irony + which he introduced, have produced surprising changes in + the notions of the people. He even expressed a wish for the + salvation of the Deil himself:―― + + “But fare-you-well, auld Nickie-ben! + Oh! wad you tak’ a thocht and men’! + Ye aiblins micht――I dinna ken―― + Still hae a stake: + I’m wae to think upo’ yon den, + Even for your sake.” + +Touching liberty and independence, the writings of Burns are clear +and emphatic. His own manly spirit of independence often shows itself +in many forms in his poems and songs; and in this connection their +influence upon the people have been considerable. Even politically +his writings have had a beneficial influence in Scotland. “The Tree of +Liberty,” and that “a man is a man whatever his lot may be,” with all +the rights of humanity, were not written in vain. Thus the writings of +Burns have contributed to the enlightenment of the national mind, by +relieving it from a burden of obnoxious notions, slavish fears, and +silly prejudices.¹ + + ¹ There are a number of what are usually called minor poets, + but I can only notice a few of them. + + Alexander Wilson was born in Paisley on the 6th of July, + 1766. He is the author of a number of songs and poems, + including a humorous ballad――“Watty and Meg.” A small + volume of his songs and poems was printed at Paisley in + 1790. In 1794 he emigrated to America, where he assiduously + prosecuted the study of ornithology, and gained distinction + as an ornithologist. He is the author of an important work + on this branch of science. He died in 1813 in America. + Some years ago Wilson’s verse and miscellaneous prose were + published by Mr. Gardner in two volumes. + + Hector Macneil was born in 1746, and died in 1818. He is + the author of several productions in verse. In 1789, he + published a legendary poem, “The Harp,” and in 1795, his + moral tale, “Scotland’s Skaith:” the object of this tale + was to describe in a vivid manner the evil effects of + intemperance, and the idea is pretty well worked out. + + Carolina Oliphant, Baroness ♦Nairne, born in 1766, and died + in 1845; she belonged to the Oliphants of Gask, and was much + celebrated for her beauty, talents, and worth. She is the + authoress of the two fine Scottish songs, “The Land o’ the + Leal,” and “The Laird o’ Cockpen.” + + John Lowe, born in 1750, and died in 1798, is the author of + the touching lyric, “Mary’s Dream,” beginning―― + + The moon had climbed the highest hill + Which rises o’er the source o’ Dee, + And from the eastern summit shed + Her silver light on tower and tree.” + + ♦ “Nairn” replaced with “Nairne” + + + SECTION II. + + _Poetry of the Nineteenth Century._ + +Robert Tannahill,¹ a lyrical poet of high distinction, was a native of +Paisley. His education was limited: at an early age he was sent to the +loom, and he continued to follow this occupation. He was a dutiful and +kind son to his mother, full of the warmest filial piety. + + ¹ Born in 1774; died in 1810. James Montgomery, though born at + Irvine, in Ayrshire, in 1771, can hardly be called a Scottish + poet, for he was educated in England, and afterwards lived + there till his death in 1854. He is chiefly distinguished + as a religious poet; but he was a man of marked ability and + culture, and is the author of a large quantity of poetry. A + collected edition of his works, in four volumes, was issued + in 1841. + +The first edition of his poems and songs appeared in 1807; and the +volume, consisting of 900 copies, was sold out in a few weeks. He +afterwards contributed some songs to Mr. Thomson’s _Select Melodies_, +and interested himself in collecting Irish airs, of which he was +exceedingly fond. Many of his own songs are very fine, rich, and +original in sentiment and description. His diction is copious, +appropriate, and expressive, and often touching and pathetic. His +“Gloomy Winter’s noo Awa’” may be taken as a fair specimen of his +songs:―― + + “Gloomy winter’s noo awa’, + Saft the wastlin breezes blaw: + ‘Mang the birks o’ Stanley-shaw + The mavis sings fu’ cheerie O. + + Sweet the craw-flower’s early bell + Decks Gleniffer’s dewy dell, + Blooming like thy bonny sel’, + My young, my artless dearie O. + + Come, my lassie, let us stray + O’er Glenkilloch’s sunny brae, + Blithely spend the gowden day + ‘Midst joys that never wearie O. + + Towering o’er the Newton woods, + Lavrocks fan the snaw-white clouds; + Siller saughs, wi’ downie buds, + Adorn the banks sae brierie O. + + Round the sylvan fairy nooks + Feathery breckans fringe the rocks, + ‘Neath the brae the burnie jouks, + And ilka thing is cheerie O. + + Trees may bud, and birds may sing, + Flowers may bloom, and verdure spring, + Joy to me they canna bring, + Unless wi’ thee, my dearie O.” + +John Mayne was a native of Dumfries,¹ and was trained to the printing +business. When an apprentice, in 1777, he published the germ of +his “Siller Gun,” in twelve stanzas. The subject of the poem is +an old custom in Dumfries, called “Shooting for the Siller Gun;” +the gun itself is a small silver tube presented by James VI. to the +incorporated trades as a prize to the best marksman. He continued to +enlarge and improve the poem till the year of his death, when it was +reprinted for the fourth time, and extended to five cantos. He is the +author of some other pieces, including his ballad of “Logan Braes,” +which begins thus:―― + + ¹ Born in 1761; died in 1836. + + “By Logan’s streams, that rin sae deep, + Fu’ aft wi’ glee I’ve herded sheep: + Herded sheep and gathered slaes, + Wi’ my dear lad on Logan braes. + + But wae’s my heart, thae days are gane, + And I wi’ grief may herd alane, + While my dear lad maun face his faes, + Far, far frae me and Logan braes.” + +John Leyden was born at Denholm, (1775), in Roxburghshire, and the +centenary of his birth was celebrated at Edinburgh, ♦1875. He was an +oriental scholar of some note, as well as a poet. He was a persevering +youth, and early manifested a taste for literature. He contributed to +Lewis’ _Tales of Wonder_, and to Scott’s _Minstrelsy of the Scottish +Border_. In 1802, he published his poem entitled, “The Scenes of +Infancy,” and left Scotland for India. His career there was successful +and honourable, but it was cut short by his death from fever in 1811. +His poetical remains were published in 1819, with a memoir of his life +by the Rev. James Morton; while Sir Walter Scott and Sir James Malcolm +both honoured his memory with notices of his life and genius. His +longest poem is the one already mentioned, which is devoted to a +description of his own native vale of Teviot. His poetry is smooth +and flowing, but rather lacking in strength. The following is from +the opening of his ballad called “The Mermaid”:―― + + ♦ “1785” replaced with “1875” + + “On Jura’s heath how sweetly ♦swell + The murmurs of the mountain bee! + How softly mourns the writhed shell + Of Jura’s shore, its parent sea! + But softer floating o’er the deep, + The mermaid’s sweet sea-soothing lay, + That charmed the dancing waves to sleep, + Before the bark of Colonsay.” + + ♦ “swells” replaced with “swell” + +Thomas Campbell¹ was a native of Glasgow, the son of a merchant in the +city. He was educated at the University of Glasgow, and began early +to manifest a taste for poetry. His _Pleasures of Hope_ appeared in +1799, the copyright of which was sold for £60; but it is said that +the publishers for some years gave him £50 on every new edition of +two thousand copies. The poem was immediately successful. After the +publication of the first edition, he added 154 lines to the poem. +It attracted all classes of readers by its varied and fine melody, +polished style, and the strain of generous sentiment pervading it. +He touched on many points and incidents of deep human interest; and +in depicting the dismal horrors of war, and the infamous partition of +Poland, he rose to a high pitch of inspiration, as in these lines:―― + + ¹ Born in 1777; died in 1844. + + “Oh, bloodiest picture in the book of time! + Sarmatia fell, unwept, without a crime; + Found not a ♦generous friend, a pitying foe, + Strength in her arms, nor mercy in her woe! + Dropped from her nerveless grasp the shattered spear, + Closed her bright eye and curbed her high career: + Hope for a season bade the world farewell, + And freedom shrieked as Kosciusko fell! + The sun went down, nor ceased the carnage there; + Tumultuous murder shook the midnight air―― + On Prague’s proud arch the fires of ruin glow, + His blood-dyed waters murmuring far below. + The storm prevails, the rampart yields a way, + Bursts the wild cry of horror and dismay! + Hark! as the smouldering piles with thunder fall, + A thousand shrieks for hopeless mercy call! + Earth shook, red meteors flashed along the sky, + And conscious nature shuddered at the cry!” + + ♦ “generons” replaced with “generous” + +This poem was a wonderful effort for a youth of twenty-one years. But +the chief source of its inspiration was not British, as the lines just +quoted show traces of ancient Grecian heat, and especially Homeric fire. + +Campbell’s minor poems and songs are universally admired. Such as his +“Exile of Erin,” “Lochiel’s Warning,” “The Battle of Hohenlinden,” and +the songs, “Ye Mariners of England,” and the “Battle of the Baltic,” +are popular favourites. + +In 1809, his poem, _Gertrude of Wyoming, a Pennsylvanian Tale_, +appeared; but his subsequent literary efforts added little to his fame +as a poet.¹ The finest of his later pieces is one entitled “The Last +Man,” which may be ranked among his best compositions; the following +lines are from this poem:―― + + ¹ Campbell contributed several papers to the _Edinburgh + Encyclopædia_, and also wrote the _Annals of Great Britain + from the Accession of George III. to the Peace of Amiens_, + in three volumes. In 1806, through the influence of Fox, + he received a pension. He delivered a course of lectures + on poetry at the Surrey Institution, in 1820; and in 1827, + he was elected Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow. In + 1849, a selection from his correspondence and an account of + his life was published by Dr. Beattie. + + “All worldly shapes shall melt in gloom―― + The sun himself must die, + Before this mortal shall assume + Its immortality! + I saw a vision in my sleep, + That gave my spirit strength to sweep + Adown the gulf of time! + I saw the last of human mould + That shall creation’s death behold + As Adam saw her prime! + The sun’s eye had a sickly glare, + The earth with age was worn; + The skeletons of nations were + Around that lonely man; + Some had expired in fight――the brands + Still rusted in their bony hands―― + In plague and famine some: + Earth’s cities had no sound nor tread; + And ships were drifting with the dead + To shores where all were dumb!” + +The whole of the poem shows high conceptive power and elevated +sentiment. I shall quote a few lines from his piece――“A Thought +suggested by the New Year”:―― + + “The more we live, more brief appears + Our life’s succeeding stages: + A day to childhood seems a year, + And years to passing ages. + The gladsome current of our youth, + Ere passion yet disorders, + Steals, lingering like a river smooth + Along its grassy borders. + But as the careworn cheek grows wan, + And sorrow’s shafts fly thicker, + Ye stars that measure life to man, + Why seem your courses quicker? + When joys have lost their bloom and breath, + And life itself is vapid, + Why, as we reach the falls of death, + See we the tide more rapid?” + +His _Specimens of the British Poets, with biographical and critical +notices_, which appeared in 1818, is a work of much value. The truth, +justness, and beauty of his criticisms have been universally recognised, +and some of them present elegant models of this branch of literature. + +Sir Walter Scott¹ was not only a distinguished poet, but also a +novelist of the first rank, and wrote on various other subjects. He +studied law, and was called to the bar in 1792. He was a diligent +reader, and acquired some knowledge of the German, French, Italian, and +Spanish languages; but from his early years the bent of his mind was +manifested in his fondness for ballads and romantic stories. In 1799 he +was appointed sheriff of Selkirkshire. He had already begun to collect +the materials for the ballad literature of the Border; and the result +appeared in his _Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border_, two volumes of +which were published in 1802, containing more than forty pieces never +before published, along with a large quantity of prose illustration, in +the form of introduction and notes. The following year, a third volume +appeared, which contained some imitations of the old ballads by Scott +himself and his friends. After performing other editorial work in the +field of early rhyme, he made an independent effort, which appeared in +1805, under the title of _The Lay of the Last Minstrel_. + + ¹ Born in 1771; died 1832. + +This poem at once placed him in the front rank of living poets. His +chief gifts and powers were admirably displayed in it. Its success was +great and unexampled in Scotland; and, for a time, Scott was worshipped +as the poet of the day. But, unfortunately, his natural ambition to +found a family to vie with the ancient Border names seems to have +developed into an over-ruling passion, which obscured his sagacity and +good sense, and thus he was led into doubtful projects, and financial +responsibilities which proved ruinous. + +In 1808, his remarkable poem of _Marmion_ was published; and the same +year he published his edition of Dryden. Scott was now fairly launched +as a poet, and volumes from his pen flowed rapidly. In 1810, _The Lady +of the Lake_ appeared, which was exceedingly popular. The following +year, _The Vision of Don Roderick_ was published; in 1713, _Rokeby_ and +_The Bride of Triermain_; in 1814, _The Lord of the Isles_; in 1815, +_The Field of Waterloo_; and in 1817, _Harold the Dauntless_. By this +time, it had become manifest that his later poems were inferior to his +earlier ones, while the star of Byron was rising, and the readers of +poetry were turning to the new worship. No one with any title to give +an opinion on the point would venture to place Scott upon a par with +Byron. Scott had merits of his own, within a limited circle of poetic +conception and execution he is a real poet. For emotional power, +passion, and poetic fire, as well as intellectual qualities, Byron +stands above Scott. In short, Byron is, perhaps, the greatest poet +that has appeared in Britain during the past two centuries. He has the +true glow of poetic fire, which in intensity of emotion, passion, and +intellectual qualities, warms his poetry to a high pitch. + +Scott himself was no doubt well aware of this, and turned his attention +to fiction, in which his genius attained its highest development. _The +Lady of the Lake_ was the most popular of his poems; in a few months +twenty thousand copies of it were sold. His poems, though still read, +are not so popular as his novels. It is unnecessary to dwell on his +poetry, and I shall only quote a few lines from _Marmion_, which is +mainly a tale of Flodden field. The following refers to the close of +the battle:―― + + “Tweed’s echoes heard the ceaseless plash, + While many a broken band, + Disordered through her current dash, + To gain the Scottish land; + To town and tower, to down and dale, + To tell red Flodden’s dismal tale, + And raise the universal wail. + Tradition, legend, tune, and song, + Shall many an age that wail prolong; + Still from the sire the son shall hear + Of the stern strife and carnage drear + Of Flodden’s fatal field, + Where shivered was fair Scotland’s spear, + And broken was her shield.” + +The next poet was a contemporary and friend of Scott’s. James Hogg,¹ +a native of the vale of Ettrick, in Selkirkshire, was descended from +a family of shepherds, and is best known by his poetic name of “The +Ettrick Shepherd.” He was sent to service when a child, and received +but little education: however, his mother was in the habit of reciting +old legends and ballads, and many of the evenings in his early +years were occupied in listening eagerly to her. He also became an +earnest reader of poetry and romances, and devoured the contents of +a circulating library in Peebles. He assisted Sir Walter Scott in the +collection of old ballads for the _Minstrelsy of the Border_. + + ¹ Born in 1771, and died in 1836. + +At first he tried his hand in song writing, and in 1801, he published +a small volume of pieces. He soon acquired a felicity of imitating the +style of the old ballads; and under the title of _The Mountain Bard_, +he published another volume of songs and poems, in 1807. In 1810, he +published a collection of songs called _The Forest Minstrel_; and in +1813, his legendary poem, entitled _The Queen’s Wake_, appeared. This +work consists of a number of tales and ballads supposed to be sung +to Queen Mary of Scots by the native bards of Scotland assembled at +a royal wake at Holyrood, so that the fair Queen might prove + + “The wondrous powers of Scottish song.” + +The work was well conceived, and its elaboration so complete that Hogg +was soon placed in the front rank of Scottish poets. At the end of this +poem, he alluded to his friend Scott, and adverts to an advice which +Sir Walter had once given him, to abstain from his worship of poetry:―― + + “The land was charmed to list his lays; + It knew the harp of ancient days. + The border chiefs that long had been + In sepulchres unhearsed and green, + Passed from their mouldy vaults away + In armour red and stern array. + And by their moonlit halls were seen + In visor, helm, and habergeon. + Even fairies sought our land again + So powerful was the magic strain. + Blest be his generous heart for aye! + He told me where the relic lay; + Pointed my way with ready will + Afar on Ettrick’s wildest hill; + Watched my first notes with curious eye, + And wondered at my minstrelsy; + He little weened a parent’s tongue + Such strains had o’er my cradle sung. + But when to native feelings true, + I struck upon a chord was new; + When by myself I ‘gan to play, + He tried to wile my harp away. + Just when her notes began with skill, + To sound beneath the southern hill, + And twine around my bosom’s core, + How could we part for evermore? + ’Twas kindness all――I cannot blame―― + For bootless is the minstrel flame: + But sure a bard might well have known + Another’s feelings by his own!” + +Subsequently, Hogg wrote many other works――_Mador of the Moor_, a poem +in the Spenserian stanza; _The Pilgrims of the Sun_, in blank verse; +_The Poetic Mirror_; _Queen Hynde_; _Dramatic Tales_, etc. He also +produced several novels――_Winter Evening Tales_; _The Three Perils +of Man_; _The Three Perils of Woman_, etc., and _Jacobite Relics_, +referred to in a preceding volume. + +He was a strong and versatile man, a veritable genius. His imaginative +and reproductive faculties were of a high order, his sympathies +were wide and catholic, and his power of realisation has rarely been +excelled. What he wanted was culture, and more art. There are passages +in his writings which, for lofty imaginative representation, few poets +or painters have ever surpassed. It is true, that both his poetry and +prose is unequal in composition; yet few can read them without being +impressed with the poet’s inspiration. The following is from his verses +to the Comet of 1811:―― + + “How lovely is this wildered scene, + As twilight from her vaults so blue, + Steals soft o’er Yarrow’s mountains green, + To sleep embalmed in midnight dew! + All hail, ye hills, whose towering height, + Like shadows, scoops the yielding sky! + And thou, mysterious guest of night, + Dread traveller of immensity! + + Stranger of heaven! I bid thee hail! + Shred from the pall of glory riven, + That flashest in celestial gale, + Broad pennon of the King of heaven! + Art thou the flag of woe and death, + From angel’s ensign staff unfurled? + Art thou the standard of His wrath. + Waved o’er a sordid, sinful world? + + * * * * * + + Whate’er portends thy front of fire, + Thy streaming locks so lovely pale―― + Or peace to man, or judgment dire, + Stranger of heaven, I bid thee hail! + + * * * * * + + O! on thy rapid prow to glide! + To sail the boundless skies with thee, + And plough the twinkling stars aside, + Like foam-bells on a tranquil sea! + To brush the embers from the sun, + The icicles from off the pole; + Then far to other systems run, + Where other moons and planets roll!” + +His lyric, “The Skylark,” has often been quoted as one of the best +of his short pieces; and his song, “When the Kye comes Hame,” is also +fine. His life was recently published by his daughter, Mrs. Garden. + +Sir Alexander Boswell,¹ the eldest son of Johnson’s biographer, was +the author of some amusing songs which were very popular, such as +“Jenny’s Bawbee,” “Jenny Dang the Weaver,” etc. This gentleman was a +warm admirer of early Scottish literature, and reprinted several works +at his own private printing-press at Auchinleck. One of his songs, +entitled “Good-night, and joy be wi’ ye a’,” is supposed to proceed +from the mouth of an aged chieftain, thus:―― + + ¹ He was born in 1775. “When politics ran high, he + unfortunately wrote some personal satires, for one of which + he received a challenge from Mr. Stuart of Dunearn. The + parties met at Auchtertool in Fifeshire. Conscious of his + error, Sir Alexander resolved not to fire at his opponent, + but Mr. Stuart’s shot took effect, and the unfortunate + baronet fell. He died from the wound on the following + day, the 26th of March, 1822. He had been elevated to the + baronetcy only the previous year. His brother, James, was + an accomplished scholar and student of early literature, and + edited Malone’s edition of Shakespeare, 21 volumes, in 1821; + but he died in 1822, and Sir Alexander had just returned + from the funeral of his brother when he engaged in the fatal + duel.” + + “Good-night, and joy be wi’ ye a’; + Your harmless mirth has charmed my heart; + May life’s fell blasts out owre ye blaw, + In sorrow may ye never part. + My spirit lives, but strength is gone; + The mountain fires now blaze in vain; + Remember, sons, the deeds I’ve done, + And in your deeds I’ll live again! + + * * * * * + + The auld will speak, the young maun hear; + Be cantie, but be good and leal; + Your ain ills aye hae heart to bear, + Anither’s aye hae heart to feel. + So, ere I set, I’ll see you shine, + I’ll see you triumph ere I fa’; + My parting breath shall boast you mine―― + Good-night, and joy be wi’ you a’.” + +Allan Cunningham,¹ a native of Blackwood, in Dumfriesshire, was a +man of varied accomplishments and marked abilities, combined with +persistent application. In his early days he had few advantages, +and was sent to learn the trade of a mason, but in 1810 he removed +to London and engaged in newspaper work. In 1814 he entered the +establishment of Sir Francis Chantrey, the eminent sculptor, as +superintendent of the works, and remained in this situation until his +death. + + ¹ Born in 1784, died in 1842. William Tennant, a native of + Anstruther, originally a clerk in a mercantile establishment, + studied ancient and modern literature, and taught himself + Hebrew, is the author of the mock-heroic poem, “Anster + Fair,” which appeared in 1812, and soon became popular. + The subject of the poem was the marriage of Maggie Lauder. + After the appearance of this remarkable production, Tennant + obtained an appointment as a schoolmaster, and finally he + was appointed Professor of Oriental Languages in St. Mary’s + College, St. Andrews. He was the author of several other + poems on local subjects. He died in 1848. + +He was an exceedingly industrious writer. He began at an early age +to contribute poetical effusions and songs to the periodical press, +and attained a facility of imitating the strains of the old Scottish +ballads. In 1822 he published a dramatic poem entitled _Sir Marmaduke +Maxwell_, founded on Border tradition and superstition, and afterwards +two volumes of traditional tales, and three novels drawn from similar +sources. In 1832 his rustic epic, _The Maid of Elvar_, in twelve parts, +appeared. He edited a well-known collection of _Scottish Songs_ in four +volumes; and an edition of Burns in eight volumes, to which he prefixed +a valuable life of the poet. Cunningham contributed to Murray’s “Family +Library” a series of _Lives of Eminent British Painters, Sculptors, +and Architects_, which extended to six volumes. It is an interesting +and very useful work. His last work was a _Life of Sir David Wilkie_ +in three volumes, which he completed a few days before his death. + +All Cunningham’s literary work was executed in his spare hours, in the +intervals from his regular occupation. His taste and attainments in the +fine arts were considerable, and his art criticisms are candid and able. +His prose style is remarkable for its freshness, energy, and ease, and +in some of his songs there is warm emotion and real pathos. The two +following stanzas are from his piece called “The Poet’s Bridal-day +Song”:―― + + “Oh! my love’s like the steadfast sun, + Or streams that deepen as they run; + Nor hoary hairs, nor forty years, + Nor moments between sighs and tears―― + Nor nights of thought, nor days of pain, + Nor dreams of glory dreamt in vain―― + Nor mirth, nor sweetest song which flows + To sober joy and soften woes, + Can make my heart or fancy flee + One moment, my sweet wife, from thee. + + * * * * * + + At times there come, as come there ought, + Grave moment of sedater thought―― + When fortune frowns, nor lends on night + One gleam of her inconstant light; + And Hope, that decks the peasant’s bower, + Shines like the rainbow through the shower. + O, then I see, while seated nigh, + A mother’s heart shine in thine eye; + And proud resolve and purpose meek, + Speak of thee more than words can speak: + I think thee, wedded wife of mine, + The best of all that’s not divine.” + +William Motherwell¹ was a native of Glasgow, and early manifested a +taste for poetry and song. He attained a thorough knowledge of the +early history of Scottish literature. Reference was made in a preceding +volume to the admirable historical introduction to his _Minstrelsy, +Ancient and Modern_. In 1832 he collected and published his own poems +in one volume. Some of his pieces are very touching, and the following +short one may be taken as a specimen:―― + + ¹ Born in 1797 and died in 1835. + + “Mournfully! oh, mournfully + This midnight wind doth sigh, + Like some sweet plaintive melody + Of ages long gone by. + It speaks a tale of other years―― + Of hopes that bloomed to die―― + Of sunny smiles that set in tears, + And loves that mouldering lie! + Mournfully! oh, mournfully + This midnight wind doth moan; + It stirs some chord of memory + In each dull heavy tone. + The voices of the much-loved dead + Seem floating thereupon―― + All, all my fond heart cherished + Ere death had made it lone. + Mournfully! oh, mournfully + This midnight wind doth swell, + With its quaint pensive minstrelsy, + Hope’s passionate farewell, + To the dreamy joys of early years, + Ere yet grief’s canker fell + On the heart’s bloom――ay, well may tears + Start at that parting knell!” + +William E. Aytoun¹ was born in Edinburgh, educated in the University +there and in Germany, and having studied law, he was called to the +bar in 1840. In 1845 he was elected to the chair of rhetoric in the +University of Edinburgh, and in 1852 he was appointed Sheriff of Orkney. + + ¹ 1813, and died in 1865. + +Mr. Aytoun is the author of _Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers_, which +appeared in 1849. These range from the battle of Flodden to the +extinction of the Jacobite cause at Culloden, and are pervaded by a +warm spirit, interspersed with scenes of pathos and mournful regret. In +1858 he published a collated edition of the _Old Scottish Ballads_ in +two volumes, which was noticed in a preceding volume.¹ He also attained +distinction by his satirical and humorous compositions; his tales and +sketches, which appeared in _Blackwood’s Magazine_, are vigorous and +amusing. + + ¹ Mackintosh’s _History of Civilisation Scotland_, Volume I., + page 446. + + 1. Robert Nicoll was born at Auchtergaven, Perthshire, + in 1814, and cultivated literature in the face of many + difficulties and discouragements, but his severe struggles + probably shortened his life; he died in the twenty-fourth + year of his age. His poems consist of short pieces and songs, + which display a command of happy imagery and fancy. + + 2. Robert Gilfillan was born at Dunfermline in 1798, and + died in 1850. His poems and songs have passed through + several editions, and some of his songs have been set to + music. His pieces are marked by warm and kindly feelings, + and one called “The Exile’s Song” is very fine and touching. + + 3. William Thom, commonly called “The Inverurie Poet,” was + born in Aberdeen in 1789, and died in 1848. He was a weaver, + and followed this trade for many years. In 1844 he published + a volume of _Rhymes and Recollections_. He subsequently + visited London, and was warmly patronised by Scotsmen there + and others. Thom, within his own range of ideas, was a real + poet, and some of his pieces are very fine, sweet, pathetic, + smooth, and flowing in versification. + + 4. David Gray was born at Merkland, near Kirkintilloch, + in 1838, a son of humble parents, who intended him for + the Church. He studied for four sessions in the University + of Glasgow, and supported himself by teaching. He was + passionately fond of poetry, and wrote many verses, some + of which had appeared in the _Glasgow Citizen_. In his + twenty-second year, this warm-hearted youth went to London + to push his fortune; but he was soon attacked by consumption, + and naturally longed to return to his father’s house, and + he came back to Merkland. There he worked hopefully at his + poems, but his strength was fast ebbing away. He ardently + desired to see his poems in print, and they were sent to the + press. One page was immediately set up, and the dying poet + had the ineffable gratification of seeing and reading it on + the day before his death. The dying poet then exclaimed that + “he could now depart tranquilly into his eternal rest.” In + 1865, a monument was erected to his memory in Kirkintilloch. + His chief poem is called “The Luggie,” but he composed a + number of sonnets, which have many touching features both in + feeling and expression. His genius was rich though immature. + +Alexander Smith was born at Kilmarnock in 1830, but he passed his early +life as a designer in a Paisley factory. His first volume of verse +appeared in 1853, and the chief poem in it was “A Life Drama,” a series +of thirteen dramatic scenes. Afterwards he was appointed to the office +of secretary to the University of Edinburgh, and continued his literary +efforts. He contributed prose articles to periodicals, and, in 1857, +he published another volume called _City Poems_. In 1861, his _Edwin +Deira_ appeared. But his health began to fail, and he died in 1867. + +Smith had a vein of fervid poetic feeling, and his imaginative faculty +was pretty keen, but in chaste poetic elaboration he was not strong. +The greater part of his poetry is immature, overloaded with imagery +and ornament――defects which, if his life had been spared, he might have +overcome. On the other hand, his prose writings are better than his +poetry. His short papers and essays, “Dreamthorp,” “A Summer in Skye,” +and some literary remains published after his death, are written in an +easy, pleasing, and admirable style. + +Dr. Charles Mackay was born in Perth in 1814. He united political +sympathies and aspirations with lyrical poetry, and some of his songs +have long been familiar to the people of this country and America. +His first poems were published in 1834, in a small volume. Soon after +he became connected with the London press――_The Morning Chronicle_, +a daily journal. In 1840, his poem called _The Hope of the World_ +appeared; and in 1842, _The Salamandrine_, one of the most finished of +his works. In 1845, his _Legends of the Isles_ was published; _Voices +from the Crowd_, 1845; _Voices from the Mountains_, 1847; _Town Lyrics_, +1848; _The Spirit of Nature_, 1850; _The Lump of Gold_, 1856; _Songs +for Music_, 1857; _Under Green Leaves_, 1858. He is also the author +of a number of prose works, among which may be mentioned, _The History +of London from its Foundation by the Romans to the Accession of +Queen Victoria_, published in 1838; _Memoirs of Extraordinary Public +Delusions_, in three volumes, 1841; _A History of the Mormons_, 1851; +_Life and Liberty in America_, 1859, in two volumes; _The Gaelic +and Celtic Etymology of Western Europe_, 1877; and other works. The +following lines are from the opening of his song, “Tubal Cain”:―― + + “Old Tubal Cain was a man of might + In the days when earth was young; + By the fierce red light of his furnace bright + The strokes of his hammer rung; + And he lifted high his brawny hand + On the iron glowing clear, + Till the sparks rushed out in scarlet showers, + As he ♦fashioned the sword and spear. + And he sang: Hurra for my handiwork! + Hurra for the spear and sword! + Hurra for the hand that shall wield them well, + For he shall be king and lord!” + + ♦ “fashoned” replaced with “fashioned” + +Alexander G. Murdoch was born in Glasgow in April, 1843. He is the +author of many poems and songs of much merit. He had a wide command +of expressive language, and some of his poems roll in very powerful +strains. His _Humorous Readings_ were published in 1888‒89; he also +wrote several interesting tales. He died at Glasgow on the 13th of +February, 1891. + +Lewis Morrison-Grant was born on the 9th of December, 1872, at a +cottage in the vicinity of Loch Park, in the parish of Botriphnie, +Banffshire. He received the rudiments of education at the parish +school and at the Public School of Keith, and entered the University +of Aberdeen in 1890. After attending two sessions his health failed, +and he was unable to attend his third session. His short life was +remarkable. When a mere boy he commenced to write verse, and his +passion for this kind of writing became very strong. In the spring of +1892 his _Protomantis and Other Poems_ was published in a volume of +three hundred and nine pages, containing four pretty long poems, and +one hundred and thirty-two shorter ones, which touch on a wide variety +of subjects. His poems are of unequal merit, and in general they +lack concentrated thought and strength; yet, taking into account +that they were all written before he was twenty years of age, and +the circumstances in which he was placed, his volume of poems is an +extraordinary effort. If his life had been longer spared, no doubt +he would have produced more highly finished work. After a protracted +illness he died at Goldenwells, near Keith, on the 29th of June, 1893.¹ +The following lines are from his fine poem entitled “More Light”:―― + + ¹ A very interesting account of him, under the title of _His + Life, Letters, and Last Poems_, edited by Jessie A. Anderson, + was published by Gardner in 1894. + + “I wait for light, I wait for God + To fall in living lines on thee, + O Soul!――in thoughts on which bestowed + Gleams some unveiling mystery. + And light is that I seek alone, + A light wherein all things shall seem + Even as to God they all are known: + Our human light is faint and dim.” + +Before passing from this branch, I may remark that though a number +of poets have been noticed in the preceding pages, they only form a +fraction of the Scottish Poets, for “The Poet’s Corner” of the Mitchell +Library in Glasgow contains upwards of 5336 volumes of Scottish poetry, +embracing the writings of 2000 different authors. Even this collection, +which I understand is the most complete in existence, may not contain +specimens of all the Scottish rhymers and poets.¹ + + ¹ In connection with this, a volume appeared in 1887 entitled + _The Bards of Bon-Accord_, by William Walker, Aberdeen, + which is an important work of its class. It covers the + period from 1375 to 1860, and embraces notices of many + poets and writers of rhyme――natives of Aberdeen and the + neighbouring counties. In itself the work is exceedingly + interesting. The notices of the various writers are very + well executed――with taste, judgment, and sometimes keen + and warm sympathy. The numerous quotations also show care + and discrimination in their selection, while the author’s + comments exhibit much consideration, fairness, and good + sense. + + In an Appendix a Bibliography of the subject of the work is + given which greatly enhances its value, especially to all + those who take a lively interest in matters of this kind――a + class gradually increasing in numbers with the advance + of exhaustive historical inquiries and liberal culture. + The work has also a very complete index, which the author + has very skilfully arranged, “to serve a threefold purpose + ――biographical items being printed in small capitals――poems + quoted, in italics――other matters, in ordinary type.” + Those who have had occasion to make literary inquiries will + appreciate the value of an index of this character. + + + + + CHAPTER XLII. + + _Fiction of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries._ + + +I HAVE already mentioned Smollett as a writer of history and verse, +and the first fruit of his labour in the field of fiction was _Roderick +Random_, which appeared in 1748. His other novels were published in +the following years――_Peregrine Pickle_ in 1751; _Ferdinand Count of +Fathom_, 1754; _Sir Launcelot Greaves_, 1762; and _The Expedition of +Humphry Clinker_, 1771. + +_Roderick Random_ is an exceedingly interesting work of fiction, and +it was long popular. Its interest and attraction does not depend on +the development of a well-conceived and elaborated plot, but on the +inventive power, the native humour, and knowledge of the author. The +turns in the fortune of the hero of the novel are many and varied, +and scene follows scene with amazing rapidity, so the attention of +the reader never flags; but the morality of the novel is low, and some +coarse passages occur in it. + +The hero in _Peregrine Pickle_ is an unprincipled character. The +humorous and comic features of his characters are well worked out, and +presented in an attractive and amusing form, and the interest of the +novel is admirably maintained. _Ferdinand Count Fathom_ is a sort of +romance, in which the chief character is an unscrupulous rascal who +sticks at nothing. _Humphry Clinker_ is the best of his novels. It is +pervaded by a manly tone of feeling, natural, caustic, and humorous +observation, and fine discrimination of character. The descriptions of +rural scenery, society, and manners are clear and fascinating. Smollett +was gifted with a keen sense of the comic and ludicrous, which he +deftly used, while touches of pathos also occur in his writings. + +Henry Mackenzie was born in Edinburgh,¹ and educated at the High School +and the University of his native city. He followed the profession of +law, and mixed freely in the literary circles of the capital, which +then rejoiced in the names of Hume, Robertson, Adam Smith, Fergusson, +and others. + + ¹ In 1745; died in 1831. + +It seems that Mackenzie had read and studied the writings of Sterne, +but he is superior to him in taste and in delicacy of feeling. In 1771, +Mackenzie published _The Man of Feeling_, which was followed by _The +Man of the World_, and _Julia de Roubigne_. He is also the author of +various sketches which appeared in the _Mirror_ and _Lounger_, and of +some dramatic pieces which were acted at Edinburgh. + +There is no distinctly conceived plot developed to an issue in +Mackenzie’s novels, still there is much interesting reading in his +productions. His humour is natural and pure; his style is elegant and +expressive, natural and easy, but lacking in strength. He was amongst +the first to denounce the system of slave-labour in the West Indies, +in these words:―― + +“I have often been tempted to doubt whether there is not an error in +the whole plan of negro-servitude; and whether whites or creoles born +in the West Indies, or perhaps cattle, after the manner of European +husbandry, would not do the business better and cheaper than the slaves +do. The money which the latter cost at first, the sickness――often owing +to despondency of mind――to which they are liable after their arrival, +and the proportion that die in consequence of it, make the machine, +if it may be so called, of a plantation extremely expensive in its +operations. In the list of slaves belonging to a wealthy planter, it +would astonish you to see the number unfit for service, pining under +disease, a burden on their master. I am only talking as a merchant; +but as a man――good heavens! when I think of the many thousands of my +fellow-creatures groaning under servitude and misery! Great God! hast +Thou peopled those regions of Thy world for the purpose of casting +out their inhabitants to chains and torture? No, Thou gavest them +a land teeming with good things, lightest up Thy sun to bring forth +spontaneous plenty; but the refinements of man, ever at war with Thy +works, have changed this scene of profusion and luxuriance into a +theatre of rapine, of slavery, and of murder. + +“Forgive the warmth of this apostrophe! Here it would not be understood; +even my uncle, whose heart is far from a hard one, would smile at my +romance, and tell me that these things must be so. Habit, the tyrant of +nature and of reason, is deaf to the voice of either; and she stifles +humanity and debases the species――for the master of slaves has seldom +the soul of a man.” These are worthy sentiments, well expressed. + +Dr. John Moore¹ was a native of Stirling, the son of a minister in +that town. He was educated at the University of Glasgow, and studied +medicine and surgery under Mr. Gordon, who had a large practice. +He afterwards entered into partnership with Gordon, and practised +in Glasgow for a number of years. At different times during his life +he lived on the Continent for eight or nine years, mostly in France, +Switzerland, Germany, and Italy, which gave him many opportunities of +observing varied forms of society on a large scale. Sir John Moore, the +noble General who led the memorable retreat in Spain, and fell at the +battle of Corunna, was the eldest son of Dr. Moore.² + + ¹ Born in 1729; died in 1802. + + ² My father was then under Sir John Moore, and was wounded + in the left arm at the battle of Corunna; and of all the + generals whom he fought under for a period of fourteen years, + Sir John was his greatest favourite. + +Dr. Moore’s novels are――(1) _Zeluco_: Various Views of Human Nature, +taken from Life and Manners, Foreign and Domestic, which appeared in +1786; (2) _Edward_: Various Views of Human Nature, taken from Life and +Manners, chiefly in England, 1796; and (3) _Mordaunt_: Sketches of Life, +Character, and Manners, in various Countries, including the Memoirs +of a French Lady of Quality, 1800. All his novels indicate an elevated +moral aim, and are more remarkable for wide observation than the +invention of plot interest. + +He is the author of several other works:――_Medical Sketches_, published +in 1785; _A Journal during a Residence in France, from the beginning +of August to the middle of December, 1792_, in two volumes, which +appeared in 1793‒94; _A View of the Causes and Progress of the French +Revolution_, in two volumes, published in 1795. Moore was an accurate +observer of men and things. His knowledge of mankind was vast; his +powers of observation are well displayed in his novels; and his account +of the striking scenes of the French Revolution are still well worth +reading. A complete edition of his works has been published in seven +volumes, with a memoir of his life, by Dr. Robert Anderson. + +Elizabeth Hamilton was born at Belfast in 1758. Her father was a +merchant, descended from a Scottish family, and died early, leaving +a widow and three children. The children were brought up and educated +by their relatives. Elizabeth, the youngest, was sent to Mr. Marshall, +a farmer in Stirlingshire, married to her father’s sister; and the +child found a warm home with Mr. and Mrs. Marshall. They adopted and +educated her with a care and kindliness that has rarely been matched. +She says herself:――“No child ever spent so happy a life, nor have I +ever met with anything at all resembling our way of living, except +the description given by Rousseau of Wolmar’s farm and vintage.” At an +early age she manifested a keen taste for literature, and wrote many +copies of verses. For many years, in the latter part of her life, she +lived in Edinburgh, where she was much respected. + +Her chief works are:――(1) _The Letters of a Hindoo Rajah_, which +appeared in 1796; (2) _The Modern Philosophers_, published in 1800, in +three volumes; (3) _Letters on Education_; (4) _Memoirs of Agrippina_; +(5) _The Cottagers of Glenburnie_, in 1808; (6) _Popular Essays on +the Human Mind_; (7) _Hints to the Directors of Public Schools_. _The +Cottagers of Glenburnie_ was the most popular of her efforts. It is a +tale of cottage life, of which the scene is laid in a small, scattered +Scottish village; and it presents well realised pictures of Scottish +rural life in the later part of the last century. She died in 1816. + +Mrs. Mary Brunton was born on the 1st of November, 1778, in Burray, a +small island of the Orkney group. In this remote region, her father, +Colonel Balfour of Elwick, and her mother, an accomplished woman, held +a leading position in society. Mary was carefully educated, and her +mother taught her French and German; and she was also sent to Edinburgh +for some time to complete her education. In 1798 she married the Rev. +Mr. Brunton, minister of Bolton, Haddingtonshire; and in 1803 he was +appointed to one of the churches in Edinburgh, where Mrs. Brunton had +greater facilities for cultivating her mind. + +Her novel _Self-Control_ was published anonymously in 1811, and proved +a success. The first edition was sold in a month, and a second and a +third were soon issued. Her next novel, entitled _Discipline_, appeared +in 1814, and was well received. She was engaged on another story, which +she did not live to finish, having died on the 7th of December, 1818. +The unfinished tale and a memoir of the lamented authoress were issued +by her husband in one volume. The chief merit of her two completed +novels appears in the elevated moral sentiment and purity of tone which +pervade them; and in her keen observation and art in the development of +traits of character, which give a semblance of reality to her charming +stories. + +Sir Walter Scott was a wonderful genius, and a man of exceptional +industry. The quantity and variety of his writings are amazing. In +the field of the historic novel――pictures of the life, manners, and +superstitions of the Scottish people, he is unrivalled. The greater +number of his long series of novels have their scenes laid in Scotland, +and are characteristically Scottish; although a few of them have their +scenes laid in England, the Continent, and the East, even in some +of these Scottish characters appear. Scott usually worked in periods +pretty near his own time, for considerably more than one half of his +novels belong to the eighteenth and seventeenth centuries, and only +one of those relating to Scotland go farther back than the fifteenth +century. He was not a great thinker, his analytic faculty was not at +all remarkable; but he was a keen observer, and had a retentive memory. +He had also a pretty wide knowledge of history. But his strength +mainly lay in his unrivalled powers of description, a fine sense of the +picturesque in scenery, in his vivid and rapid narrative, and varied +characterisation of external action; whatever was visible and palpable, +lay within his compass. + +In many of his novels he shows a fine appreciation of the humorous +and comic features of human life. He has an instinctive perception of +fitness of touch in the delineation of character, and many of his +characters are admirably presented. He often introduces supernatural +features, visions, prophecies, and superstitions, and there are +incidents in his novels which seem to indicate that he himself had +some belief in superstition. Most of his novels contain some hints of +agencies beyond the general laws of nature; and in his handling of the +supernatural he usually left popular prediction and second sight in a +haze. Scott was not an idealist, so the agency which worked marvels was +not an invisible spirit, but rather something tangible――a sorcerer or a +soothsayer, of which the national records and traditional superstition +presented an ample store. From these and many other sources he wove +wonderful creations, stirring narratives, striking and charming scenes. + +Scott’s novels have had a wide influence, stretching far beyond the +limits of Britain. The sale and circulation of them has been enormous, +not only in this country, but also on the Continent of Europe and +the United States of America. After the abolition of the paper duty, +they were published in very cheap forms; and millions of the sixpenny +edition have been sold. In general the moral tone of his novels is +manly and wholesome; and they have been a source of amusement and +enjoyment to several generations and many millions of people. + +Personally, Scott was a humane and very amiable man, and much beloved +by all who knew him. In the evening of his days, when adversity +overtook him, then the real greatness of his spirit appeared. He +manfully faced the difficulties before him, and struggled to discharge +his debts with a hope and fortitude worthy of the greatest hero.¹ + + ¹ A valuable and interesting _Life of Scott_ was written by + his son-in-law, Mr. John G. Lockhart, which was published + in 1837; and in 1843 he published his _Life of Scott_ in an + abridged form. Scott’s own interesting Journal was recently + published. + +John Galt, a contemporary of Scott, was born at Irvine in 1779. When +a boy of eleven years, his parents removed to Greenock; and there he +manifested a bent for poetry and music. After finishing his school days, +he was employed in the custom-house at Greenock till 1804, when he went +to London to push his fortune. There, and in many other quarters of +the globe he entered into various schemes with little success; and in +the end he chiefly devoted his energies to literature. He was a man of +great energy and genius; but unfortunate in most of his undertakings. +His life was one of hard struggles, in which, however, his heart and +spirit never faltered. + +He is the author of a long list of novels, tales, dramatic pieces, +and other writings. His original powers were excellent. In his best +efforts, within the circle of his cognition, in the perception of +motive and character, he was supreme. But his taste was defective, +while the untoward circumstances with which he had to struggle, greatly +crippled his genius. His fertility, versatility, and industry were +very remarkable; but the merits of his novels are unequal. The scenes +of most of his novels were laid in Scotland, and dealt with Scottish +life and character. The most popular of his novels were the _Ayrshire +Legatees_, which appeared in 1820; and the _Annals of the Parish_, +written in 1810, but not published till 1821. The _Annals of the +Parish_ is an excellent tale; and it presents many amusing, striking, +and pathetic incidents, and touches of quaint humour. + +Galt returned to Scotland in 1835, greatly enfeebled by repeated +attacks of paralysis. Yet he wrote several articles for periodicals, +and edited the works of others. After severe and long suffering, borne +with great fortitude, he died at Greenock, on the 11th of April, 1839. + +Mrs. Johnstone¹ is the author of a tale called _Clan Albyn_, which +appeared in 1815. It throws a romantic glow over Highland scenery and +character; her descriptions are vivid and picturesque. In 1827 her +novel, _Elizabeth de Bruce_, was published. She also wrote several +attractive tales for children, and was a large contributor to the +periodical literature of the time. She was for several years editor of +_Tait’s Magazine_. Her style is smooth and elegant, and her writings +characterised by a varied culture and sound judgment. + + ¹ Born 1781, died 1857. + +Susan E. Ferrier¹ was a daughter of James Ferrier, one of the clerks +of the Court of Session. She is the authoress of three novels, all of +them in three volumes. The first one, entitled _Marriage_, appeared +in 1818. She evinces considerable talents and wit, writes in a rather +caustic style, and exerts her fine comic humour on the foibles and +oddities of mankind. Many artful sarcastic touches occur in the novel, +and keen insight of human nature is manifested. Her next novel, _The +Inheritance_, was published in 1824. It is more elaborate and better +developed than the preceding one; some of her characters are well +delineated. Her third novel, _Destiny: or, The Chiefs Daughter_, +appeared in 1831. Its scene is in the Highlands, and the authoress +deals with Highland scenery and Highland manners, but it is not a +romantic tale, though in some passages strong passion and feeling +appears. + + ¹ Born in 1782, died in 1854. + +John Wilson was born on the 18th of May, 1785, in Paisley, where his +father was a successful manufacturer. He was educated at the University +of Glasgow and at Oxford. After leaving Oxford, he purchased the small +estate of Elleray, on the banks of the Lake Windermere, in England, +where he built a house. He married, kept a yacht, and enjoyed himself +amid the fine scenery of the lakes, and wrote poetry. But some reverses +overtook him, and, as stated in a preceding chapter, he obtained the +chair of Moral Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh in 1820, which +he held until his death in 1854. He was not a philosopher, but he was +a cultured, amiable, and kind-hearted man. His poetical efforts consist +of the _Isle of Palms_, published in 1812; the _City of the Plague_, +in 1816, and some other short pieces. His poetry is sweet and soft, but +lacking in strength and passion, and it has been eclipsed by his own +prose writings. + +Wilson was one of the leading contributors to _Blackwood’s Magazine_ in +its palmy days, and in it some of his tales first appeared. In 1822 his +volume entitled _Lights and Shadows of Scottish Life_ was issued. It +consists of twenty-four short tales, which relate to Scottish rural and +pastoral life. The tales are simple, homely, and pathetic. In 1823 his +work entitled _The Trials of Margaret Lyndsay_ was published. This tale +has many touching scenes, pictures, and incidents. In 1824 his story, +_The Foresters_, was issued. + +The most important of his contributions to _Blackwood’s Magazine_ +were collected and published, under the title of _The Recreations +of Christopher North_, in 1842, in three volumes. They consist of a +miscellany of papers and criticisms on a wide variety of subjects. +His criticisms on poetry are often discriminative and elegant, and +his series of articles on Spenser and Homer have been much admired. +A complete collected edition of his writings was published by his +son-in-law, Professor Ferrier, in 1855‒58, in twelve volumes, and a +memoir of his life by his daughter, Mrs. Gordon, was issued in 1862. + +Sir Thomas D. Lauder¹ is the author of two interesting novels of the +historic class relating to Scottish life――_Lochanduh_, published in +1825, and the _Wolf of Badenoch_ in 1827. The Wolf of Badenoch was +Alexander Stuart, a son of Robert II., and Earl of Buchan and Lord of +Badenoch. He was one of the most turbulent men of the period. In 1830 +Sir Thomas published a very interesting account of the great floods +in Morayshire, which happened in 1829. He has described the effects of +this inundation with great picturesqueness, and presented many pathetic +episodes of the suffering of the people. He is the author of a series +of _Highland Rambles_, in which there are many striking descriptions +of natural scenery. He was commissioned to write a _Memorial of Her +Majesty Queen Victoria’s Visit to Scotland_ in 1842. He was engaged on +a work, _A Descriptive Account of Scottish Rivers_, the Tweed and other +streams, which he left unfinished, but an edition of it, with a preface +by Dr. John Brown, was published in 1874. + + ¹ Born in 1784, died in 1848. + +Andrew Picken, a son of a manufacturer, was born in Paisley in 1788. +He was for some time engaged in business in the West Indies, and +afterwards in Ireland and Glasgow. Subsequently he settled as a +bookseller in Liverpool, but was not successful, and proceeded +to London and engaged in literature. His first effort, _Tales and +Sketches of the West of Scotland_, was much esteemed for its local +descriptions. His novel entitled _The Sectarian: or, The Church and +the Meeting-house_, appeared in 1829, in three volumes, but it was not +very successful. The characters which the author drew of the Dissenters +irritated many readers. In 1830 he issued _The Dominie’s Legacy_, a +novel in three volumes, which was well received, and a second edition +was soon published. In 1831 he published _The Club Book_, a collection +of original tales by different authors, which included two of his +own――The Deerstalkers, and The Three Kearneys. He issued the first part +of a work entitled _Traditionary Stories of Old Families_, which was +designed to comprise the legendary history of England, Scotland, and +Ireland. His last work was a novel called the _Black Watch_, which he +had just finished when he was struck down by apoplexy, and he died on +the 23rd of November, 1833. + +James B. Fraser¹ is the author of interesting and amusing Eastern +tales. In 1828 he issued _The Kuzzilbash: a Tale of Khorassan_, in +three volumes, and afterwards he added a continuation under the title +of the _Persian Adventurer_. He described the life and manners of the +Persians by stirring narratives, which are partly fictitious and partly +real. Many of the scenes are well described, while the narratives are +animated and interesting. He also wrote a Scottish story, _The Highland +Smugglers_, which, however, is not equal to his Eastern tales. + + ¹ Born in 1783, died in 1856. + +John G. Lockhart,¹ the biographer of Sir Walter Scott, and editor +of the _Quarterly Review_ from 1826 till 1852, was the author of +four novels. His first effort, _Valerius, a Roman Story_, appeared +in 1821 in three volumes. It is a tale of the times of Trajan, the +Roman Emperor, who persecuted the Christians in Rome. He evinces much +historic knowledge and remarkable powers of realisation throughout +the story. Many striking pictures and sketches of Roman life and its +associations are vividly pourtrayed. His story entitled _Some Passages +in the Life of Mr. Adam Blair, Minister of the Gospel at Cross-Meikle_, +published in 1822, is an account of the fall of a Scottish minister, +and his restoration, after a period of repentance, to the functions +of his profession in the place where he had formerly ministered. The +narrative is forcibly written, and presents a clear idea of Scottish +character. The nature and circumstances of the story, however, renders +it somewhat unpleasant reading. In 1823 his long novel, _Reginald +Dalton_, was issued in three volumes. The scene of it is laid in +England. A detailed account of college life in Oxford was presented, +where Reginald, the hero of the tale, was educated; and, among his +acquisitions, he learned to imbibe port-wine. In the course of the +story some touching scenes of life are described. His tale of _Matthew +Wald_ was published in 1824 in one volume. Matthew Wald, the hero of +the tale, passes through many changes of fortune, in which there are +characteristic scenes. + + ¹ Born in 1794, died in 1854. + +Lockhart was a highly gifted and accomplished man. Besides his _Life +of Scott_, he wrote a _Life of Burns_, published in 1828. It is written +in an admirable style, and in a candid and appreciative spirit, and at +the time it was a valuable contribution to the biography of the poet. +He contributed many articles to _Blackwood’s Magazine_, and greatly +assisted in giving it a distinctive character. While editor of the +_Quarterly Review_, he wrote for it a considerable number of critical +articles, which are excellent specimens of his clear and incisive style. + +David M. Moir¹ was a native of Musselburgh. He is the author of an +exceedingly interesting and humorous Scottish tale, _The Autobiography +of Mansie Wauch_, published in 1828. Also the _Legend of Genevieve_, +with other tales and poems, issued in 1824. Under the name of Delta +(a Greek letter) he contributed many poetical pieces to _Blackwood’s +Magazine_; and also wrote _Sketches of the Poetical Literature of the +Past Half-century_, which appeared in 1851. His poetical writings were +edited by Mr. Thomas Aird, with a memoir, and published in 1852 in two +volumes. + + ¹ Born in 1798, died in 1851. + +James Grant¹ was a native of Edinburgh, and served for some time in +the 62nd Regiment. He wrote a large number of military and historical +novels, and memoirs of eminent commanders, some of which were once very +popular. He was pretty familiar with military affairs, and with some +periods of Scottish history, and several of his tales present vivid +pictures of bypast times. + + ¹ Born in 1822, died in 1887. + +David Pae was born on the 6th of May, 1828, at Buchanty, on the banks +of the Almond, Perthshire, where his father was a miller, and was +drowned while attempting to ford the Almond, on horseback, near his own +house. David, when an infant, was taken by his mother to Coldingham, +on the Scottish Borders, where she remained with her family. He was +educated at the parish school. When a mere youth he went to Edinburgh, +and was employed by Mr. Thomas Grant, printer and publisher. He had a +keen fancy for the drama, and his first literary effort assumed the +form of a dramatic criticism. He was gifted with fine sensibilities, +and earnestly studied the Bible. When the Crimean War was impending he +published a pamphlet under the title of _The Coming Struggle_, the aim +of which was to warn the people of this country against our alliance +with the Papal powers of the Continent. He brought prophecy to bear on +transpiring events with a vigour which raised some stir in the country. +Shortly after he issued a volume entitled _The Second Advent_, in which +he presented his views in a more elaborate form. Afterward he published +a treatise on _Mesmerism and Animal Magnetism_, which was followed by +a history of America. He had not yet, however, touched the region best +suited for his talents. At last he entered into his destined field with +a serial story――Jessie, the Bookfolder――which appeared simultaneously +in the _North Briton_, published in Edinburgh, and the _Penny Post_, +published in Glasgow. This story attained a remarkable success, and +was afterward republished in book form. For about nine years he was a +contributor to the _North Briton_ and the _Penny Post_. He also edited +the _Dunfermline Press_ for two years, 1859‒60, in which several of +his stories first appeared. In 1863 he was engaged by Mr. Leng (now +Sir John Leng) of the _Dundee Advertiser_, as the story writer for the +_People’s Journal_, in which many of his stories first appeared, and +contributed greatly to render the paper popular and to increase its +circulation. When the _People’s Friend_ was commenced in 1869 he was +appointed editor. He continued to edit this instructive miscellany, +and to write stories for the _People’s Journal_, until his death, which +occurred on the morning of the 9th of May, 1884. He died of disease of +the heart after an hour’s illness. + +He was an exceedingly fertile writer. Besides his early efforts +mentioned above, he wrote fifty serial stories, many essays and short +tales, and also an interesting volume on Rosslyn and Hawthornden, and +a drama entitled Drumclog. He was a keen observer of the beauties of +external nature, and evinced considerable powers of description. The +moral tone of his stories was elevated and manly. Personally he was an +amiable man, of a quiet and unassuming character. + +The late gifted Professor Minto was the author of three novels――_The +Crack of Doom_, published in 1886; _The Meditation of Ralph Hardelot_, +issued in 1888; and _Was She Good or Bad_, in 1889. + +William Alexander was born on the 10th of June 1826, at Rescivet in the +parish of Chapel of Garioch, Aberdeenshire, where his father carried +on the trade of a blacksmith. He was educated at the parish school +of Daviot, and before his school days ended, his father gave up the +blacksmith business and removed to the farm of Damhead. On this farm +from an early age, William engaged in agricultural work, and acquired +an accurate knowledge of the rural life of Aberdeenshire, which he +afterwards turned to excellent account. He greatly enjoyed agricultural +work, and rural life. But in early manhood a serious accident +necessitated the amputation of a limb, which entirely changed his mode +of life. During the time of his confinement and convalescence he began +a course of reading, and practised composition in the form of essays +and stories, which widened the scope of his knowledge and improved his +naturally well-balanced mind. His first literary effort which appeared +in print, was an essay on farm-servants, written in competition for a +prize offered by the proprietors of the _North of Scotland Gazette_. +His essay won the prize; and shortly after Mr. M‘Combie, the editor, +offered him employment on the paper which he gladly accepted. In May +1853, the _Gazette_ was reconstituted as the _Free Press_, and Mr. +Alexander continued to occupy an important position on the staff of +this paper and its allied issues――the _Weekly Free Press_ and the +_Evening Gazette_. + +He wrote a story entitled _The Authentic History of Peter Grundy_, +which appeared in the _Free Press_, but has not been republished. His +story――_Johnny Gibb of Gushetneuk_, in the parish of Pyketillim, with +Glimpses of the parish politics about 1843, was commenced in the _Free +Press_ in September 1869. It is an excellent story, and was republished +in book form in 1871. It is intensely interesting, remarkable for its +natural and true characterisation, and its quaint humour and pathos; +while it is especially valuable philologically, as embodying a pretty +full and pure specimen of the Aberdeenshire dialect, of which the +author was a thorough master. It became popular, and has passed through +ten editions. In 1875 his volume under the title of _Sketches of Life +Among My Ain Folk_ was published, and consists of four short stories, +which present graphic pictures of social life in Aberdeenshire, +with many touches of humour and pathos. His volume entitled _Notes +and Sketches of Northern Rural Life in the Eighteenth Century_, was +published in 1877. This is a comparatively small but interesting essay, +and gives an instructive account of the social condition and industrial +life of the region and period with which it dealt. He also wrote papers +on _Aberdeenshire Agriculture_, and the _Making of Aberdeenshire_, +which were published. He contributed a number of articles and sketches +to various periodicals, which mainly treated on the life and social +conditions of North-eastern Scotland. His minor stories and fugitive +pieces were very numerous. In recognition of his literary activity and +the merit of his writings, in 1886 the University of Aberdeen conferred +on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. + +As a journalist, he attained notable distinction. His sound judgment, +tact, and considerate character, were conspicuous. He was always ready +to advocate any cause or movement to the utmost of his power, which +he believed to be necessary for the public good, or calculated to +alleviate suffering, and promote the happiness of the community. When +occasion demanded it, he showed great determination and independence. +Outside the functions of journalism, he took an active part in the +affairs of various public institutions in the city. He was a director +of the Royal Infirmary, a member of the Public Library Committee, and +a member of the Association for the Improvement of the Condition of the +Poor. + +Personally, he was a very amiable and kind-hearted man. His benignant +and thoughtful countenance, genial and inspiriting conversation left an +abiding impression. As every one, who came within the influence of his +voice felt that there was a firm conviction and earnest thought behind +it. After a short illness, he died at his residence in Aberdeen on the +19th of February, 1894. + +Robert Lewis Stevenson was a son of Thomas Stevenson, an eminent civil +engineer, and was born in Edinburgh on the 13th of November 1850. He +was a delicate boy, and very studious in his own way. He was educated +at the University of Edinburgh; but according to his own account he did +not regularly attend any of the classes. He once remarked――“I am sorry, +indeed, that I have no Greek, but I should be sorrier still if I were +dead; nor do I know the name of that branch of knowledge which is worth +acquiring at the price of a brain fever.” He became a member of the +Scottish Bar, but never practised law. He devoted his attention to +literature, and attained distinction as a novelist, essay writer, and +poet. In the later years of his life, he resided in the island of Samoa, +where he died on the 8th of December 1894. + +He is the author of over twenty novels and romances, several volumes +of poetry and ballads, and a number of excellent essays. Some of +his novels have been very popular, and reached a large sale. His +_Underwoods_, a volume of poetry, has reached a sixth edition. This +volume contains thirty-eight pieces in English and sixteen in Scotch, +and in both the personal characteristic prevails, yet they are +interesting. The first among the Scotch pieces is entitled “The Maker +to Posterity,” and begins thus:―― + + “Far ‘yont amang the years to be, + When a’ we think, an’ a’ we see, + An’ a’ we luve’s been dung ajee + By time’s rouch shouther, + An’ what was richt and wrang for me + Lies mangled throw’ther; + It’s possible――it’s hardly mair―― + That some ane, ripin’ after lear―― + Some auld professor or young heir, + If still there’s either―― + May find an’ read me, an’ be sair + Perplexed, puir brither! + ‘What tongue does your auld bookie speak?’ + He’ll spier; an’ I, his mou to steik: + ‘No bein’ fit to write in Greek, + I wrote in Lallan, + Dear to my heart as the peat reek, + Auld as Tantallon. + Few speak it than, an’ noo there’s nane; + My puir auld sangs lie a’ their lane, + Their sense, that ance was braw an’ plain, + Tint a’ thegether. + Like runes upon a standin’ stane + Amang the heather.’” + +As a novelist, he had the art of rendering his writings interesting. +His faculty of description was fairly good. He had the power of +grasping incidents and circumstances, realising and combining them, +and presenting attractive stories. + + * * * * * + +In conclusion, it may be indicated that in earlier times the ballad +literature, traditional tales, and chap-books, partly held the place +among the people, which is now mainly filled by modern fiction. In the +present century there has been a great development of this branch of +literature, and during the last thirty years enormous quantities of +fiction have appeared in the periodical and newspaper press. There are +varied forms, classes, and qualities of fiction. Much of it is merely +written for amusement, much also for special purposes, such as various +religious aims, and moral aims. It seems extremely doubtful, if the +intense struggle in this branch of literature to produce sensational +and exciting stories is more likely to elevate than to debase the moral +sentiments of the people. + + + + + CHAPTER XLIII. + + _Literature of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries + (continued)――Religious and Miscellaneous Literature._ + + + SECTION I. + + _Religious Literature of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries._ + +THE religious literature of Scotland in the form of sermons and +hortative discourses is pretty large, but in the department of theology +there are comparatively few works of high authority, which may be +accounted for upon the ground that until recently there was little +necessity for such works, as the religious differences of belief among +the Scots were not concerning the existence and attributes of God nor +the fundamental doctrines of Christianity, but chiefly as to forms +of Church government, and the powers of the Established Church in +relation to the State. These were the grounds on which differences in +convictions and opinions prevailed among the people of Scotland, and +hence the characteristics of the religious literature of the country. + +The Rev. Ebenezer Erskine and his brother, the Rev. Ralph Erskine,¹ +were both celebrated in the history of the national Church, but they +were more remarkable for their personal influence and preaching than +as writers. Ebenezer Erskine was the founder of the Secession Church, +a man of great energy and strength of will. A collection of his sermons +in five volumes has been published. + + ¹ Ebenezer was born in 1680, and died in 1755; Ralph was born + in 1682, and died in 1751. + +The sermons of Ralph Erskine are numerous, and he also composed +_Gospel Sonnets_, which appeared in 1760 in two volumes, but they are +devotional, not poetical. He was minister of the Church of Dunfermline, +but joined the Secession with his brother and withdrew from the +Establishment. + +The Rev. Dr. John Erskine¹ was the eldest son of Erskine of Cardross, +author of the _Principles of the Law of Scotland_. Mr. Erskine studied +for the Church at the University of Edinburgh, and after completing his +course he was ordained minister of the parish of Kirkintilloch in 1744. +In 1753 he was presented to the church of Cardross; in 1758 he was +transferred to the charge of the new Greyfriars Church in Edinburgh; +and in 1765 he was appointed one of the ministers of old Greyfriars +Church, where he had for his colleague Dr. Robertson. He was a learned +divine, and the author of a long list of discourses and theological +dissertations. He also has the honour of being among the first who +advocated the cause of Foreign Missions in the Church of Scotland. + + ¹ Born in 1721, died in 1803. + +Dr. Alexander Webster¹ was minister of the Tolbooth Church in Edinburgh. +It was reported that at the time of the Rising of 1745 he wrote several +patriotic songs to arouse the loyalty of his countrymen. After the +battle of Culloden he was appointed to preach the thanksgiving sermon, +which, with a few other of his sermons, was published. He has the merit +of originating the Ministers’ Widows’ Fund, and also of carrying out +the first attempt at a census in Scotland. According to the returns +obtained by him in 1755, the population of Scotland was 1,265,380. He +was an able and characteristic man in his day. + + ¹ Born in 1707 and died in 1784. + +Dr. John Witherspoon was born on the 5th of February, 1722, in the +parish of Yester, where his father was minister. He was educated at the +University of Edinburgh, and at the age of twenty-one he was licensed +to preach. In 1744 he was appointed minister of the parish of Beith. +His pamphlet, entitled _Ecclesiastical Characteristics_, which appeared +in 1753, was mainly directed against flaws in the principles and +practice of some of the ministers of the Church. As it showed a strain +of satire, it soon attracted attention, became popular, and reached a +fifth edition in 1762. In 1756 his treatise on the _Connection between +the Doctrine of Justification by the imputed Righteousness of Christ +and Holiness of Life_ was published. The following year his _Inquiry +into the Nature and Effects of the Stage_ appeared. On this subject +there was much difference of opinion, yet it was generally recognised +that he had treated the subject with ability and candour. In 1757 +he received a call from the Low Church of Paisley, which he accepted. +While carefully discharging his pastoral functions in Paisley, he +published several sermons, and in 1764 his _Essays on Important +Subjects_ were issued in three volumes. Shortly after he received a +call from a congregation in Dublin, another from the Scottish church at +Rotterdam, and one from a congregation in Dundee, but he declined these +invitations and remained in Paisley. Some years later, however, he was +invited by the Trustees of the College of Princeton, New Jersey, in +America, to become the President of that Institution, and he accepted +the invitation and resolved to cross the Atlantic. On the 16th of April, +1768, he preached a farewell sermon to his congregation in Paisley, and +in July he sailed for America. + +Immediately after his arrival at New Jersey he entered on his new +duties. He soon made changes in the system of instruction which +had previously prevailed in the College; he extended the study of +mathematical science, and improved the method of teaching natural +philosophy. But his peaceful career was interrupted, and for a +time terminated, by the American War of Independence. He joined the +Colonists in this great struggle, and on the 17th of May, 1776, he +expressed his view of the subject in a lecture delivered at Princeton, +which was published. In 1776 he was elected to represent the people of +New Jersey in the Congress of the United States, and acted as a member +for seven years. He had considerable influence in Congress, and wrote +a number of important State papers. After the settlement of 1783 he +resumed his duties at Princeton. In 1785 he visited his native country +with the aim of raising a fund for the College, which had been much +injured by the war, but party-feeling was then rampant in Britain, and +his mission was not a success. He stayed a short time at Paisley, and +preached in two of the churches; and taking a final farewell of his +friends, returned to America. He continued to perform his duties at the +College until his death on the 15th of November, 1794. His writings +evinced much knowledge of human nature, while his style was animated, +simple, and attractive. + +One of the most popular ministers of the eighteenth century was Dr. +Blair,¹ a native of Edinburgh. He was first appointed minister of +a parish church in Fifeshire, but being noted as a preacher, he was +called to one of the city churches of Edinburgh. In 1759 he commenced +a course of lectures on rhetoric and _belles-lettres_, which were +subsequently published. In 1763 he issued a _Dissertation on the Poems +of Ossian_. The first volume of his sermons was published in 1777, +which was followed by other three, and a fifth volume which he had +prepared, was published after his death. These volumes of sermons were +once exceedingly popular, though it is difficult to discover the reason +why they were so; they are perhaps grammatically correct in composition, +but they are monotonous in style, and as for grasp of thought or +reasoning, elevated emotion, or impassioned eloquence, they have none. + + ¹ Born in 1718, died in 1800. + +Dr. James MacKnight was a son of the Rev. William MacKnight, minister +at Irvine, and was born on the 17th of September, 1721. He received +the rudiments of education at the school of Irvine, and at the age of +fourteen he entered the University of Glasgow, and passed through the +usual course of study. Afterwards he proceeded to Leyden and studied +theology, where he had an opportunity of reading many valuable works +by foreign divines. On returning to Scotland he was licensed to preach. +In 1753 he was appointed minister of Maybole; in 1769 he was translated +to the church of Jedburgh; and in 1772 he was elected minister of Lady +Yester’s church in Edinburgh. + +His writings were chiefly on the New Testament, and for several +generations they were greatly esteemed. The first edition of his +_Harmony of the Gospels_ appeared in 1756, and a second, revised and +enlarged, was issued in 1763. The same year he published the _Truth +of the Gospel History_, which was intended to confirm by argument and +reference to ancient authors what used to be called the Internal, the +Collateral, and the Direct Evidences of the Gospel History. In 1795 his +elaborate work, _The New Translation of the Apostolical Epistles_, with +a commentary and notes, was published in four volumes. This work was +long highly estimated. His style had little elegance or ornament, but +it is clear, and pertinent to the subject. After a life of assiduous +study and useful toil, he died on the 13th of January, 1800. + +John Brown¹ of Haddington was a distinguished divine, and the author +of various religious works. He belonged to Perthshire, being descended +from parents in humble circumstances, both of whom died before he was +eleven years of age. He says himself: “I was left a poor orphan, and +had nothing to depend on but the providence of God.” He was first +employed as a shepherd, and afterwards as a pedlar. But before he was +twenty years of age, he had taught himself Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. +For some time he discharged the functions of a schoolmaster in Kinross, +and in 1748 he entered on the study of divinity in connection with +the Associate Synod――a dissenting body afterwards merged in the United +Presbyterian Church. In 1750 he was appointed minister of the Secession +Church at Haddington, and in 1768 he was elected professor of divinity +under the Associate Synod, discharging the duties of this office for a +period of twenty years. + + ¹ Born in 1722, died in 1787. + +His chief works are a _Dictionary of the Bible_, published in 1769, and +his _Self-Interpreting Bible_ which appeared in 1778; _General History +of the Christian Church_, in 1771; _A Compendious View of Natural and +Revealed Religion_; _Harmony of Scripture Prophecies_, and many other +short religious and devotional treatises. The two first-named works +were long popular, and are so still among some sections of Christians. + +A grandson of the preceding divine, Dr. John Brown,¹ attained +distinction as a minister and a professor of the Secession Church and +as a biblical expositor. In 1806 he was appointed minister of a church +at Biggar, but in 1822 he was called to Edinburgh, where he became +professor of pastoral and exegetical theology in connection with the +Associated Synod. As a preacher and lecturer he was masterly, at once +vigorous, manly, warm, and exceedingly pathetic, and always rivetted +the attention of his hearers. + + ¹ Born in 1784, died in 1858. The religious writings of Dr. + James Fordyce, Dr. John Drysdale, and Dr. Robert Walker, + were of some note, and widely read in their day. + +He is the author of various theological works, amongst which may be +mentioned his _Expository Discourses on the Epistles of St. Peter_, the +_Epistle to the Galatians_, and the _Epistle to the Romans_. In 1860 +Dr. Cairns published a _Life of Dr. Brown_, to which Dr. Brown’s own +son, John Brown, M.D., added some very interesting particulars, which +appeared in _Horæ Subsecivæ_ in 1861. + +Dr. Henry Hunter was born at Culross, Fifeshire, in 1741. He was +educated at the University of Edinburgh, licensed to preach in 1764, +and in 1766 appointed one of the ministers of Leith. In 1769 he visited +London, preached in several of the Scottish meeting-houses, where his +sermons attracted much attention. Soon after he received an invitation +to become minister of the congregation in Swallow Street, London, which +he declined. In 1771, however, he accepted a call from the London Wall +congregation, and removed to his new field of labour. This congregation +became warmly attached to him. He was also appointed chaplain to the +Scottish Corporation in London; and in 1790 he became secretary to the +Corresponding Board of the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge +in the Highlands, and to both institutions he rendered important +service. + +In 1783 the first volume of his _History of the Patriarchs and of +Jesus Christ_ appeared, which was extended to seven volumes. This work +had reached a seventh edition in 1814. He published two volumes of his +sermons, and _Lectures on the Evidence of Christianity_ in one volume. +He also attained some distinction as a translator of French and German +works. He commenced the publication of a popular _History of London +and its Environs_, which he did not live to complete. Dr. Hunter +was a genial and benevolent man, and his social characteristics and +conversation were much esteemed. He died in 1802. + +Dr. William L. Brown, a son of the Rev. William Brown, was born at +Utrecht on the 7th of January, 1755, where his father was then minister +of the Scottish Church; but in 1757 his father was appointed Professor +of Ecclesiastical History in the University of St. Andrews, and he +returned to Scotland and assumed the duties of the chair. Although +young Brown was sent to the Grammar School, he mainly received his +early education from his father at home. At the age of twelve he +entered the University of St. Andrews, where he studied seven years. +In 1778 he was elected minister of the Scottish church at Utrecht. +He discharged his pastoral functions with zeal and credit; but trying +times were approaching. In 1787 he was appointed Professor of Moral +Philosophy and Ecclesiastical History in the University of Utrecht. His +“Essay on the Natural Equality of Men, the Rights that result from it, +and the Duties which it imposes,” was published at Edinburgh in 1793, +and the following year reprinted at London. It attracted considerable +attention, and may be characterised as a discriminative discussion of +the subject. Brown resided at Utrecht, and continued to discharge his +professorial duties till the invading French army approached, when, +in January, 1795, he embarked with his family in an open boat and +landed in England. On returning to Scotland in the summer of 1795 he +was appointed Professor of Divinity in Marischal College, Aberdeen, +and a few months later he was made Principal of the College. He entered +on his functions at the opening of the ensuing session, and delivered +an elaborate course of theological lectures. He held the offices of +Professor and Principal until his death, which occurred on the 11th of +May, 1830, in the seventy-sixth year of his age. + +Besides the Essay mentioned above, he wrote pamphlets on the +Revolutionary War with France, which were published in 1795‒98. A +volume of his sermons appeared in 1803. His important _Essay on the +Existence of a Supreme Creator_ was published in 1816 in two volumes, +and gained the first Burnett prize of £1250; the second prize was +awarded to Dr. Summers, Bishop of Chester. His other large work――_A +Comparative View of Christianity and of Other Forms of Religion which +have existed in the World_――was published in 1826 in two volumes. This +work evinced great research, and it is composed in a clear and calm +style. + +Dr. George Hill, principal of St. Mary’s College, St. Andrews, one +of the leaders of the moderate party of the Church, is the author of +_Lectures on Divinity_, which were published after his death, by his +son, Dr. Alexander Hill. They are chiefly remarkable for clearness in +the statement of doctrines, and candour in representing the views of +opponents. + +Dr. Andrew Thomson¹ was a vigorous and able minister of the Scottish +Church. He was first appointed minister of Sprouston, in the +presbytery of Kelso; afterward of the East Church in Perth; and +finally of St. George’s Church in Edinburgh. In 1810 _The Scottish +Christian Instructor_ appeared under his editorship, and it exercised +a considerable influence on Scotch ecclesiastical questions. In the +General Assembly he was a strong, an able, and a vehement debater, +and an unsparing opponent in controversy. He was the author of various +sermons and lectures. + + ¹ Born in 1779; died in 1831. + +Dr. Thomas Chalmers¹ was the most distinguished of the Scottish divines +of the first half of the present century. He was a native of Anstruther, +in Fife; his father was a merchant there, and Thomas was sent at the +age of twelve to the University of St. Andrews. Thus he received little +preparatory grounding in his education, which may account for his lack +of critical power as a scholar. Having finished his studies for the +Church in 1803, he was appointed minister of Kilmany, a country parish +in his native county. In this place his energy soon manifested itself; +he lectured on chemistry in the towns of his district; he joined a +volunteer corps; he wrote a book on the resources of the country, +and pamphlets on some of the topics of the day. When the _Edinburgh +Encyclopædia_ was projected, he was asked to be a contributor, and +engaged to write the article “Christianity.” + + ¹ Full and interesting details of Dr. Chalmers are given in + Dr. Hanna’s Memoirs of him. + +In 1815 Dr. Chalmers removed from Kilmany to the Tron Church in Glasgow, +and, in 1819, to St. John’s. In this city he worked incessantly, and +his fame rose rapidly. Yet it was said by competent eye-witnesses that +his appearance and manner in the pulpit were ♦not prepossessing; he +read his sermons and adhered closely to paper. But his power lay in the +intensity and earnestness, the vehement and concentrated glow of his +mind, throwing out his native eloquence like the blasts of a furnace.¹ +Chalmers worked hard for the benefit of his congregation, and struggled +to the utmost to excavate the practical heathenism of the city. + + ♦ extraneous word “his” removed + + ¹ A writer in the _London Magazine_ gives an interesting + account of Dr. Chalmers’ appearance in London:――When he + visited London, the hold that he took on the minds of men + was unprecedented. It was a time of strong political feeling; + but even that was unheeded, and all parties thronged to + hear the Scottish preacher. The very best judges were not + prepared for the display that they heard. Channing and + Wilberforce went together, and got into a pew near the door. + The elder in attendance stood close by the pew. Chalmers + began in his usual unpromising way, by stating a few nearly + self-evident propositions neither in the choicest language + nor in the most impressive voice. “If this be all,” said + Channing to his companion, “it will never do.” Chalmers went + on――the shuffling of the congregation gradually subsided. + He got into the mass of his subject; his weakness became + strength, his hesitation was turned into energy, and, + bringing the whole volume of his mind to bear upon it, he + poured forth a torrent of the most close and conclusive + argument, brilliant with all the exuberance of an + imagination which ranged over all nature for illustrations, + and yet managed and applied each of them with the same + unerring dexterity, as if that single one had been the study + of a whole life. “The tartan beats us,” said Mr. Channing, + “we have no preaching like that in England.” + + His style became the rage among the young preachers in + Scotland, but few of them could do more than copy his + defects. His glowing energy, enthusiasm, and powerful mind + were wanting. + +In 1823 Dr. Chalmers was appointed professor of moral philosophy in +the United College of St. Andrews; and in 1828 he was elected to the +chair of divinity in the University of Edinburgh. A description of his +inaugural address in the divinity chair in Edinburgh has been preserved, +of which the following is a part:――“As to his discourse, all felt +far more deeply than they could worthily declare, that it was a most +glorious prelude, and that at once and for ever his right to reign as +king in the broad realms of theological science, and to rule over their +own individual minds as a teacher, was as unequivocal as his mastery +over a popular assembly.”¹ He relinquished this chair in 1843, when he +seceded from the Established Church. + + ¹ One of his pupils, Professor Masson, has stated that + Chalmers’ course in theology was “really a course of + Chalmers himself, and of Chalmers in all his characters. + The students were carried through the whole circle of + Chalmers’ favourite ideas.”――_Macmillan’s Magazine_, + Volume XI., page 127. + +Dr. Chalmers’ collected works, published in his lifetime, extended to +twenty-five volumes, and treat on a wide range of subjects――natural +theology, evidences of Christianity, moral philosophy, commercial and +astronomical discourses, sermons, church and college endowments, church +extension, political economy, etc. After his death nine more volumes, +edited by Dr. Hanna, were added to his works, thus bringing his +collected writings up to thirty-four volumes. + +The chief characteristics of Chalmers’ writings are energy and +earnestness, and a great variety of illustration. His knowledge was +comprehensive, embracing science as well as a wide circle of literature. +He also had an unusually accurate appreciation of the mind, habits, +feelings, and the daily life of the Scottish people, which was one, +if not the chief, source of his power and influence. In method and +in style his writings are defective. His favourite mode of exposition +is to present his main theme, idea, or subject in an almost endless +variety of forms and different points of view, with the aim of +impressing it on the mind of his hearers. He was a man of great +sagacity, a real genius; and the work which he accomplished is a +monument of his noble faculties, admirably directed for the good of +his fellowmen. + +Dr. Ralph Wardlaw,¹ a minister of the Independent Church in Glasgow, +was the author of _Discourses on the Socinian Controversy_, which +appeared in 1814, and have often been reprinted. He also published a +number of sermons and theological essays. He was an able divine and +an impressive preacher, and worked hard for the moral and spiritual +welfare of Glasgow.² + + ¹ Born in 1779, died 1853. + + ² Macgeorge’s _History of Glasgow_, page 454, 1881. A life of + Dr. Wardlaw was published by Dr. W. L. Alexander in 1856. + +Dr. R. T. Candlish¹ was one of the ministers of Edinburgh who seceded +from the Established Church in 1843. He was a vigorous and influential +member of the Free Church, and a ready and able debater in Church +courts. He is the author of the following theological works――1. +_Exposition of the Book of Genesis_, 1852; 2. _Discourses on the +Resurrection_, 1858; 3. _Examination of Mr. Maurice’s Theological +Essays_, and other treatises. His intellect was keen and acute, and +he showed considerable research and industry. + + ¹ Born in 1803, died in 1873. + +Dr. John Cumming,¹ a native of Aberdeenshire, early distinguished +himself by his vehement speeches against Popery, and by his peculiar +interpretation of the Scriptures touching the duration of the world, +and the winding up of the present dispensation. He is the author of a +large number of religious books which, to a certain class of readers, +are very attractive. Dr. Cumming for many years preached and ministered +to a large congregation in London. + + ¹ Born in 1809. + +Dr. Thomas Guthrie¹ was the son of a banker in Brechin. He was educated +for the Church, and after a pretty long period of probation, waiting +for a presentation to a vacant church, he was appointed minister of +the parish of Arbirlot, in the Presbytery of Arbroath. In 1837 he was +appointed one of the ministers of Old Greyfriars parish in Edinburgh, +and by his energy and philanthropy attained a high position in the +public estimation. He left the Establishment in 1843, and became one +of the active founders of the Free Church. + + ¹ Born in 1803, died in 1873. + +His untiring efforts to reclaim the wretched population of the worst +parts of Edinburgh, and his great exertions in the promotion of ragged +schools, are well known, and were highly appreciated by the public. +He was a kind and warm-hearted man, and inspired with a real catholic +spirit. As a pulpit orator he was great; his sermons glowed with poetic +imagery and illustration, striking, pathetic, and highly impressive, +and to which his tall and commanding person, powerful, clear, and +musical voice, aided in producing a marked effect upon his hearers. + +His chief works are――1. _The Gospel in Ezekiel_, published in 1855; +2. _Christ and the Inheritance of the Saints_, 1858; 3. _The Way to +Life_, 1862; 4. _The City, its Sins and Sorrows_; 5. _Pleas for Ragged +Schools_; 6. _Saving Knowledge, addressed to Young Men_, and several +other short religious treatises, and tracts on intemperance. These +writings are all marked by the distinguishing characteristics of the +man himself――Scripture truth, wide and warm sympathies, elevated and +generous sentiments, but showing little indication of the logical or +critical faculty. + +Dr. Norman Macleod¹ was descended from a family of Highland clergymen; +his grandfather was minister of Morven, and his own father was minister +of Campsie, in Stirlingshire. Norman was educated at the Universities +of Glasgow and Edinburgh, in which he attained no marked distinction. +For a short time he acted as tutor to the son of a Yorkshire gentleman, +with whom he visited Weimar, and in that little capital Macleod enjoyed +himself amazingly. + + ¹ Born in 1812, died in 1872. + +His first charge was Loudon, in Ayrshire, a district at that time +inhabited by a small portion of Covenanting farmers and a large +number of political weavers. With both these parties he soon had +his difficulties. The Covenanting theologians examined him on the +“fundamentals,” and the weavers scoffed at religion, and keenly +disputed his political opinions. “When visiting one well-known Chartist, +he was requested to sit down on a bench at the front door, and discuss +the ‘seven points.’ The weaver, with his shirt sleeves turned up, +his apron rolled about his waist, and his snuff mull in his hand, +vigorously propounded his favourite political doctrines. + +“When he had concluded, he turned to the minister and demanded an +answer, and Norman replied thus:――‘In my opinion your principles would +drive the country into revolution, and create in the long-run national +bankruptcy.’ ‘Nay-tion-al bankruptcy,’ said the old man meditatively, +and diving for a pinch, ‘Div-ye-think-sae;’ then briskly, after a long +snuff, ‘Dod, I’d risk it.’” + +But the warm heart and kind manner of the young minister softened down +all opposition. In 1843 he was presented to the parish of Dalkeith; +and in 1851 he was appointed to the Barony parish of Glasgow, in which +he continued to labour till his death. He took an active interest in +the affairs of this great city, in church extension, and educational +matters. A monument in the form of a statue was erected to his memory +in the vicinity of the church in which he ministered, by the citizens +of Glasgow.¹ + + ¹ Macgeorge’s _History of Glasgow_, pages 478‒479. + +His first literary effort was a volume entitled _The Earnest Student_, +an account of his brother-in-law, John Mackintosh. He was editor +of _Good Words_, a monthly periodical projected by Mr. Strahan the +publisher, from 1860 till his death, and to its pages he contributed +his stories, “The Old Lieutenant,” “The Highland Parish,” “The +Starling,” etc. These and his _Travels in the East_ are interesting +and pleasant reading. He was more a man of action than a thinker. +His efforts were directed to promote the good of mankind, and he was +equally popular with the Court, the aristocracy, and the inmates of the +darkest abodes of Glasgow. + +The Rev. Dr. John Eadie¹ was a native of Alva, in Stirlingshire, and +by his earnest efforts and industry, rose to distinction as a biblical +scholar. He was an assiduous and successful student, and in his +twenty-first year he was inducted pastor of the Cambridge Street U.P. +Church in Glasgow. After preaching there for a quarter of a century, +he removed with his congregation to a more spacious church on the +Great Western Road, at Kelvin Bridge, which was erected at a cost of +£12,000.² + + ¹ Born 1813, died in 1876. + + ² Macgeorge’s _History of Glasgow_, pages 479‒480. + +He was the author of many works, amongst which are:――1. _An Analytical +Concordance of the Holy Scriptures_; 2. _Biblical Encyclopædia_; 3. +_Commentaries on the Greek Texts of the Epistles of St. Paul to the +Colossians, Ephesians, and Philippians_; 4. _Early Oriental History_; +5. _History of the English Bible_; 6. _Ecclesiastical Cyclopædia of +Antiquities_, etc. + +The Rev. Robert Buchanan¹ was an eminent Free Church minister. He +was educated at the University of Glasgow, and is the author of the +well-known work, _The Ten Years’ Conflict, an Exposition of the Causes +of the Disruption_. He was a man of remarkable business abilities, and +one of the chief organisers of the Free Church. + + ¹ Born in 1802, and died in 1875. + +Dr. John Tulloch, Principal of St. Mary’s College, St. Andrews, +was born in 1822 and died in 1885. He is the author of a number of +interesting works. His first important effort was his treatise on +Theism, for which he received one of the Burnett prizes in 1855. +His other works are:――1. _Leaders of the Reformation, or Sketches of +Luther, Calvin, Latimer, and Knox_, which appeared in 1859: 2. _English +Puritanism and its Leaders, Cromwell, Milton, Baxter, and Bunyan_, +1861; 3. _Beginning Life, Chapters for Young Men_, 1862; 4. _The Christ +of the Gospels and the Christ of Modern Criticism_, 1864; 5. _Studies +in the Religious Thought of England_, 1867; 6. _Rational Theology +and Christian Philosophy of England in the Seventeenth Century_, two +volumes, 1872; 7. _The Christian Doctrine of Sin_, 1876; 8. _Some Facts +of Religion and of Life_, 1877; 9. _Modern Theories in Philosophy and +Religion_.¹ + + ¹ Dr. Tulloch contemplated writing the history of modern + Scotland, but I fear that he has not left it in a complete + form. In 1877 he himself informed me of his purpose to write + such a work, and said that he had then made some progress in + preparing materials for it, but complained with some feeling + of the difficulty of finding the requisite materials. + +He was for several years editor of _Fraser’s Magazine_, and enriched +its pages with various critical and literary articles. His style is +clear, easy, polished, and flowing. In describing individual men, +their writings, opinions, and views, his expression is often very +fine and happy. He was a highly-cultured and accomplished man, with +a well-balanced mind, though his analytic powers were not remarkable. + +Dr. Tulloch was liberal minded, and took an active part in the +proceedings of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. He had +the reputation of being a good public speaker, and his last speech +in the General Assembly was one of his greatest oratorical efforts. +He frequently delivered public lectures to literary societies and +institutions. + +William Milligan, the son of a Scottish minister, was born in Edinburgh +on the 15th of March, 1821. He was educated at the High School of +Edinburgh and the parish school of Kilconquhar, in Fifeshire, and +entered the University of St. Andrews in 1835. He graduated in Arts in +1839; and subsequently studied divinity at St. Andrews and Edinburgh. +In 1844 he was appointed minister of the parish of Cameron, in +Fifeshire, in which he earnestly discharged his pastoral functions and +duties for sixteen years. He was appointed to the Chair of Divinity and +Biblical Criticism in the University of Aberdeen in 1860. He entered +with much energy upon the work assigned to his chair, and proved an +able and successful professor. For many years he took an active part in +the work of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. In 1875 he +was appointed ♦Deputy Clerk of Assembly, and on the death of Principal +Tulloch in 1886 he was appointed Chief Clerk of Assembly. As a citizen +of Aberdeen, he took a warm interest in everything calculated to +improve the social state and promote the happiness of the community. +For six years he was a member of the Aberdeen School Board, and three +years its Chairman. In short, he was ever ready to advocate any humane +and beneficent movement. In July, 1893, he resigned his Chair in the +University, intending to reside in Edinburgh during the evening of his +days. Before leaving Aberdeen he had a serious illness. In the middle +of October he removed to Edinburgh with his family, but his strength +was failing. He died, with his beloved wife and his children around him, +on the 11th of December, 1893. + + ♦ “Depute” replaced with “Deputy” + +His contributions to religious literature were considerable and +important. In 1855‒58 he contributed a number of articles on New +Testament subjects to Kitto’s _Journal of Sacred Literature_. In +1864‒66 he contributed articles to the _Imperial Bible Dictionary_, +and subsequently many religious articles to the _Contemporary Review_ +and to other reviews and magazines. He was appointed Croall Lecturer +for 1879‒80, and delivered his lectures in Edinburgh on the subject of +“The Resurrection of our Lord.” In 1881 the lectures were published in +a volume, with notes. He has treated this important and very difficult +subject with rare insight, much ability, and earnestness. It is an +interesting book, and has had a wide circulation. His first course of +Baird Lectures on the _Revelation of St. John_ were published in 1886, +and has reached a third edition. His second course of Baird Lectures on +_The Ascension and Heavenly Priesthood of our Lord_ were issued in 1892, +and attracted notice. Dr. Milligan’s writings have had a considerable +influence in religious circles. + +William Robertson Smith was born on the 8th of November, 1846, at +the Free Church manse of Keig, Aberdeenshire, where his father was +minister. He was mainly educated by his father at home, and entering +the University of Aberdeen in 1861, had a very distinguished university +career. He gained the Fullerton Scholarship for mathematics and natural +philosophy. He studied theology at the Free Church College, Edinburgh, +and subsequently studied for some time at the Universities of Bonn and +Göttingen. In 1870 he was appointed Professor of Oriental Languages +in the Free Church College at Aberdeen, proving himself an excellent +teacher. His admirable historic criticism and expositions of the Old +Testament were deemed too advanced for the time, and brought him into +conflict with the courts of the Free Church. His struggle for freedom +in Biblical criticism was protracted, and at times very vehement. +Though young in years, he defended his views and conclusions with rare +and astonishing ability. His grasp of thought, readiness in debate, +candour and earnestness, were conspicuous throughout the conflict. +Indeed, he achieved a great victory for freedom of thought, though he +had to vacate his chair in the College in 1880. + +Shortly after his removal from this position, he was appointed +joint-editor with Professor Spencer Baynes of the _Encyclopædia +Britannica_, and after Baynes’ death he became sole editor. In 1883 he +was appointed Lord Almoner’s Reader in Arabic at Cambridge University. +In 1886 he was elected Librarian of the University; and in 1889 was +appointed to the Sir Thomas Adam’s Professorship of Arabic at Cambridge. +He received the degrees of LL.D. from the University of Aberdeen in +1882; and was appointed Burnett Lecturer in the University in 1888. +Between 1888 and 1891 he delivered three courses of lectures on “The +Primitive Religion of the Shemitic Peoples viewed in their relation +to other ancient Religions and to the spiritual religion of the Old +Testament and Christianity.” For several years he had been suffering +from ill-health, yet was always courageous and hopeful, and continued +to work assiduously. He died at Cambridge on the 31st of March, 1894. + +His principal writings consist of a series of important articles +contributed to the _Encyclopædia Britannica_ on Biblical subjects, +embracing “Angel,” “Bible,” “Canticles,” “Chronicles,” “Haggai,” +“Hebrew Language and Literature,” and other articles. These created +much alarm, and led to proceedings in the Free Church courts, mentioned +before, but they are all excellent specimens of historical criticism +and interpretation. In 1881 his work entitled _The Old Testament in the +Jewish Church, Twelve Lectures on Biblical Criticism_, appeared; the +lectures were delivered to large audiences in Edinburgh and Glasgow. +In his preface to the work he says――“It is of the first importance that +the reader should realise that Biblical criticism is not the invention +of modern scholars but the legitimate interpretation of historical +facts.... The great value of historical criticism is that it makes +the Bible more real to us.... In all true religion the new rests upon +the old. No one, then, to whom Christianity is a reality, can safely +acquiesce in an unreal conception of the Old Testament history; and, +in an age when all are interested in historical research, no apologetic +can prevent thoughtful minds from drifting from faith if the historical +study of the Old Testament is condemned by the Church and left in the +hands of unbelievers.” This work shows evidence of wide and careful +research, accurate knowledge, and rare discrimination. His work on +_Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia_ was published in 1885, and +it is marked by his characteristic faculty of handling historical +subjects. The first series of his Burnett Lectures on the _Religion +of the Semites_ was published in 1889, and is a very remarkable work. +His historical method was thorough, embracing a search for everything +relating to the subject. His keen insight, and faculty of digesting +and explicating the customs and characteristics of early religions, +were marvellous. His mind was vigorous and intently active, and his +acquired knowledge vast and varied. The result of his supreme efforts +for freedom of Biblical criticism has been remarkable. + +There are a considerable number of periodical publications devoted to +religious literature which are pretty widely circulated in Scotland. +Fiction of a religious turn and character has also been freely produced +and circulated during the present generation. In short, religious +literature, both in its higher and lower departments, has undergone a +marked change and improvement within the present century. In the higher +department of religious thought, and the historical criticism and +exposition of the Scriptures, there has been a revolution in Scotland; +the freedom of inquiry and the latitude of statement of doctrine and +opinion which now prevails would not have been permitted or tolerated +half a century ago. + + + SECTION II. + + _Miscellaneous Literature of the Eighteenth + and Nineteenth Centuries._ + +Dr. John Arbuthnot¹ was a native of a place of the same name in +Kincardineshire. He was educated at the University of Aberdeen; and +having studied medicine, he went to London, where he attained some +reputation as an author and a wit. He became an associate of Pope, +Swift, Gay, and Prior, and was connected with some of the humorous +and comic efforts of the time; they were all Jacobites, and deeply +interested in the success of that party. He wrote an _Examination of +Dr. Woodward’s Account of the Deluge_, and an _Essay on the Usefulness +of Mathematical Learning_. The satirical _Memoirs of the Extraordinary +Life, Works, and Discoveries of Martinus Scriblerus_, which was +published in Pope’s works, it is believed, was chiefly written by +Arbuthnot. The design of this work was to ridicule all the false +tastes in learning, and is a book of rare merit. + + ¹ Born in 1667; died in 1735. + +In 1709, Arbuthnot was appointed physician-in-ordinary to the Queen. +In 1712, his _History of John Bull_ appeared――a monument of wit +and humour. Its main design was to throw ridicule upon the Duke of +Marlborough, and render the nation discontented with the French war. +The allegory in this performance is admirably sustained, and the +satirical allusions stinging and happy. The following is from _John +Bull_――that is, the English; Nic Frog is the Dutch, and Hocus the Duke +of Marlborough:―― + +“For the better understanding the following history, the reader ought +to know that Bull, in the main, was an honest, plain-dealing fellow, +choleric, bold, and of a very inconstant temper; he dreaded not old +Lewis either at backsword, single falchion, or cudgel-play; but then +he was very apt to quarrel with his best friends, especially if they +pretended to govern him; if you flattered him, you might lead him like +a child. John’s temper depended very much upon the air; his spirits +rose and fell with the weather-glass. John was quick, and understood +his business very well; but no man was more careless in looking into +his accounts, or more cheated by partners, apprentices, and servants. +This was occasioned by his being a boon companion, loving his bottle +and his diversion; for to say truth, no man kept a better house than +John, nor spent his money more generously. By plain and fair dealing, +John had acquired some plums, and might have kept them, had it not been +for his unhappy law-suit. + +“Nic Frog was a cunning, sly rogue, quite the reverse of John in many +particulars: covetous, frugal; minded domestic affairs; would pinch his +belly to save his pockets; never lost a farthing by careless servants +or bad debtors. He did not care much for any sort of diversions, except +tricks of high German artists, and legerdemain; no man exceeded Nic in +these; yet it must be owned that Nic was a fair dealer, and in that way +acquired immense riches. + +“Hocus was an old cunning attorney; and though this was the first +considerable suit that ever he was engaged in, he showed himself +superior in address to most of his profession; he kept always good +clerks: he loved money, was smooth tongued, gave good words, and seldom +lost his temper; he was not worse than an infidel, for he provided +plentifully for his family; but he loved himself better than them all; +the neighbours reported that he was henpecked, which was impossible by +such a mild-spirited woman as his wife was. + +“Law is a bottomless pit; it is a cormorant, a harpy that devours +everything. John Bull was flattered by the lawyers that his suit would +not last above a year or two at most; that before that time he would be +in quiet possession of his business; yet ten long years did Hocus steer +his course through all the meanders of the law, and all the courts. No +skill, no address was wanting; and, to say truth, John did not starve +his cause; there wanted not yellow-boys to fee counsel, hire witnesses, +and bribe juries. Lord Strutt was generally cast, never had one verdict +in his favour; and John was promised that the next, and next, would be +the final determination. But, alas! that final determination and happy +conclusion was like an enchanted island――the nearer John came to it, +the further it went from him.” + +He issued several other satirical pieces, one called the _Art of +Political Lying_, and his _Treatise concerning the Altercation or +Scolding of the Ancients_. His serious works consist of dissertations +on ancient coins, weights, and measures, and some books on medical +subjects. He was a cultured and accomplished man, and a real genius +and wit in his way. + +Henry Home, Lord Kames,¹ was a native of the county of Berwick; he +was descended from an ancient family. Educated at home under a private +tutor, and having chosen the profession of law, he was called to the +Scottish bar in 1734. For a number of years he directed his attention +to his profession, and to the composition of treatises connected with +it. In 1752 he was raised to the bench, and assumed the title of Lord +Kames. He became one of the distinguished members of the literary +circles of Edinburgh, and a warm and generous patron of literature, +and of every public movement calculated to promote the prosperity and +civilisation of the nation. He was a man of great energy and ability, +and perhaps no man ever more earnestly desired and endeavoured to +advance the prosperity and happiness of his countrymen than this +Scottish judge of the eighteenth century.² + + ¹ Born in 1696, and died in 1782. A very full and appreciative + _Account of the Life and Writings of Lord Kames_ was written + by Alexander F. Tytler of Woodhouselee, and published in + 1807 in two large volumes. + + ² Dr. Reid, who knew Kames well, says:――“It is difficult + to say whether that worthy man was more eminent in active + life or in speculation. Very rare, surely, have been the + instances where the talents for both were united in so + eminent a degree.... His private virtues and public spirit, + his assiduity through a long and laborious life in many + honourable public offices with which he was entrusted, and + his zeal to encourage and promote everything that tended + to the improvement of his country, in laws, literature, + commerce, manufactures, and agriculture, are best known to + his friends and contemporaries.” + +His writings are:――1. _Essays upon several Subjects in Law_, published +in 1733; 2. _The Decisions of the Court of Session from its institution +to the present time, abridged and digested in the form of a Dictionary_, +in two volumes, 1741; 3. _Essays on British Antiquities_ (on legal +and constitutional subjects), 1747; 4. _Essays on the Principles of +Morality and Natural Religion_, 1751; 5. _The Statute Law of Scotland +abridged, with Historical Notes_, 1757; 6. _Historical Law Tracts_, +1759; 7. _Principles of Equity_, 1760; 8. _Introduction to the Art of +Thinking_, 1761; 9. _Elements of Criticism_, in three volumes, 1762; +10. _Sketches of the History of Man_, in two volumes, 1774; 11. _The +Gentleman Farmer, being an attempt to improve agriculture by subjecting +it to the test of rational principles_. The mere enunciation of Lord +Kames’ works evinces his energy and industry. + +The most distinctive and important of his works are the _Elements of +Criticism_, and the _Sketches of the History of Man_. Considered as +an attempt to investigate the principles of the fine arts, as results +of the operations of the human mind, his _Elements of Criticism_ +has merits, although it has also many defects. The subject is one of +considerable difficulty, and he was among the first to attempt its +exposition in modern times. His _Sketches of Man_ contains some curious +facts, important hints, and acute reflections on society. Although +style was the object of his attention, yet he never attained this; his +sentences are usually cast in the same mould, with little variety in +their arrangement and form; are generally too short, and when long, +are often involved and faulty in construction. + +James Burnet, Lord Monboddo,¹ was born at Monboddo in Kincardineshire. +He was educated at King’s College, Aberdeen, and studied the civil law +at Groningen. He became an advocate, and attained a good practice in +the Court of Session. He was raised to the bench in 1767. Lord Monboddo +was a man of honour and moral rectitude, but of much eccentricity +of character and singularity of opinions, which appeared both in his +habits and in the views enounced in his writings. + + ¹ Born in 1714, died in 1799. + +He was an ardent admirer of Greek literature, and a warm worshipper of +Homer. As carriages were not used among the ancients, he never deigned +to enter one himself, but performed all his journeys to London and +other places on horseback, for he deemed it a degradation of the real +dignity of man to be dragged at the tail of a horse instead of mounted +upon his back. + +His chief works are:――_Essay on the Origin and Progress of Language_, +published in 1771‒76, in six volumes; and _Ancient Metaphysics_, +which appeared in 1779, in six volumes. In the first-named work, this +sage gravely maintained that men were originally monkeys, and that +in this condition they continued for ages, without speech, reason, or +social affections. He contended that they were gradually improved by +successive revolutions, and asserts that in the Bay of Bengal there +existed a nation of human beings with tails like monkeys, which had +been discovered a hundred and fifty years before by a Swedish skipper. +He maintained that all the moral sentiments and domestic affections +were the result of contrivance, art, and experience, just like +shipbuilding, writing, or any other mechanical invention; thus he was +led to place man, in his natural state, below beavers and seacats, +which he terms social and political animals. Still, on occasion, he +could write good sense, such as this:―― + +“Had we no other desires than those belonging to the animal life, our +imaginations, like those of other animals, would be wholly employed +about the objects of those desires. But we have other desires belonging +to the rational nature, which make our imaginations much more rich +and various than those of the brute creation. And, first, we have the +love of Beauty of every kind, whether in objects visible or audible, +in manners, sentiments, or actions. This love of beauty is congenial +with the rational nature, and whoever is entirely devoid of it hardly +deserves the name of man. But in this, as in other respects, man +differs much from man; for some have the love and taste for beauty in a +very small degree; others, whom Nature has formed of her best clay, and +heaven bestowed on them more than an ordinary portion of the celestial +fire, have it in a very high degree.... If it be the beauty of the +visible kinds which captivates those minds, and if their imaginations +are carried into works, then we have painters, sculptors, and poets, +of an inferior kind, I mean descriptive poets. If it be the beauty +of sounds, then we have musicians. But if the turn of mind be towards +beauties of a higher kind, such as those of sentiments, manners, and +actions, then are produced heroic and tragic poets, painters, sculptors, +and musicians of the highest order, who express in their compositions +what is most sublime and exalted in sentiment and character. The +capacity of performing in these several arts is what we call Genius.”¹ + + ¹ _Ancient Metaphysics_, Volume II., page 265. + +Thomas, Lord Erskine,¹ was the youngest son of the Earl of Buchan. +He had served both in the army and navy, but resigned his commission +and turned to the study of law, being called to the English bar in +his twenty-eighth year. He soon took a foremost place, and some of his +speeches are fine specimens of English forensic oratory. In 1783, he +entered parliament as member for Portsmouth, but his success in the +House of Commons was not remarkable. In 1806, he was appointed Lord +Chancellor, and received the title of Baron Erskine; he only held the +Great Seal for a short time, as he had to retire on the dissolution +of the Whig government in the spring of 1807. In 1817, he published a +political fragment entitled _Armata_, which contains some good remarks +on constitutional law and history. + + ¹ Born in 1750; died in 1823. + +John Stockdale had published a defence of Warren Hastings, written +by the Rev. John Logan, as before mentioned, which it was alleged +contained a libel upon the House of Commons, and Erskine undertook +the defence of Stockdale. The trial took place on the 9th of December, +1789, and the following is a part of Erskine’s speech on the occasion, +and refers to the government of India:―― + +“The unhappy people of India, feeble and effeminate as they are from +the softness of their climate, and subdued and broken as they have +been by the knavery and strength of civilisation, still occasionally +start up in all the vigour and intelligence of insulted nature. To +be governed at all they must be governed by a rod of iron, and our +empire in the East would long since have been lost to Great Britain if +skill and military prowess had not united their efforts to support an +authority which heaven never gave, by means which it can never sanction. + +“Gentlemen, I think I can observe that you are touched with this way +of considering the subject, and I can account for it. I have not been +considering it through the cold medium of books, but have been speaking +of man and his nature, and of human dominion, from what I have seen +of them myself amongst reluctant nations submitting to our authority. +I know what they feel, and how such feelings can alone be suppressed. +I have heard them in my youth from a naked savage in the indignant +character of a prince surrounded by his subjects, addressing the +governor of a British colony, holding a bundle of sticks in his +hand, as the notes of his unlettered eloquence. ‘Who is it,’ said the +jealous ruler over the desert, encroached upon by the restless foot of +English adventure, ‘who is it that causes the river to rise in the high +mountains and empty itself into the ocean? Who is it that causes to +blow the loud winds of winter, and that calms them again in summer? Who +is it that rears up the shade of these lofty forests, and blasts them +with the quick lightning at His pleasure? The same Being who gave to +you a country on the other side of the waters, and gave ours to us; +and by this title we will defend it,’ said the warrior, throwing down +his tomahawk upon the ground, and raising the war-sound of his nation. +These are the feelings of subjugated men all round the globe; and +depend upon it, nothing but fear will control where it is vain to look +for affection.” + +James Boswell¹ was the son of a Scottish judge, and his _Life of Dr. +Johnson_ is too well known to require any particular notice in these +pages. Boswell studied for the bar, but he attached himself to Johnson, +soothing and flattering him, and taking copious notes of his sayings +and conversation. In 1773 he accompanied Johnson on his tour to the +Highlands; and, after the death of the great lexicographer, in 1785 +he published his journal of the tour, giving a record of each day’s +occurrences. In 1791 his _Life of Johnson_ appeared in two volumes; +a second edition was published in 1794, and Boswell was engaged in +preparing a third when he died. Many editions of the work have since +been issued. + + ¹ Born in 1740, died in 1795. + +Dr. James Currie¹ issued his edition of the _Works of Burns_ in 1800 +for the benefit of the poet’s family. The edition was accompanied by a +memoir of the poet, from which subsequent biographers have drawn freely. +Dr. Currie’s edition realised to the family of Burns the sum of £1400. + + ¹ Born in 1756, died in 1805. + +Lord Jeffrey¹ was a native of Edinburgh, the son of a gentleman +who held the office of depute-clerk in the Court of Session. He was +educated at the High School of Edinburgh, the University of Glasgow, +and Queen’s College, Oxford. After studying law, he was called to the +bar in 1794. For many years his income was small, but being sober and +industrious, he kept himself out of debt. He was a Whig in politics +throughout his career. He was also one of the originators of the +_Edinburgh Review_, the first number of which appeared in October, 1802. +From 1803 to 1829, Jeffrey was editor and sole manager of the _Review_. +In its pages he found ample scope for his political opinions and his +literary and critical faculties. Thus Jeffrey and his accomplished +associates in the _Review_ wielded much political influence throughout +that stirring period; and they also produced memorable effects on +the periodical literature and criticism of the present century. From +the date of the appearance of the _Edinburgh Review_, the standard of +criticism in this country has been gradually rising, and we owe a debt +of gratitude to its originators. + + ¹ Born in 1773, died in 1850. + +In 1820, Jeffrey was elected Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow. +On the occasion of his installation he delivered an elegant and +interesting address to the students, in which he reminded them that +within the walls of this College “he had received by far the most +valuable part of his own education.” In 1829, Jeffrey was unanimously +elected Dean of the Faculty of Advocates; and he then resigned +the editorship of the _Review_. On the formation of Earl Grey’s +administration in 1830, he was appointed Lord Advocate for Scotland, +and sat for a short time in parliament. But, in 1834, he was raised to +the bench, and as Lord Jeffrey, he discharged the functions of a Scotch +judge with marked attention, uprightness, and ability, till the period +of his death. + +The most important of his contributions to the _Edinburgh Review_ were +collected by himself in 1844, and published in four volumes, and since +reprinted in one large volume. His articles and criticisms cover a +wide range of subjects――poetry, elegant literature, moral science, and +the philosophy of life. As a critic he discharged his difficult task +well, with sound judgment and taste, although occasionally, in the +early years of the _Review_, he was rather harsh and severe. In poetic +criticism he sometimes failed to appreciate the genuine merits of his +author. His ethical ideas and sentiments were pure, elevated, and noble. + +I have only space for one short specimen of his style on the +prevailing notion that genius is a source of peculiar unhappiness to +its possessors:――“Men of truly great powers of mind have generally +been cheerful, social, and indulgent; while a tendency to sentimental +whining or fierce intolerance may be ranked among the surest symptoms +of little souls and inferior intellects. In the whole list of our +English poets we can only remember Shenstone and Savage――two, certainly, +of the lowest――who were querulous and discontented. Cowley, indeed, +used to call himself melancholy; but he was not in earnest, and, at any +rate, was full of conceits and affectations, and has nothing to make +us proud of him. Shakespeare, the greatest of them all, was evidently +of a free and joyous temperament, and so was Chaucer, their common +master. The same disposition appears to have predominated in Fletcher, +Jonson, and their great contemporaries. The genius of Milton partook +something of the austerity of the party to which he belonged, and +of the controversies in which he was involved; but even when fallen +on evil days and evil tongues, his spirit seems to have retained its +serenity, as well as its dignity; and in his private life, as well as +in his poetry, the majesty of a high character is tempered with great +sweetness, genial indulgence, and practical wisdom. In the succeeding +age our poets were but too gay; and though we forbear to speak of +living authors, we know enough of them to say with confidence, that to +be miserable or to be hated is not now, any more than heretofore, the +common lot of those who excel.” + +Henry Brougham¹ was a native of Edinburgh, and subsequently known as +Lord Brougham. He was educated at the High School and the University +of Edinburgh; and, after studying for the legal profession, he was +admitted to the Scottish bar, at which he practised for several years. +He was also one of the original writers of the _Edinburgh Review_, to +which he contributed a long series of articles, chiefly to the earlier +numbers. Scotland became too small for him, and he joined the English +bar, entered parliament in 1810, allied himself with the Whig party, +and pushed his career with great energy. He proved a steady friend to +political reform. In 1830, he attained the height of his ambition by +his elevation to the Woolsack, with the title of Lord Brougham and Vaux. +He held the office of Lord Chancellor for four years, and retired with +his party in the autumn of 1834. This ended his official career; but he +afterwards worked hard as a law reformer. + + ¹ Born in 1778, and died in 1868. + +His works are numerous, but none of them can be ranked high, either in +literature, philosophy, or science, in all of which he tried his hand. +His style is loose, heavy, and verbose. His writings are lacking in +clear thinking, and definite conclusions; he always seems to be coming +to close quarters with the subject, but he never comes to it. I think +the best of his works is the one entitled _The British Constitution_, +published in 1861. He occupied the later years of his long life in +writing notices of his _Life and Times_, which were published in 1871, +in three volumes. + +The following quotation is from one of his speeches delivered in the +House of Commons on law reform:――“The course is clear before us; the +race is glorious to run. You have the power of sending your name down +through all times, illustrated by deeds of higher fame, and more useful +import, than ever were done within these walls. You saw the greatest +warrior of the age――conqueror of Italy, humbler of Germany, terror of +the North――saw him account all his matchless victories poor, compared +with the triumph you are now in a condition to win――saw him condemn +the fickleness of fortune, while, in despite of her, he could pronounce +his memorable boast:――‘I shall go down to posterity with my code in my +hand.’ You have vanquished him in the field; strive now to rival him +in the sacred arts of peace! The lustre of the regency will be eclipsed +by the more solid and enduring splendour of the reign. The praise which +false courtiers feigned for our Edwards and Harrys, the Justinians of +that day, will be the just tribute of the wise and good to that monarch +under whose sway so mighty an undertaking shall be accomplished. Of a +truth, the holders of sceptres are most chiefly to be envied for that +they bestow the power of thus conquering and ruling. It was the boast +of Augustus――it formed part of the glare in which the prejudices of +his earlier years were lost――that he found Rome of brick, and left +it of marble; a praise not unworthy of a great prince, and to which +the present also has its claims. But how much nobler will be the +sovereign’s boast, when he shall have it to say that he found law dear +and left it cheap; found it a sealed book, left it a living letter; +found it the patrimony of the rich, left it the inheritance of the +poor; found it the two-edged sword of craft and oppression, left it +the staff of honesty and the shield of innocence.” + +It is recorded that Brougham wrote the peroration of his concluding +speech for the defence of Queen Caroline no fewer than fifteen times +over; yet it is not very impressive. + +Robert Mudie,¹ a native of Forfarshire, was a self-educated man and +a very industrious writer. He was for some time connected with the +London press, and was the author of about ninety volumes on a variety +of subjects. Among these may be named his _Picture of Men and Things in +London_; _Modern Athens, a Sketch of Edinburgh Society_; _The British +Naturalist_; _The Feathered Tribes of Great Britain_, and a series of +volumes on the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the air; _Man, physical, +moral, social, and intellectual_. Although somewhat deficient in taste, +Mudie was an able and vigorous writer. His imaginative and elaborative +faculties were of a high order, and he could throw animation and light +into the driest subjects. + + ¹ Born in 1777, died in 1842. + +Mr. George Combe¹ was by profession a Writer to the Signet in Edinburgh, +but he devoted much of his time and energy to philosophical and +literary pursuits. He was a man highly respected by all who knew him, +and by his writings has attained a wide reputation. He became a popular +expounder of the doctrines of phrenology, which he enforced in a clear +and vigorous style. + + ¹ Born in 1788, died in 1858. + +His chief works are:――1. _Essays on Phrenology_, published in 1819; +2. _The Constitution of Man_, 1828; 3. _System of Phrenology_, 1836; +4. _Phrenology applied to Painting and Sculpture_; 5. _Notes on the +United States of America_, in three volumes, 1841; 6. Pamphlets on +_The Relation between Science and Religion_, on _Capital Punishments_, +on _National Education, The Currency Question, etc._ + +He was a man of great intellectual powers and exceptional abilities. +All his writings are well worth reading, even apart from his special +doctrines of phrenology. His _Constitution of Man_ has been exceedingly +popular, and has passed through many editions――hundreds of thousands of +it having been sold. I have known several of his followers who almost +worshipped him, and placed the most implicit faith in the doctrines of +the _Constitution of Man_. There is no doubt that his writings have had +a considerable influence among certain classes of the people. + +The interesting life of Hugh Miller, the self-taught man of science +and genius, was admirably narrated by himself in his _Schools and +Schoolmasters_. He was a native of Cromarty, born in 1802, and died +in 1856. For the last sixteen years of his life he was editor of +_The Witness_, a twice-a-week paper. He was a geologist, and a man of +great literary talents; very few excel him as a popular expositor of +geology. He had a wide command of expressive and appropriate language, +and his imaginative and elaborative powers were of a high order. His +descriptions of geological strata and fossil remains are illumined by a +vividness of realisation as yet unmatched in this branch of literature. + +His works are:――1. _Scenes and Legends in the North of Scotland, or +the Traditional History of Cromarty_; 2. _The Old Red Sandstone_, +which appeared in 1841; 3. _First Impressions of England and its +People_, 1847; 4. _Footprints of the Creator_, 1850; 5. _My Schools +and Schoolmasters, an Autobiography_, 1854; 6. _The Testimony of the +Rocks_: 7. _The Cruise of the Betsey_, 1858; 8. _Sketch-Book of Popular +Geology, being a series of Lectures delivered before the Philosophical +Institution of Edinburgh_; and 9, two volumes of essays, being a +selection of his articles from the file of _The Witness_. + +His writings were popular, and many editions have been issued. +The following quotation is taken from an article reprinted from +_The Witness_ on “A Five-pound Qualification” (franchise), and it +exemplifies a feature of his style which he often employs effectively, +touching on some striking phase of a different subject to give point +to the one that he intended to discuss. The article has also a special +interest at the present time. + +“When, owing to some deep-seated cause, the general level of a country +is heightened by sudden upheaval, not only is its area extended by an +apparent recession of the sea, but the outline of its coasts is also +very much changed. In places where the land is flat and low, and the +water shallow, it receives accessions of great tracts of new country; +whereas in other places, where high table-lands sink suddenly into the +sea and the water is deep, it is restricted to near its old limits. In +Scotland, for instance, that last upheaval which laid dry the old coast +line added many a rich acre to the links of the Forth and the Carse of +Gowrie, and gave to the country the sites of most of its sea-port towns, +such as Leith and Greenock, Musselburgh, Stonehaven, and Inverness; +whereas along the rocky shores of Aberdeen and Banff, and especially +in Caithness and Orkney, it did little more, save here and there in +a narrow inlet, than reduce by some two or three fathoms the depth of +the sea at the foot of the cliffs. It left the old boundaries just what +they had been. The extension of area which took place in consequence +of the upheaval was partial and local, though in the aggregate it added +not a little to the general value of the country; and this particular +character was altogether a result of the previous form of the surface. +We have witnessed something similar in the effects of those great +upheavals which occasionally take place in the political world. The +Reform Bill effected a wonderful upheaval of this kind. It raised +over the sea-level, in certain districts, vast tracts that had been +previously submerged, while in other districts it left the old limits +unchanged. The high lands of Toryism received no new accession, while +those of Liberalism it greatly enlarged. By elevating the long-buried +heads of the people above water in the character of ten-pound franchise +holders, it strengthened the trading interests or, to carry out our +parallel, gave new standing-room to the trading towns; while the +agricultural interests, located, if we may so speak, on the high +table-lands of the country, remained no broader or stronger than they +had been before. And so, in the great struggle which ensued between +the two interests, the agricultural one went down, and free trade won +the day. Party, in general, was not a little affected by this great +upheaval. The new accessions were chiefly accessions made to the cause +of Liberalism in general; but it did quite as little for hereditary +Whigism as for hereditary Toryism; and either party feel, when in +office, that it has had but the effect of making their position more +precarious and less desirable than of old.... It has thrown them up +nearer than of old to the chill line of perpetual ice and snow, and +exposed them to the dangers of treacherous landslips, and sudden +avalanches. + +“What, let us ask, would be the effect of a still further upheaval +of the political area, that would place the ten-pound franchise in +the position of a second old coast line, by raising a widely-spread +five-pound franchise out of it? To what regions of parties would such +an upheaval add new breadth? In what regions would it leave the present +limits unchanged? What would be its effect, for instance, on the +various parties in Edinburgh?” This was written in the winter of 1856. + +In 1850, a work entitled _The Theory of Human Progression, and Natural +Probability of a Reign of Justice_, was published anonymously, and +dedicated to Victor Cousin, the well-known Eclectic philosopher: +and in the dedication it was enounced that “the truth I endeavour to +inculcate is, that credence rules the world, that credence determines +the condition and fixes the destiny of nations, that true credence must +ever entail with it a correct and beneficial system of society, while +false credence must ever be accompanied by despotism, anarchy, and +wrong――that before a nation can change its condition it must change +its credence; that change of credence will of necessity be accompanied +sooner or later by change of condition; and, consequently, that true +credence, or, in other words, knowledge, is the only means by which man +can work out his well-being and ameliorate his condition on the globe.” +The author, who thus described the object of his work, was Mr. Patrick +E. Dove, a warm-hearted and patriotic Scotsman, who died in Australia +in 1879. + +The work is one of the class now ranked under the term of sociology. +It is an able and well-reasoned effort, and though not often referred +to directly, still it has had a marked influence in forming several +political theories and views of political phenomena since current +in this country. Mr. Dove was gifted with a vigorous mind, of a +philosophic and scientific cast, and keen and generous sympathies. +The principles and ideas of his work are clearly conceived and fairly +elaborated. + +It consists of four chapters, the first of which treats on the +elements of human progression――the matters involved in political +science, liberty, and property; the mode in which men have made laws; +the combination of knowledge and reason, and the use and operation +of this combination. In the second chapter he expounds his theory +of man’s intellectual progression, and treats of the order of the +sciences――their growth, their processes, their dependence, evolution, +and present position; the character and position of political science; +the province and object of political economy; the foundation of +political society; socialism and communism; and many other points. In +the third chapter he advances his theory of man’s practical progression, +and presents an outline of the argument, that there is a natural +probability in favour of the reign of justice; and in support of this +view he reasons from the order of knowledge and science――natural truth, +which becomes divine truth, and from the influence of Christianity; +and illustrates at some length from the practical applications +of science. The fourth chapter presents an historical sketch――an +attempt to apprehend the sentiments of the human mind which have ruled +society, and to appreciate the psychological development of man through +historic manifestations. This was of itself a great and very difficult +undertaking, and notwithstanding his grasp of principles, and his fine +analytic and critical faculties, it is the crudest and the weakest part +of his work. + +In an appendix he presents a classification of the sciences; and though +his work has defects, it is a remarkable effort. I am not aware if Mr. +Dove was one of Sir W. Hamilton’s students, but I find ♦unmistakable +traces of the influence of his psychology in _The Theory of Human +Progression_. + + ♦ “unmistakeable” replaced with “unmistakable” + +As a specimen of his style, and the interest of the subject, I shall +give a quotation touching land:――“The question, then, is, upon what +terms, or according to what system, must the earth be possessed by the +successive generations that succeed each other on the surface of the +globe? The conditions given are――First, that the earth is the common +property of the race; second, that whatever an individual produces by +his own labour is the private property of that individual, and he may +dispose of it as he pleases, provided he does not interfere with his +fellows; third, the earth is the perpetual common property of the race, +and each succeeding generation has a full title to a free earth. One +generation cannot encumber a succeeding generation. + +“And the condition required is, such a system as shall secure to the +successive individuals of the race their share of the common property, +and the opportunity, without interference, of making as much private +property as their skill and enterprise would enable them to make. + +“The actual division of the soil need never be anticipated, nor would +such a division be just, if the divided portions were made the property +legally of individuals, for they could never be so morally. + +“If, then, successive generations of men cannot have their fractional +share of the actual soil, how can the division of the advantages of the +natural earth be effected? + +“By the division of its annual value or rent; that is, by making the +rent of the soil the common property of the nations. That is, as the +taxation is the common property of the State, by taking the whole +of the taxes out of the rents of the soil, and thereby abolishing +all other kinds of taxation whatever. And thus all industry would be +absolutely emancipated from every burden, and every man would reap +such natural reward as his skill, industry, or enterprise rendered +legitimately his, according to the natural law of free competition. +This we maintain to be the only theory that will satisfy the +requirements of the problem of natural property.”¹ + + ¹ Pages 384, 387. In a note he says:――“We have no hesitation + whatever in predicting that all civilised communities must + ultimately abolish all revenue restrictions on industry, + ♦and draw the whole taxation from the rents of the soil. And + this because the rents of the soil are the common produce of + the whole labour of a community.” + + ♦ “und” replaced with “and” + +Again: “Taxation can only be on land or labour. These are the two +radical elements that can be subjected to taxation, capital being +originally derived from one or the other. Capital is only hoarded +labour or hoarded rent; and as all capital must be derived from the +one source or the other, all taxation of capital is only taxation of +land or labour. Consequently, all taxation of whatever kind is: 1st, +taxation of labour, that is, a deduction from the natural remuneration +which God intended the labourer to derive from his exertions; or, 2nd, +taxation of land, that is, the appropriation of the current value of +the natural earth to the expenses of the State. + +“Now, labour is essentially private property, and land is not +essentially private property, but, on the contrary, is the common +inheritance of every generation of mankind. Where the land is taxed, +no man is taxed, nor does the taxation of land interfere in any way +whatever with the progress of human industry. On the contrary, the +taxation of land, rightly directed, might be made to advance the +condition of the country to a high degree of prosperity.”¹ + + ¹ Pages 389‒390. + +He was excessively fond of generalising, and frequently attempted +it with matters which were not properly prepared for the process; as +suggested in the following paragraph: “But beneath the outward variety +of man’s historic representations, can we not plunge below the surface +and seize some stable element, some scheme, some law, some generalised +fact, some plan or principle on which the drama has been constructed, +some permanent truth that evolves amid all the apparent diversity of +images? Can we not transform the real elements as they appear into some +abstract form that enables us to state them in a rational equation? +Can we not apprehend the essential character of the changes, as well +as their empirical character, and derive instruction for the reason, +as well as materials for the memory and the understanding?” + +His intellect was essentially deductive and logical. He loved to handle +a principle, an idea, or a formula; but his mastery of method and +expository powers were excellent. He is the author of several other +important works, which I can only name: _Elements of Political Science_, +1854; and _Logic of the Christian Faith_, 1856. + +George Gilfillan was born at Comrie, Perthshire, on the 30th January, +1813, where his father was minister of the Scottish Secession Church. +He entered the University of Glasgow at the age of fourteen. After +finishing his course of study in the University, he passed through the +course of training in the Divinity Hall of the Secession Church. He was +licensed to preach the Gospel in April 1835. For some time he passed +from church to church preaching for ministers, or as a candidate in +vacancies. In March 1836, he was ordained minister of the School Wynd +church in Dundee, which was one of the early Secession congregations. +The same year, on the 23rd of November, he married Margaret Valentine, +who proved throughout his life an admirable help-meet. + +He was a stalwart man. His erect figure, and massive head, the bold +lustre of his eyes, and the sharp intellectual expression of his +countenance, at once gave a striking impression of strength. He +was a man of great energy, and marked ability. His intellectual +faculties were naturally strong; yet his analytic power was not very +remarkable. Perhaps, his position and the circumstances of his life +were unfavourable to the development of the analytic side of the mind, +while his feelings, sentiments, and emotions were exceedingly strong, +and his sympathies wide and varied. His mind was impulsive and fervid. +In the pulpit he delivered his sermons with great energy and vehemence, +and soon became a popular preacher. He was also much esteemed as a +popular lecturer, and his service was often solicited in different +quarters of Scotland and beyond it. Between the years 1839‒48 he +delivered some twenty lectures at the Watt Institution in Dundee, +on such varied subjects as “The Relation of Religion to Painting,” +“The Genius of Byron,” “Modern British Literature,” and various other +themes. His popularity increased and extended, and for many years he +was one of the most prominent men of Dundee. + +He had an aspiration for distinction and literary fame. His literary +activity was wonderful, and embraced a wide variety of subjects. Many +of his early efforts first appeared in magazines and newspapers:――In +_Edinburgh University Magazine_, _The Dumfries Herald_, _Hogg’s +Instructor_, _Tait’s Magazine_, _British Quarterly Review_, _Eclectic +Review_, _The Critic_, _The Scottish Review_, and other periodicals; +and at a later stage of his life, he was a large contributor to the +columns of the _Dundee Advertiser_ and the _People’s Friend_. His +papers in the above, were chiefly biographical and critical sketches, +and reviews of books. + +The first portion of his _Gallery of Literary Portraits_ was published +in 1845, the second in 1849, and the third in 1854; and in 1857 the +whole appeared in two volumes. The work consists of biographical and +critical sketches, which in the last edition were arranged under ♦six +divisions thus:――Poets, French Revolutionists, Novelists, Critics, +Miscellaneous Writers, and Sacred Authors. These sketches are vivid +and graphic. His _Bards of the Bible_ appeared in 1850, and was pretty +successful. _The Martyrs, Heroes, and Bards of the Scottish Covenant_ +was published in 1852, and became the most popular of his works. +His _History of a Man_ appeared in 1856. This is a rather singular +book――mainly autobiographical, but also presenting fictitious elements +and sharp criticism. In 1857 his _Christianity and our Era_ was +published. It is a work of considerable power, and presents his views +touching the signs of the “Second Advent of Christ.” His Poem entitled +_Night_, on which he had spent much labour, appeared in 1867. From time +to time he published a considerable number of his lectures and sermons. +He edited a series of the _British Poets_; wrote a _Life of Sir Walter +Scott_, published in 1870; a _Life of the Rev. Dr. William Anderson_ +in 1873; and a _Life of Burns_ for the National Edition of the Poet’s +works, published in 1878. His command of language was copious, and his +descriptive power excellent. His style, however, is very unequal, loose, +and discursive; yet many vivid, striking, and pathetic passages occur +in his writings. His criticism though often telling, and sometimes +stinging, is not of the highest character, for the natural bent of his +mind hardly permitted him to calmly examine evidence, or estimate all +the essential points. + + ♦ “five” replaced with “six” + +Personally, he was a kind-hearted man. He was ever ready to assist +those in whom he saw the buds of genius or talent. His death, which +occurred suddenly on the 13th of August 1878, was mourned as a public +loss to Scotland. + +Dr. John Brown, a son of Professor Brown of the U. P. Church, was +a medical practitioner in Edinburgh. In 1858 he published a volume +entitled _Horæ Subsecivæ_, consisting of essays on Locke and Sydenham; +_Rab and his Friends_, and other papers; and in 1861 he issued a +second series of sketches of a similar character. These volumes are +exceedingly interesting. + +William Minto was born at Nether Auchentoul, in the parish of Alford, +Aberdeenshire, on the 10th of October, 1845. He was educated at the +parish schools of Alford and Tough, and subsequently at the Cordon +Schools in Huntly, under the Rev. John Macdonald, who trained him in +classics. He entered the University of Aberdeen in 1861, where he had +a very distinguished career. In 1865 he graduated with highest honours +in classics, second in mental philosophy, and second in mathematics; +he also gained the Ferguson Scholarship for classics. In the summer of +1866 he went to Merton College, Oxford, and obtained an exhibition of +£80, but he left Oxford in the end of the year and returned to Scotland. +For a short time he acted as assistant to Mr. Thomson, Professor of +Natural Philosophy in the University of Aberdeen, and afterward as +Professor Bain’s assistant in teaching the English class. In 1872 his +volume, entitled _A Manual of English Prose Literature_ appeared, and +the same year he was appointed Examiner in Mental Philosophy in the +University of Aberdeen. + +In 1873 he went to London, obtained an appointment on the staff of the +_Examiner_, and engaged in literary work. The following year he became +editor of this paper, but it ceased to be issued in 1880. Minto then +entered warmly into political writing upon the controversy of the time +for the columns of the _Daily News_ and the _Pall Mall Gazette_. He +worked assiduously. Besides writing for newspapers, his interesting +volume, _Characteristics of English Poets_, was published in 1874, +and his volume on _Defoe_ in the ♦“English Men of Letters” Series +in 1879. He contributed twenty-six articles to the ninth edition of +the _Encyclopædia Britannica_, which are mainly of a biographical +and critical character. He also contributed a considerable number +of articles on various subjects to the _Fortnightly Review_, _The +Nineteenth Century_, _Blackwood’s Magazine_, and other periodicals. + + ♦ ‘“English Men of Letters Series in 1879.”’ replaced with + ‘“English Men of Letters” Series in 1879.’ + +Upon the retirement of Dr. Bain from the Chair of Logic and English +Literature in the University of Aberdeen in 1880, Minto was appointed +his successor. He earnestly devoted attention to the subjects assigned +to his chair, and proved in every respect an excellent teacher. His +manner and tact won the affection of the students, and his faculty +of interesting and instructing them was characteristic and thoroughly +successful. He held the Chair for thirteen years, and took his share in +the business of the Senatus and the University. He took a keen interest +in educational matters, and frequently delivered lectures outside the +University. Under the auspices of the Local Examination Committee of +the Senatus Academicus, he delivered a course of lectures in the Music +Hall of Aberdeen, on “The Literature of the Georgian Era,” in which +he treated the writings of the poets and novelists of the eighteenth +century, and the early part of the nineteenth.¹ + + ¹ These “Lectures” were edited by Professor Knight, with a + biographical introduction, and published in 1894. + +He was always a hard worker. As stated in a preceding chapter, he +wrote three novels. In 1887 he edited a complete edition of Sir Walter +Scott’s _Poems_. He edited the _Autobiographical Notes of the Life of +William B. Scott_ (a painter and writer) which was published in 1892; +and is a work of much interest and value. He had just corrected the +last proofs of his volume on Logic――Inductive and Deductive, before his +death. He had been in weak health for some months and confined to his +house, but his mind continued active and hopeful to the last. He died +on the 1st of March 1893, in the forty-eighth year of his age. + +John Veitch was born in Peebles on the 29th of October, 1829. He +was educated at the University of Edinburgh, where he came under the +influence of Sir William Hamilton, and was a distinguished student. +In 1855 he was appointed assistant to Hamilton; and he held this +post under Professor Campbell Fraser until 1860, when he was elected +Professor of Logic, Rhetoric, and Metaphysics in the University of St. +Andrews. In 1864 he was appointed to the Chair of Logic and Rhetoric +in the University of Glasgow, which he filled with much credit for a +period of thirty years. He died in September 1894. + +His writings cover a varied range of topics. In conjunction with Mr. +H. L. Mansel, he edited Sir William Hamilton’s _Lectures on Metaphysics +and Logic_――an undertaking which entailed much work. He wrote a lengthy +_Memoir of Sir William_, which is the standard work on the subject. His +translation of the _Method, Meditations and Principles of Descartes_, +with an introduction and notes, is a very useful book for students. +His _Essay on Lucretius and the Atomic Theory_ appeared in 1875, and +is a very interesting effort. His _Institutes of Logic_ evince a wide +and accurate historical knowledge of logical doctrine. In his _Knowing +and Being_ published in 1889, he touched on metaphysical problems, and +criticised some of Hegel’s conceptions. His labours, however, in other +branches of literature are perhaps more notable. In 1878 his _History +and Poetry of the Scottish Borders_ appeared, and is a valuable and +interesting contribution to this branch of literature. A second edition +has been issued. His work entitled _The Feeling for Nature in Scottish +Poetry_ published in 1887, is pervaded by fine feeling and an elevated +tone of expression. He had a poetic aspiration and feeling, and wrote +several poems――_The Tweed_, _Merlin_, and others. His mind presented a +characteristic combination of philosophic insight and poetic fervour. + +John Stuart Blackie was born in Glasgow on the 28th of July, 1809. +In 1812 his father, who was a banker, removed to Aberdeen to manage +the branch of the Commercial Bank of Scotland. At the age of twelve +he entered Marischal College, where he attended classes for three +years, and subsequently he studied at Edinburgh University. In 1829 he +proceeded to Germany, and pursued his studies at Göttingen and Berlin, +and finally in Italy. On returning to Scotland, he studied law, and +was called to the Scottish Bar in 1834; but it appears that he never +practiced, his talents were ill-suited for the profession. For some +years he was engaged in writing articles for periodicals. In 1841 he +was appointed to the Chair of Humanity in Marischal College, Aberdeen, +and he ardently devoted his attention to the work. In 1852 he was +appointed Professor of Greek in the University of Edinburgh. He held +this Chair for thirty years, resigning it in 1882. + +Blackie was a man of remarkable talents, and considerable culture +associated with keen feelings and wide sympathies. These were combined +in his peculiar personality with many comic eccentricities, which +sharply distinguished him from all his contemporaries. He was very +energetic outside the University, and delivered popular lectures in +different quarters of the country, which were instructive and always +highly amusing, calling forth applause and roars of laughter. He took a +deep interest in the Highlands, and was a warm friend of the crofters, +advocating their cause with much enthusiasm. It was mainly by his +exertions that a Celtic Chair was established in Edinburgh University. +He died at Edinburgh on the 2nd of March, 1895. + +His energy was great. A noted traveller, he embraced every opportunity +of observing men and things. A most versatile writer, he delivered +his views on many subjects: comprising morals, religion, and political +philosophy, songs, ballads, poetry, Gaelic literature, and translations. +The following include his more important works――A metrical translation +of Goethe’s _Faust_ published in 1834, of which a second edition +with emendations was issued; A translation of the _Lyrical Dramas of +Æschylus in English verse_ published in 1850, in two volumes; _Songs +and Legends of Ancient Greece_ appeared in 1857; _Homer and the Iliad_, +in four volumes, containing a translation of the Iliad in ballad +measure, dissertations and notes, published in 1866. _Four Phases +of Morals_, as represented by Socrates, Aristotle, Christianity, and +Utilitarianism――a series of lectures; _Natural History of Atheism_, +issued in 1877, and intended to be a defence of theism against the +modern tendencies of speculation; _Self-Culture, Intellectual, Physical, +and Moral_. This work was one of his most successful efforts, many +editions of it having been issued both in Britain and America. He +was a great admirer and lover of Scottish songs and ballads, and +was himself a writer of songs and verse. In 1872 his _Lays of the +Highlands_ appeared, in which there is vivid and effective writing, +and considerable artistic combination. His _Songs of Religion and Life_ +was issued in 1876, and shows clearly that he was not a creed-limited +devotee, but rather a worshipper in the great and glorious universe. +_Altavona――Fact and Fiction from my Life in the Highlands_ was +published in 1882, and is an interesting volume. His _Scottish Song: +its wealth, wisdom and social significance_, issued in 1889, is an +excellent book. He wrote a _Life of Burns_, and a number of other works. + +The chief characteristics of Professor Blackie’s style are freshness, +cheerfulness, touches of pathos, comic turns, and wit. His main +philosophical idea was founded upon Aristotle’s doctrine that “all +extremes are wrong.” This was a special feature in his political +opinions. + +In the department of travels and exploration, Scotland has contributed +her share, as the names of Bruce, Mungo Park, Livingstone, and others +testify. + +James Bruce was born at Kinnaird House, in Stirlingshire, in 1730. He +was intended for the legal profession; but he was averse to the irksome +study of law, and commenced business as a wine-merchant in London. +Having visited Spain and Portugal, his attention was attracted to the +architectural ruins and tales of the Moorish dominion; he earnestly +devoted himself to the study of Eastern antiquities and languages. When +he returned to England, it was proposed that he should make a journey +to Barbary, and he was appointed to the consulship of Algiers. He +left England and arrived at Algiers in 1762. Bruce spent six years at +Algiers and in various travels, and having surveyed and sketched the +ruins of Palmyra and Baalbec, he reached Alexandria in 1768. He then +proceeded to Cairo, embarked on the Nile, and arrived at Gondar, the +capital of Abyssinia. After a short stay there, he started for the +sources of Bahr-el-Azrek, under the impression that this was the main +branch of the Nile. At length the spot was pointed out to him by his +guide, a hillock of green sod in the middle of a watery plain. The king +of Abyssinia conferred high personal distinctions on Bruce. Returning +through the great deserts of Nubia to Egypt, he encountered extreme +hardships and dangers from the sand-storms and simoom of the desert. + +After his return home, some parts of the narrative of his travels +reached the public, and were much ridiculed and discredited. Even +the sage Johnson doubted whether Bruce had ever been in Abyssinia! A +complete account of his travels was published in 1790, in five volumes. +But his statements were still deemed a fitting theme for the sneers +and lampoons of the critics and wits of the time; and though Bruce felt +these attacks keenly, he was an honourable and proud-spirited man, and +scorned to reply to such impeachments of his veracity. He died in 1804. + +A second and third edition of his travels were published within eight +years after his death. The general accuracy of his work, and the +correctness of his drawings and maps, have long ago been confirmed from +many different quarters. His style is prolix, but sometimes animated. + +Mungo Park was born at Fowlshiels, in the vicinity of Stirling, in +1771. He studied for the medical profession; and, under the auspices +of the African Association, formed in 1778 for the purpose of promoting +discovery in the interior of Africa, he embarked in May, 1795. On +the 21st of June he arrived at Jillifree, on the banks of the Gambia. +Thence he proceeded towards the kingdom of Bambarra, and there he +saw the chief object of his mission, the river Niger, flowing towards +the east. Park’s narrative of his journey――the various incidents, the +sufferings which he encountered, his captivity among the Moors, and +the manners, customs, and trade of the inhabitants, are all intensely +interesting. He returned to England in the end of the year 1797; and, +in 1799, his travels were published. His style is marked by simplicity, +clearness, and fine moral feeling. + +But his active mind and spirit was not satisfied, and he longed to +renew his travels. He again sailed from England, arriving at Goree +in the end of March, 1805. The expedition, which at first consisted +of forty-five men, but now reduced to seven, was unfortunate. At +Sansanding, he built a boat to continue his voyage down the river, +and entered it on the 17th of November, 1805, resolved to discover the +termination of the Niger or to perish in the attempt. After the party +had sailed several days, on passing a rocky part of the river named +Boussa, the natives attacked them, and Park himself and one of his +companions were drowned while attempting to escape by swimming. His +letters and journals had been sent to Gambia before embarking on the +fatal voyage, and an account of the journey, compiled from these, was +published in 1815. + +The exploration of the interior of Africa long continued to be +an object of adventurous and worthy ambition, and a number of men +have spent the better part of their lives in such undertakings. Our +countryman, David Livingstone, as a missionary and an explorer of +Africa, takes a high rank. He was a man inured to hard labour from +his youth, and his great work in Africa, his noble and well-considered +efforts to enlighten and civilise the natives of the countries which he +visited, are unrivalled in the records of travellers, and will still be +fresh in the minds of many of the present generation. + +Livingstone’s labours in Africa fall naturally into three periods. +The first, extending from 1841 to 1857, in which he worked in Southern +Africa as a missionary, and made various expeditions into the interior +of the country. Having returned home, his _Researches in South +Africa_ were published in 1857, and is a deeply interesting volume. +It describes his long and often perilous journeys, and contains much +original information touching the natives, the geography, botany, and +natural products of Africa. + +The second period extends from 1858 to 1864: early in the former year +he set out on his second important mission. In May he had reached the +mouth of the Zambesi. In January the following year he explored the +river and valley of the Shire, where a white man had never before been +seen. He proceeded up the Shire some two hundred miles, till stopped by +the Murchison Falls. He found the Shire valley fertile and cultivated. +By an overland march of twenty days from Shire, in September, 1860, +he discovered the great lake of Nyassa. He afterwards revisited it, +and concluded that the lake was about two hundred miles long and forty +broad. The country was studded with villages, and the natives of the +Shire and Nyassa valleys had good iron, and were manufacturers as +well as agriculturists. Livingstone returned to England in 1864, and +recorded his explorations in a _Narrative of an Expedition to the +Zambesi and its tributaries, and of the discovery of the lakes Sherwa +and Nyassa_. + +In 1866, Livingstone started on his third and last expedition. In March +he left Zanzibar and struck up the country towards lake Nyassa. For +seven years he bravely prosecuted his travels and labours in Africa, +suffering many hardships and dangers. At last, worn out, he died on the +1st of May, 1873. He had before expressed a wish to die in the still +forest, “and no hand ever disturb my bones.” But so beloved was he when +alive, that his body was rudely embalmed by his faithful followers, and +carried by them hundreds of miles to Zanzibar, whence it was conveyed +to England and interred in Westminster Abbey, on the 18th of April, +1874. Thus lived and died Dr. Livingstone, a man equally remarkable +for his great intelligence and sagacity, his warm-hearted and wide +sympathies, which were admirably exerted for the elevation and good +of the natives of Africa; his bravery, fortitude, and endurance +were wonderful, and his strength of will and perseverance unmatched. +He was the first who called public attention to the suffering and +horrors of the East African slave trade, which he continued to expose +throughout his life; and his whole career was a noble struggle for the +enlightenment, improvement, and civilisation of the natives of Africa. + +Before closing this chapter, it seems requisite to give a brief account +of the rise of newspapers and periodical literature. During Cromwell’s +rule in Scotland there were some reprints of English news published +in Edinburgh; after the Restoration two attempts were made to issue +newspapers, but neither of them continued long. The first regular +Scottish newspaper was the _Edinburgh Gazette_, established in 1699. +The first Glasgow newspaper, called the _Glasgow Courant_, containing +the occurrences both at home and abroad, appeared on the 14th of +November, 1715; it was published thrice a week, but only lived about +seven months. The second newspaper published in Glasgow appeared on +the 20th of July, 1741, under the name of the _Glasgow Journal_, and +it continued to be issued for upwards of half a century. On the 14th +of October, 1745, the first number of the second _Glasgow Courant_ +was issued; and in 1783 the _Glasgow Advertiser_ first appeared.¹ +The _Aberdeen Journal_ appeared in 1748. Newspapers continued slowly +to increase in number till the end of the century; but it is chiefly +within the last fifty years, and especially since the abolition of the +stamp duty in 1855, and the duty on paper in 1861, that the newspaper +press has attained its great development. + + ¹ Macgregor’s _History of Glasgow_, pages 295, 335, 336, 386. + +The class of what may be called literary periodical papers, as +distinguished from newspapers, began to appear in Scotland early in the +eighteenth century. In 1711, a paper of this description was published +in Edinburgh, and continued through thirty weekly numbers, under the +name of _The Tatler_. Soon after this a number of periodical papers +appeared, and disappeared again, but few of them had much merit. _The +Echo_ ran its weekly numbers from 1729 to 1733; _The Review_ appeared +in 1737; and _The Letters of the Critical Club_ in 1738; _The Mirror +and Lounger_, a periodical published in Edinburgh, attained a higher +reputation. In January, 1739, the first number of _The Scots Magazine_ +appeared, and was continued till 1826. It contains a store of events, +facts, interesting pictures of manners, characters, and incidents, +extending over a period of well-nigh a century. + +I have already referred to the establishment of the _Edinburgh Review_, +and the influence which it wielded. _Blackwood’s Magazine_ first +appeared in 1817, and _Tait’s Magazine_ in 1833; and about the latter +date the Messrs. Chambers began to issue their instructive and cheap +periodical publications, many of which attained a wide circulation. +There are now magazines devoted to almost every department of knowledge, +and to nearly every variety of opinion and doctrine; even every party +and interest deem it necessary to be represented in the periodical +press. + +The first edition of the _Encyclopædia Britannica_ was published in +1771, in four volumes, under the editorship of Mr. William Smellie. The +second edition of this work was begun in 1776, and it extended to ten +volumes, embracing biography and history. The third edition, enlarged +to eighteen volumes, was completed in 1797; and which contained many +original treatises on physical science, and able and valuable articles +by Professor Robison, Dr. Doig, and the ingenious editor of the later +volumes――the Rev. Dr. George Gleig. Two supplementary volumes were +afterwards added to the work. The fourth edition, under the editorship +of Dr. James Miller, was finished in 1810, enriched by several +scientific treatises and many valuable articles by William Wallace, +professor of mathematics in the University of Edinburgh. The next two +editions were nearly nominal reprints; but the supplement projected by +Mr. Constable contained contributions from many of the most ♦eminent +writers of the time――Sir Walter Scott, Jeffrey, James Mill, Dr. Thomas +Young, Playfair, Leslie, Mackintosh, Dugald Stewart,¹ M. Arago, M. Biot, +and others. The seventh edition under the editorship of Mr. Napier, +ably assisted by Dr. James Browne, was completed in 1842, in twenty-one +volumes; and contained many new and valuable articles, along with the +supplements mentioned above. The eighth edition of this great national +work was completed in 1861; and the ninth edition, under the editorship +of accomplished and learned gentlemen, was completed in 1888. + + ♦ “emiment” replaced with “eminent” + + ¹ Large sums were paid to some of these writers for their + Dissertations and Articles. Dugald Stewart was to receive + £1000 for his _Dissertation on Metaphysical Philosophy_, + and Playfair for one on the _Progress of Natural Philosophy_ + £500; Stewart actually received £1600, and Playfair would + have received an additional £500 had he lived to complete + his Dissertation. Such large sums had never before been + given for literary work in Scotland. + +The _Edinburgh Encyclopædia_, under the editorship of Sir David +Brewster, was commenced in 1808, and completed in 1830, in eighteen +quarto volumes. The scientific portions of this work are valuable, and +were long highly appreciated. + +The first edition of _Chambers’ Cyclopædia of English Literature_ +was published in 1843; and several revised and enlarged editions have +since been issued, in two large volumes. It is a useful and generally +accurate work. The later editions had the benefit of the extensive +information and the fine literary taste of the late Mr. Robert +Carruthers, of Inverness, who thoroughly revised the whole work. The +Messrs. Chambers have also published an _Encyclopædia_, which is very +highly esteemed as a work of reference. A new and revised edition of +this excellent work has just been completed. + +So much for the modern literature of Scotland. + + + + + CHAPTER XLIV. + + _Progress of Science in the Eighteenth + and Nineteenth Centuries._ + + + SECTION I. + + _Physical Science._ + +IT should be understood that the aim of this chapter is not to present +a history of science, but chiefly to indicate what Scotland has +contributed to the science of the period, and to show the importance of +science as a factor in advancing civilisation. It will, therefore, in +the first place, touch on the significance and progress of mathematical +science; in the second, on physical science, or natural philosophy; +and in the third, on mechanical science, or science in relation to its +practical application. + +From an early period various conceptions of the universe have been +entertained; even Newton’s conception of it and his system founded +on the theory of gravitation are not quite satisfactory. Hence his +followers for a long time mainly occupied themselves in defending and +explaining his system; they were loth to recognise that either his +method or system was susceptible of improvement or extension――they +adhered to his conclusions with extreme tenacity and superstitious +veneration. While, in other parts of Europe, Descartes’ theory of the +universe held the field, the earliest recorded recognition of Newton’s +principles in France was in a memoir by Lonville, which appeared +in a volume of the _Academy of Sciences_ for the year 1720; and the +first French astronomer who ventured on a defence of the theory of +gravitation was Maupertius, in his work on the figures of the celestial +bodies, published in 1732. He compared the theories of Descartes +and Newton, and came to a conclusion in favour of the latter. It was +Voltaire, however, that really diffused a knowledge of Newton’s system +in France, by the publication, in 1738, of his clear exposition of +Newton’s discoveries in optics and astronomy. Henceforth in France the +Newtonian system prevailed over the theory of Descartes. + +The controversy touching the priority of the invention of the calculus +between Newton and Leibnitz was an unfortunate affair, as it arose from +trivial incidents. In short, from the first Leibnitz admitted Newton’s +priority in forming the conception of the calculus; but he maintained, +what was doubtless true, his own originality in the invention of the +differential calculus. This branch of mathematical analysis was not +much advanced by Newton and the English geometers of his time; as +Newton himself was fond of geometrical forms and the synthetical method +of statement. His treatise on _Fluxions_ was not published till after +his death in 1736. When, however, it became known that the differential +calculus was rapidly circulating on the Continent――and so little was +Newton’s method known, that Leibnitz was regarded throughout Europe +as its original inventor――the followers of Newton began to feel that +this impression was unjust towards their great teacher, and hence +the bitterness of the controversy which ensued. The result was a +wide alienation between the English and foreign mathematicians, which +had a pernicious effect on science. “Each party became the exclusive +supporters of the two great luminaries of their respective countries. +The British mathematicians, in particular, adhered with the most rigid +pertinacity to the very letter of Newton’s methods; and were, with few +exceptions, completely ignorant both of the original investigations +of the other party, and of the improvements upon them which were being +rapidly introduced. + +“The difference in name and notation between the two methods, though +in itself a trivial circumstance, was yet far from unimportant in some +of the consequences which may be fairly traced to it. It tended in some +measure to foster and increase the dissension between the two schools, +and their ignorance of each other’s researches; while the diversity +itself between the two methods, though in reality little more than +nominal, became also a topic of no small dispute and controversy. But +much as these differences were on all grounds to be lamented, the loss +in point of scientific advantages, it must with shame be confessed, +were almost entirely on the side of Britain.”¹ + + ¹ Powell’s _History of the Physical and Mathematical Sciences_, + page 363. 1834. + +If we reflect upon the past three centuries and ask what were the most +requisite means of aiding men in their investigation of nature and +the explanation of the phenomena of the universe, the answer must be +mathematical science. In astronomy and in other branches of physical +science, mathematics are indispensable; for as the universe exists in +space and time――the two concepts which encircle all things――so it is +a universal truth, that mathematics are not only the prime requisites +in physical science, but also essential elements in navigation, +engineering, shipbuilding, architecture, and in many other arts. + +In the early part of the eighteenth century Scotland produced one +eminent mathematician――Colin Maclaurin¹――and several others of lesser +note. He was a native of Kilmodan, in Argyleshire, a son of a clergyman, +was educated at the University of Glasgow, and early manifested an +aptness for mathematics. In 1717, before he had attained his twentieth +year, he was elected, after a ten days’ competition, Professor of +Mathematics in Marischal College, Aberdeen; but in 1725, he was +appointed assistant and successor to Dr. Gregory in the Chair of +Mathematics in the University of Edinburgh. It is recorded that he was +an able and successful instructor, and that in his public teaching he +clearly explained the application of his science to purposes of utility +and the perfecting of the mechanical arts.² + + ¹ Born in 1698; died in 1746. + + ² He soon became the leading spirit in the University of + Edinburgh, and the celebrity which the Chair of Mathematics + had attained under the Gregories was admirably sustained + and even extended by him. In the _Scots Magazine_, in + 1741, a full programme of Maclaurin’s courses of academical + instruction is given as follows:――“He gave every year three + courses, and sometimes a fourth, upon such of the ♦abstruse + parts of the science as were not explained in the former + three. The first course contained――Demonstrations of the + ground of Vulgar and Decimal Arithmetic; six books of Euclid; + Plane Trigonometry and use of the tables of Logarithms, + Sines, etc.; Surveying, Fortification, and other practical + parts; the Elements of Algebra; and a lecture on Geography + once a fortnight. + + “The second course consisted of――Algebra; the Theory and + Mensuration of Solids; Spherical Trigonometry, the doctrine + of the Sphere, Dialling, and other practical parts; Conic + Sections, with the theory of Gunnery; the Elements of + Astronomy and Optics. He began the third course with + Perspective; then treated more fully of Astronomy and Optics. + After this he prelected on Sir Isaac Newton’s Principia, and + explained the direct and inverse method of Fluxions. At a + separate hour he gave a course of Experimental Philosophy, + beginning about the middle of December, which continued + thrice every week till the beginning of April; and at proper + hours of the night he described the constellations, and + showed the planets by telescopes of various kinds.” This was + a comprehensive course of teaching. He also exerted himself + to the utmost to provide an Observatory for the instruction + of students in the University of Edinburgh, and would + have been successful but for his early death. Although the + foundation of an Observatory was laid in Edinburgh by the + Town Council and Senatus, on the 25th June, 1776, it was not + until 1834 that the Observatory was rendered available for + the practical instruction of students of the University. + + It has been said that in “Maclaurin’s time the teaching of + mathematics reached a point which it cannot be said to have + yet surpassed.”――Sir A. Grant’s _Story of the University of + Edinburgh_, Volume II., page 299. + + ♦ “abtruse” replaced with “abstruse” + +His works are these:――(1) _Geometrica Organica_; (2) _A Complete +System of Fluxions_; (3) _Treatise on Algebra_; (4) _Account of Sir +Isaac Newton’s Philosophy_; (5) Various elegant and ingenious papers +published in the _Transactions of the Royal Society_; and (6) _A Memoir +on the Tides_. + +In connection with his _Memoir on the Tides_, written in 1740, he +gained equal honour with Euler and Daniel ♦Bernoulli, a famous Italian +mathematician, as the prize of the French Academy of Sciences was +equally divided among them. All the three adopted the principle +of gravitation as the basis on which they attempted to explain the +phenomena of the tides; and the results which they arrived at, presumed +the earth to be at rest and the waters of the ocean also, and at every +moment in a state of equilibrium between the force of gravity tending +to the earth’s centre, and the lesser forces tending towards the sun +and moon. This view is known as the equilibrium theory; and though it +is far from perfect, it correctly indicates a part of the phenomena of +the tides, notwithstanding that the problem of the tides is a dynamical +and not a statical one. Subsequently the important subject of the tides +was treated at great length by Laplace, but unfortunately his tidal +theory was so profound that very few men have ever attempted to master +its difficulties. The late Mr. Airy, the Astronomer Royal, however, +gave to the public a connected and clear view of it.¹ + + ♦ “Bernouilli” replaced with “Bernoulli” + + ¹ Mr. Airy summed up the merits of Laplace’s theory thus:――“If, + putting from our thoughts the details of the investigation, + we consider the general plan and objects, we must allow + it to be one of the most splendid works of the greatest + mathematician of the past age. To appreciate this, the + reader must consider――first, the boldness of the writer + who, having a clear understanding of the gross imperfection + of the methods of his predecessors, had also the courage + deliberately to take up the problem on grounds fundamentally + correct, however it might be limited by suppositions + afterwards introduced; secondly, the general difficulty + of treating the motions of fluids; thirdly, the peculiar + difficulty of treating the motions when the fluids cover + an area which is not plane but convex; and fourthly, the + sagacity of perceiving that it was necessary to consider + the earth as a revolving body, and the skill of directly + introducing this consideration. The last point alone, in + our opinion, gives a greater claim for reputation than the + boasted explanation of the long inequality of Jupiter and + Saturn.”――_Encyclopædia Metroa_, “Tides and Waves,” Article + 117; compare Grant’s _History of Astronomy_, page 71, + _et seq._ + + After Laplace, the theory of the tides has been treated by + Dr. Thomas Young; and Dr. Whewell and Sir John Lubbock were + engaged for many years in determinating the laws of the + tides by observation, and in tracing their connection with + the positions of the sun and moon. The chief results of + their researches were published from time to time in a + series of papers, in the volumes of the _Royal Society_. + +Maclaurin also entered the arena in defence of the Fluxional system, +which was boldly attacked by Berkeley, the famous Idealist, in _The +Analyst_, published in 1734. Berkeley argued that the fundamental +idea of supposing a finite ratio to exist between terms absolutely +evanescent is completely absurd and unintelligible, and with biting +sarcasm called these ratios “the ghosts of departed quantities.” Dr. +Irwin produced a reply, and several others appeared on both sides; +but Maclaurin and Robins made the most satisfactory defence of the +principle of limiting ratios. Still the point was not thoroughly +cleared up, till D’Alembert showed the real application of the +principle of limits in the simplest form; and at last Lagrange, in +his theory of Functions, discarded all idea of infinitesimals and +limits, and reduced the whole to a simple algebraical investigation, +by the development of functions in series. + +Maclaurin’s method and style in the solution of problems were greatly +admired. He showed in his applications of mathematics to physical +problems a rare power of seizing the really important points amidst a +mass of irrelevant details. In private life he was one of the best and +worthiest of men. + +James Stirling,¹ another distinguished Scottish mathematician, was a +native of Stirlingshire. He was educated at the University of Glasgow, +and afterwards on Snell’s foundation at Oxford. While studying at +Oxford, he printed, in 1717, a small tract on “lines of the third +order, with new solutions of some difficult problems by the fluxionary +calculus.” Subsequently he accepted an invitation to settle at Venice, +where he remained for several years and taught mathematics. + + ¹ Born about the end of the seventeenth century, and died in + 1772. + +Having returned home, he opened a mathematical school on Tower Hill, +and maintained a correspondence with philosophers at home and abroad. +In 1730, he published his well-known work on _The Differential Method +and Series_. After toiling in his school for several years, he was +induced to leave London, and undertake the direction of the mines +at Leadhills in Scotland. In that elevated region, near Sanquhar, he +resided during the rest of his life; and by his skill, intelligence, +and energy, greatly improved the operations of extracting the lead +ore. He now held a good position; but his high mathematical fame would +have secured to him the honour of succeeding Maclaurin in the chair of +mathematics in Edinburgh, in 1746, if he had not at that unhappy time +been tainted with Jacobite opinions.¹ In his later years he seems to +have confined himself to practical concerns. + + ¹ Leslie’s _Dissertation for the Encyclopædia Britannica_. + +Matthew Stewart was elected to the vacant chair of mathematics in +Edinburgh. He was a mathematician of note in the department of geometry; +and is the author of _Tracts, Physical and Mathematical_. Robert Simson, +who long held the chair of mathematics in the University of Glasgow, +was a distinguished geometer. The names of Playfair and Leslie may also +be mentioned as distinguished professors and learned mathematicians. + +Passing to physical science, it is necessary to observe that in the +eighteenth century the several branches of this department were not +then so clearly distinguished from each other as they are now. The +subject of heat was treated as a branch of chemistry; while chemistry +itself was usually conceived as a mere appendage to medicine. Dr. +Cullen was the first in Britain who assigned to chemistry its proper +place as a science. + +Dr. Black, the eminent professor of chemistry, and the discoverer of +latent heat, was born in France, in 1728, where his father was then +engaged in the wine trade. He received the rudiments of his education +at Belfast; and in 1746, he entered the University of Glasgow, +and under Dr. Cullen, was instructed in the science of chemistry, +in which he showed much aptitude. As he intended to follow the +medical profession, he went to Edinburgh to complete his studies, +and graduated in 1754. Before this, he had prosecuted a series of +chemical experiments touching the causticity of many earthy bodies, +which resulted in his first discovery of the existence of fixed air +or carbonic acid gas as an essential constituent of marble and other +solids, along with a train of important consequences. + +In 1755, Dr. Cullen removed to Edinburgh, and in 1756, Dr. Black +succeeded him as professor of medicine and chemistry in the University +of Glasgow. At this time he directed special attention to the subject +of heat. He had discovered the phenomenon of “Latent Heat” at least as +early as 1758, and taught the doctrine in his lectures at Glasgow.¹ He +was the first who formed distinct ideas on the subject. + + ¹ Dr. Black himself, writing in 1780, said:――“I began to give + the doctrine of latent heat in my lectures at Glasgow, in + the winter 1757‒58, which I believe was the first winter of + my lecturing there, or, if I did not give it that winter, + I certainly gave it in 1758‒59, and I have delivered it + every year since that time in my winter lectures, which I + continued to give at Glasgow until winter 1766‒67, when I + began to lecture in Edinburgh.”――Letter of Dr. Black to Mr. + Watt, 1708, quoted by Muirhead in his _Life of James Watt_, + pages 309‒310. + +He deduced the discovery of latent heat from experiments showing that +ice in being melted absorbs 140° of heat, which becomes latent in the +water produced, thus:――“The melting ice receives heat very fast, but +the only effect of this heat is to change it into water, which is not +in the least sensibly warmer than the ice was before. A thermometer, +applied to the drops or small streams of water, immediately as it +comes from the melting ice, will point to the same degree as when it is +applied to the ice itself.... A great quantity, therefore, of the heat, +or of the matter of heat, which enters into the melting ice, produces +no other effect but to give it fluidity, without augmenting its +sensible heat; it appears to be absorbed and concealed within the water, +so as not to be discoverable by the application of a thermometer.”¹ By +comparing the time required to change the ice from 28° to 32°, with the +subsequent time required for its complete liquefaction, he found that +it absorbed about 140 times as much heat as would raise its temperature +one degree; and he also found that one pound of ice, when mixed with +one pound of water, was just melted, but not raised in its temperature +above 32°. So he concluded that water differed from ice of the same +temperature by containing a great quantity of heat or the cause of heat, +which would not quit it for another colder body, nor go into the liquor +of the thermometer and expand it. This phenomenon, considered as the +possible cause of heat, was latent, and Black accordingly called it +“latent heat.”² + + ¹ Black’s _Lectures on the Elements of Chemistry_, Volume I., + page 119. 1803. + + ² Black’s _Lectures on the Elements of Chemistry_, Volume I., + pages 120‒132. + +This discovery was connected with his experiments and researches +on boiling and evaporation, which ultimately resulted in laying the +foundation of the practical application of steam. He concluded that a +great quantity of heat becomes latent during the conversion of water +into vapour or steam; and he endeavoured to determine this quantity +by experiment. He found that the latent heat in steam, which balanced +the pressure of the atmosphere, was upwards of 800°. He also directed +Dr. Irvine of Glasgow, one of his own pupils, to make an experiment +for measuring the heat actually extricated from steam during its +condensation in the refrigeratory of a still, which was found to be +774°. A few weeks after, Mr. James Watt made similar experiments on +steam with a similar still; and the medium result of these trials gave +825°.¹ It may be observed that, in these early experiments, the latent +heat of steam was considerably underrated. + + ¹ _Ibid._, pages 144‒174. I deem it of interest to give a few + brief quotations from Dr. Black’s lectures on the latent + heat of steam, to indicate his views. “I immediately set + about boiling off small quantities of water, and I found + that it was accomplished in times very nearly proportional + to the quantities, even although the fire was sensibly + irregular. + + “My conjecture, when put into form, was to this purpose: + ――I imagined that during the boiling, heat is absorbed by + the water, and enters into the composition of the vapour + produced from it, in the same manner as it is absorbed + by ice in melting, and enters into the composition of the + produced water. And, as the ostensible effect of the heat, + in this last case, consists not in warming the surrounding + bodies, but in rendering the ice fluid, so in the case + of boiling, the heat absorbed does not warm surrounding + bodies, but converts the water into vapour. In both cases, + considered as the cause of warmth, we do not perceive its + presence: it is concealed, or latent, and I give it the name + of Latent Heat.... + + “I put into a very strong phial about as much water as half + filled it, and I corked it close. The phial was placed in a + sand-pot, which was gradually heated, until the sand and the + phial were several degrees above the common vaporific point + of water. I was curious to know what would be the effect + of suddenly removing the pressure of the air, which is well + known to prevent water from boiling. The water boiled a very + short while, but the ebullition gradually decreased, till + it was almost insensible. Here the formation of more vapour + was opposed by a very strong pressure proceeding from the + quantity of vapour already accumulated and confined in the + upper part of the phial, and from the increased elasticity + of this vapour, by the increase of its heat. When matters + were in this state, I drew the cork. Now, according to the + common opinion of the formation of vapour by heat, it was + to be expected that the whole of the water would suddenly + assume the vaporous form, because it was all heated above + the vaporific point. But I was beginning by this time to + expect a different event, because I could not see whence + the heat was to be supplied, which the water must contain + when in the form of vapour. Accordingly, it happened as I + expected: a portion only of the water was converted into + vapour, which rushed out of the phial with a considerable + explosion, carrying along with it some drops of water. But, + what was most interesting to me in this experiment, was, + that the heat of what remained was reduced in an instant to + the ordinary boiling point. Here, therefore, it was evident + that all that excess of heat which the water had contained + above the boiling point, was spent in converting only a + portion of it into vapour. This is plainly inconsistent + with the common opinion, that nothing more is necessary + for water’s existing in a vaporous form under the pressure + of the atmosphere, than its being raised to a certain + temperature.... + + “This experiment was afterwards made by my friend Mr. + Watt, in a very satisfactory manner. His studies for the + improvement of the steam-engine gave him a great interest + in everything relating to the production of steam.”――Pages + 159‒160. + + In 1781, Dr. Black said to the students of his class:――“I + think it sufficient to inform you that Mr. Watt, in the + course of his studies on the steam-engine, has made all the + necessary experiments with the most scrupulous care, knowing + that the improvement of that noble engine must depend + entirely on an exact knowledge of the procedure of nature in + the formation and condensation of steam. Mr. Watt informs me + that he has observed as exact coincidence between the heat + rendered latent in the vapour, and that which emerges from + it, as can be desired; and that the heat obtainable from + steam, capable of sustaining the ordinary pressure of the + atmosphere, is not less than 900° of Fahrenheit’s scale, and + that it does not exceed 950°.”――_Ibid._, page 174. + +Dr. Black also contributed to advance the knowledge of Specific Heat; +but he chiefly left the development of this branch in the hands of his +pupil Dr. Irvine, who was professor of chemistry in the University of +Glasgow from 1769 to 1786, and to Mr. Watt, for both of whom he had the +greatest respect. + +In 1766, Dr. Black was appointed professor of chemistry in the +University of ♦Edinburgh, in succession to Dr. Cullen; and he filled +this chair with much credit to himself and advantage to the University, +until his death in 1799. He was a very successful instructor; his +lectures in the class-room were described by those who heard them +as inimitable, and so interesting that they never failed to rivet +attention.¹ Thus his influence on the progress and the diffusion of +science by his teaching for the long period of forty-three years, and +his intercourse with society, was great and highly beneficial to his +country and to the world. + + ♦ “Ediuburgh” replaced with “Edinburgh” + + ¹ Professor Robson, one of his pupils, and the editor of his + lectures, says that Dr. Black endeavoured every year to make + his course of lectures more plain, and illustrated them by + more examples in the way of experiment. So the students in + his class “were not only instructed, but delighted; and he + became a favourite lecturer, and many were induced, by the + report of his students, to attend his courses.” + +Another branch of the science of heat was taken up by Sir John Leslie;¹ +he directed his attention to “Radiant Heat”――heat propagated from hot +bodies to sensible distances. Sir John was educated at the University +of St. Andrews, and early manifested a bent for mathematical studies. +His work on the _Nature and Propagation of Heat_, which appeared in +1804, first brought him into notice; and the following year he was +appointed to the chair of mathematics in the University of Edinburgh. + + ¹ Born in 1766, and died in 1832. + +The fact that heat is radiant, passing through space like light, was +known at an early period; and various experiments had been made, and +some of the phenomena which characterise it indicated; but heat in its +radiant form was not systematically investigated till towards the end +of the eighteenth century. The band of scientific men then engaged on +this subject were Pictet, Prevost, Rumford, and Herschel; the first two +were professors in Geneva, and were earlier in the field than Leslie. +In 1791, Pictet’s work entitled _Essai sur le Feu_ appeared, which +contains observations on latent and specific heat, and on the power +of different surfaces to reflect and absorb it. He showed that radiant +heat moves with great velocity. His treatise also embraced observations +on hygrometry, on various points of meteorology, and on friction heat. +He has the merit of establishing the meteorological observations at the +convent of the Great St. Bernard, and thus commenced a series which has +proved exceedingly interesting to scientific men. + +Prevost is the author of the theory termed the “Movable Equilibrium of +Heat.” His fundamental idea is that heat is a substance related with +bodies of a highly elastic nature, continually given off from them in +proportion to their temperature, which may represent the tension of +the imaginary elastic fluid. Thus, when the temperature of a body is +stationary, it is because it receives by radiation from surrounding +bodies exactly as much heat as it parts with in the same way.¹ His +views were first published in 1791. + + ¹ Dr. Forbes’s _Dissertation for the Encyclopædia Britannica_, + page 944. 1856. + +Leslie was an ingenious and able experimenter. But unfortunately he +started his researches with some rather dogmatic preconceptions; he +had a notion that the pressure of air is essential to the propagation +of heat; nevertheless, many of his experiments are interesting and +valuable. He used a thermoscopic instrument constructed by himself, +which he called the differential thermometer; it is an ingenious +modification of the common air thermometer. He showed that the +radiating or emissive effect of different surfaces varied from 100° +to 12°. He also showed by experiment that the radiation of heat from +a plane surface proceeds with unequal force in different directions. +When the specific heating power of the colorific rays is measured in a +direction perpendicular to the surface whence it emanates, it is found +to be at a maximum; and at any other angle with the surface, it varies +as the sine of the angle. Afterwards this was also found to prevail in +the case of light. His experiments to prove that the law of radiation +of heat varies inversely as the square of the distance were not quite +conclusive. + +He considered the influence of colour on the heating of bodies by +original experiment; and it was found to be effectual only when the +radiations were luminous. He engaged in long and ingenious researches +touching the law of cooling bodies, embracing the effects of mass, +surface, contact of air, currents of air, the cooling effects of +different gases, and of air of different degrees of rarefaction. + +Besides his work on heat, his _Dissertation on the Progress of +Physical and Mathematical Science_, and the articles on “Cold” and +“Meteorology,” in the seventh edition of the _Encyclopædia Britannica_, +he is the author of _Elements of Natural Philosophy_ (left unfinished), +a _Treatise on Geometry_, and _Philosophy of Arithmetic_. + +He held the mathematical chair from 1805 to 1819, and in the latter +year he was appointed to the chair of natural philosophy. He had a +large and fine collection of apparatus, as indicated above, and devised +many ingenious experiments. He was elected a corresponding member of +the Institute of France in 1820; and, on the recommendation of Lord +Brougham, he received the honour of knighthood in 1832. + +Since Leslie’s time the science of heat has been greatly advanced; the +dynamical theory of heat has been developed in the present century, +and Scotsmen have contributed their share to the definite advancement +of this branch of science. But it has been advanced to its present +stage by a long list of scientific men. In 1812, Davy enounced that +the direct cause of the phenomenon of heat is motion, and that the +laws of its communication are precisely the same as the laws of +the communication of motion. The researches into the radiation and +absorption of heat mainly form the physical basis of Spectrum Analysis, +which has greatly extended the power of ascertaining the constituent +elements of the celestial bodies, the sun and the fixed stars. + +In the researches which ultimately led to these results, several +Scotsmen have taken an honourable part. Professor Forbes discovered +and demonstrated the polarisation of heat, and thus showed that radiant +heat and light are the same. Among others who have contributed to +advance Spectrum Analysis, I may mention Professor Stokes, Professor +Balfour Stewart, and Sir William Thomson, of the University of Glasgow. +Sir William Thomson (now Lord Kelvin) has taught the doctrine that +there is sodium vapour in the sun’s atmosphere, in his public lectures +in the University of Glasgow, since the year 1852. + +Interesting conclusions touching the composition of the sun and of +some of the stars have been reached:――“When we compare the spectra +of different stars with that of the sun, we come to some very curious +conclusions. We find four classes of spectra, as a rule, among the +different fixed stars which have seemed of importance enough to be +separately examined. The first class of spectra are those of white +stars. You see an admirable example in Vega, and another in Sirius or +the dog-star. All these white stars have the characteristic that they +have an almost continuous spectrum with few dark lines crossing it, +and these for the most part lines of hydrogen. These stars are in all +probability at a considerably higher temperature than the sun. Then you +come to the class of yellow stars, of which our sun is an example. In +their spectra you have many more dark lines than in those of the white +stars, but you have nothing of the nature of nebulous bands crossing +the spectrum, such as you find in the third class; still less have +you certain curious joins of shaded lines which you have in the fourth +class of stars. This classification seems to point out the period of +life, or phase of life, of each particular star or sun. When it is +first formed, by the impact of enormous quantities of matter coming +together by gravitation, you have very nearly continuous spectrum of +a glowing white-hot liquid or solid body, or it may be dense gas, the +sole, or nearly sole, absorbent being gaseous hydrogen in comparatively +small quantity, and the spectrum having therefore few absorption +lines. As it gradually cools, more and more of these gases surrounding +its glowing surface become absorbent, and so you have a greater +number and variety of lines. Then, as it still further cools, you have +those nebulous bands which seem to indicate the presence of compound +substances; which could not exist in the first two classes, because +their temperature is so high as to produce dissociation. Still further +complexity of compounds will be found in the atmosphere of the fourth +class.”¹ + + ¹ _Recent Advances in Physical Science_, by P. G. Tait, pages + 230‒231. + +After the publication of Newton’s _Optics_ in 1704, the history of this +branch of science was almost a blank in Britain, till 1803, when the +researches of Dr. Young on the undulatory theory of light appeared; and +since the subject has been treated with increasing interest and success. + +Sir David Brewster,¹ who attained distinction in this branch of science, +and in other fields of intellectual effort, was a native of Jedburgh. +He was educated at the University of Edinburgh, and had the advantage +of the instruction of Professor Robison, and other eminent teachers +who then spread the rays of light with consummate ability. He devoted +himself to science; and in 1805, he edited Ferguson’s _Lectures on +Astronomy_; and, as already mentioned, he commenced the _Edinburgh +Encyclopædia_ in 1810. His first separate work, _On New Philosophical +Instruments_, appeared in 1813, which also contained observations on +refractive and dispersive powers. From this date onwards he became a +regular contributor to the London Philosophical _Transactions_, and +also those of Edinburgh; he commenced the _Edinburgh Philosophical +Journal_ and the _Edinburgh Journal of Science_. His contributions to +scientific societies and journals would fill many volumes. One list +of his scientific papers extends to the number of three hundred and +fifteen, and the following is only the briefest indication of some of +the more important subjects treated in them:―― + + ¹ Born in 1781; died in 1868. + +(1) “The Laws of Polarisation by Reflection and Refraction, and +other Quantitative Laws of Phenomena;” (2) “The Discovery of the +Polarising Structure induced by Heat and Pressure;” (3) “The Discovery +of Crystals with Two Axes of Double Refraction, and many of the Laws +of their Phenomena, comprising the Connection of Optical Structure +and Crystalline Forms;” (4) “The Laws of Metallic Reflection;” +(5) “Experiments on the Absorption of Light.” + +The more important of his other works are――(1) _A Treatise on the +Kaleidoscope_, published in 1819; (2) _A Treatise on Optics_, 1831; +(3) _A Treatise on the Microscope_; (4) _A Treatise on the Stereoscope_; +(5) an Article on “Magnetism,” reprinted from the _Encyclopædia +Britannica_; (6) _The Martyrs of Science――Galileo, Tycho Brahe, and +Kepler_; (7) _Life of Sir Isaac Newton_; (8) _Letters on Natural Magic_; +(9) _More Worlds than One_. He also wrote a _Life of Euler_ and edited +his Lectures; edited Robison’s _System of Mechanical Philosophy_, with +a preface and notes, which appeared in 1822, in four large volumes; he +also contributed seventy-four articles to the _North British Review_. + +This enumeration of his writings, though far from complete, is +sufficient to show his great mental energy, and his scientific and +literary talents. He was a man of remarkable intellectual resource, his +imaginative and elaborative faculties were of a high order, and, for +industry and observation he has rarely been surpassed. His style is +clear and flowing, he has a copious command of expressive language. + +Besides his discoveries of the law of polarisation, of biaxal crystals, +of optical mineralogy, and of double refraction by compression, he +invented a dioptric apparatus for the illumination of lighthouses, +which he described in 1812. In 1820, he endeavoured to get the dioptric +system adopted, but failed; at length, however, on the motion of Mr. +Hume, a Committee of the House of Commons was appointed to consider the +subject; and, in 1836, this system was applied to a Scotch lighthouse, +and has since been universally extended. In 1816, he invented the +kaleidoscope, which soon became popular over Europe; afterwards, +he made an important improvement on the principle of constructing +stereoscopes. In the words of Professor Forbes――“Few persons have +made with their own eyes so vast a number of independent observations; +few have ever observed better, or recorded their observations more +faithfully.” He was an honour to his country and a benefactor to +mankind. + +In the interesting science of the earth――geology――Dr. Hutton, in +1788, enounced his theory that the changes in the earth’s crust have +been mainly caused by the agency of fire; but though his views were +ingenious and well argued, they have long ago been superseded by +conclusions more in accordance with the observed phenomena. This branch +of knowledge has been much investigated in the present century, and +several Scotsmen have attained distinction in advancing it. + +Sir Charles Lyell¹ was a native of Forfarshire, and studied at +Oxford. His _Principles of Geology_, being an attempt to explain the +former changes of the earth’s surface by a reference to causes now in +operation, appeared in 1830‒32, in two volumes. He made additions to +it, and alterations from time to time, and the eighth edition of the +work, thoroughly revised, was published in 1850. Though he recognised +new facts, he continued to hold his theory that we may dispense +with sudden and general catastrophes, and consider the past and +present fluctuations of the organic and inorganic world as forming +one continuous and regular series of phenomena. + + ¹ Born in 1797; died in 1875. + +In 1838, he published his _Elements of Geology_, which was afterwards +enlarged to two volumes. He is also the author of _Travels in North +America, with Geological Observations on the United States, Canada, +and Nova Scotia_, published in 1845. He was twice elected president +of the Geological Society, and he received the honour of knighthood in +1848. His style is attractive, easy, and fluent, and his writings were +popular. The following is a short specimen of his manner:―― + +“The analogy, however, of the monuments consulted in geology, and +those available in history, extends no further than to one class +of historical monuments――those which may be said to be undesignedly +commemorative of former events. The canoes, for example, and stone +hatchets found in the peat bogs afford an insight into the rude arts +and manners of the earliest inhabitants of our island; the buried +coin fixes the date of the reign of some Roman emperor; the ancient +encampment indicates the districts once occupied by invading armies, +and the former method of constructing military defences; the Egyptian +mummies throw light on the art of embalming, the rites of sepulture, +or the average stature of the human race in ancient Egypt. This class +of memorials yields to no other in authenticity, but it constitutes +a small part only of the resources on which the historian relies; +whereas in geology it forms the only kind of evidence which is at +our command. For this reason we must not expect to obtain a full and +connected account of any series of events beyond the reach of history. +But the testimony of geological monuments, if frequently imperfect, +possess at least the advantage of being free from all suspicion of +misrepresentation. We may be deceived in the inferences which we draw, +in the same manner as we often mistake the nature and import of the +phenomena observed in the daily course of nature; but our liability +to err is confined to the interpretation, and, if this be correct, our +information is certain.” + +Sir Roderick Murchison,¹ a distinguished geologist, was a native of +Ross-shire, and served in the army from 1807 to 1816. He directed his +attention chiefly to a series of strata in the district bordering on +England and Wales, inhabited in early times by the British tribe of +the Silures; and after working four years in classifying the rocks and +deposits, he separated them into four formations, and showed that each +is characterised by peculiar organic remains: and, in 1835, he divided +them into a lower and upper group, both of which he anticipated would +be found applicable to wide regions of the earth, and named them the +Silurian System, the details of which he published under this title +in 1839. In 1854, his later researches were published under the title +of _Siluria: the History of the Oldest Known Rocks containing Organic +Remains_. + + ¹ Born in 1792; died 1871. + +He spent many years in Russia and in other countries in geologic +explorations; and, in 1846, he published _The Geology of Russia and the +Ural Mountains_, in which he was assisted by Count A. von Keyserling +and E. de Verneuil. He is also the author of upwards of one hundred +separate memoirs presented to scientific societies. In 1844, after +examining some specimens of Australian rocks brought to this country, +and comparing them with those of the auriferous Ural Mountains, he came +to the conclusion that gold existed in Australia. Two years later, he +urged the Cornish tin miners to emigrate to the colony of New South +Wales, where they could obtain gold from the alluvial soil in the same +way as they extracted tin from the gravel of their own country. + +The following is a summary of the Siluria strata as they occur in the +district mentioned above, upon which Sir Roderick mainly founded his +system; they represent a thickness of about nine thousand feet:―― + + { Finely laminated reddish sandstone and shales. + { Micaceous grey sandstones of varying thickness. + Upper { Argillaceous limestone. + strata. { Calcareous shale, with concretions of limestone. + { Concretionary limestone and argillaceous shale. + { Shelly limestone and sandstone. + { Gritty sandstones and shales. + + { Grits and sandy shales. + Lower { Thick-bedded white freestone. + strata. { Dark-coloured flagstones and slates. + { Dark-coloured calcareous flags, bands of limestone, + { and gritty flagstones. + +Excepting a few indistinct fragments of land plants in the uppermost +beds, the whole remains are characteristically marine, and evince +conditions favourable to a variety of invertebrate life. Among the +prevailing and distinctive fossils are fucoids or seaweed plants, +corals, radiate animals, sea-worms, and shell-fish in great variety. +And strata characterised by these fossils are largely developed in many +countries, especially along the flanks of the older mountain-chains. +“They occur in Wales, in Cumberland, in Westmoreland; along the +south of Scotland; south-east of Ireland; the south of France, Spain, +Scandinavia, Russia, and Bohemia; in Asia Minor; along the Himalaya +and Altai ranges; in Australia and New Zealand; along the Andes, Rocky +Mountains, and Appalachians in America.” + +I have already mentioned Hugh Miller as a geologist, and no one was +more ready than Sir Roderick Murchison to recognise his merits and +to applaud his genius. Murchison received the honour of knighthood in +1846. The first editor of the _Scotsman_, Mr. Maclaren, was a student +of geology, and published an _Account of the Geology of Fife and the +Lothians_ in 1839. It was, however, Hugh Miller that made geology +popular in Scotland, and gave a great impulse to its study. + + + SECTION II. + + _Progress of Mechanical Science._ + +The relation between physical science and the mechanical arts are +obvious in many ways. The exact boundaries between science and art are +as undefinable as those which separate the kingdoms of nature from one +another. If there are arts that cannot be called scientific, there are +others which have contributed more to the store of knowledge than they +ever drew from it, as the progress of science must be gathered from the +records of experience, and in order to understand its importance, we +must consult many of the varied pages of this record. In the progress +of physical and mechanical science, as in that of social science and +civilisation, the retarding obstacles everywhere mainly consist in +the want or the imperfection of the requisite means――for observation, +experiment, and verification in the former, for organisation and just +and mutual union in the latter; in both spheres the chief retarding +causes are the lack of appropriate and available means at the time +and place when they were most needed. Many of the instruments and the +apparatus required for observation and experiments in physical science +are complicated and expensive, such as telescopes in astronomy, organs +in acoustics, and so on, and skill and art are required to construct +them; hence it has often happened that imperfect instruments and the +want of the necessary apparatus have greatly retarded the progress +of physical science. It is, therefore, plain that mechanical art is +an indispensable element in the advancement of physical science, and +that physical and mechanical science are important factors in the +development of civilisation. For the necessities and the requirements +of a progressive nation or empire are constantly increasing, and in +order to hold its own, it must not only continue to improve and develop +its moral and social organisations, but it must also exert itself to +the utmost to advance its knowledge, science, and all the practical +arts which minister to the life and to the enjoyment of mankind. This +is the solemn decree of nature, and nothing else in the universe is +available for the human race. + +I will indicate briefly what Scotland has done to advance mechanical +science and steam power. The order of exposition is determined by the +intersective efforts of the chief actors in the early stage of this +subject, and these were Mr. Watt, Dr. Black, Dr. Robison, and some +other professors in the University of Glasgow. Of the discoveries and +experiments of Dr. Black I have already spoken, and of his friendship +and scientific relations with Mr. Watt; and it seems necessary now to +introduce Dr. Robison,――a Scotsman, who contributed much to spread the +knowledge of mechanical science in his native country and throughout +the civilised world. + +John Robison¹ was educated in the University of Glasgow from the +twelfth year of his age to the nineteenth, and thus had the advantage +of the instruction of those able professors who raised the fame of this +ancient University――Adam Smith, Dr. Black, and Dr. Robert Simson.² From +an early period of his life he manifested a strong bent for physical +and mechanical science; and it was in his student days that he formed a +friendship with Mr. Watt which continued throughout their lives. Their +acquaintance began in 1757, and the occasion of it is told by Robison +himself thus:――“I was then a student in the University of Glasgow, and +studying the science which I now profess to teach. The University was +then building an astronomical observatory. Mr. Watt was employed to +repair and set up a very noble collection of instruments bequeathed to +the University by Mr. Macfarlane of Jamaica, a gentleman well known to +the scientific world. Mr. Watt had apartments and a workshop within the +College. I had from my earliest youth a great relish for the natural +sciences, and particularly for mathematical and mechanical philosophy. +I was eager to be acquainted with the practice of astronomical +observation, and my wishes were much encouraged by the celebrated +Dr. Simson, professor of geometry; Dr. Dick, professor of natural +philosophy; and Dr. Moore, professor of Greek――gentlemen eminent for +their mathematical abilities. These gentlemen brought me with them into +Mr. Watt’s shop; and when he saw me thus patronised, or introduced, his +natural complaisance made him readily indulge my curiosity. + + ¹ Born in 1739; died in 1805. + + ² Dr. Simson held the chair of mathematics from 1711 to + 1761, and at his death he bequeathed to the University his + collection of mathematical books, supposed to be the most + complete then in the kingdom.――Macgregor’s _History of + Glasgow_, page 343. + +“After first feasting my eyes with the view of fine instruments, and +prying into everything, I conversed with Mr. Watt. I saw a workman, +and expected no more; but was surprised to find a philosopher, as young +as myself, and always ready to instruct me. I had the vanity to think +myself a pretty good proficient in my favourite study, and was rather +mortified at finding Mr. Watt so much my superior. But his own high +relish for those things made him pleased with the chat of any person +who had the same tastes with himself, or his innate complaisance made +him indulge my curiosity, and even encourage my endeavours to form a +more intimate acquaintance with him. I lounged much about him, and, I +doubt not, was frequently teasing him. Thus our acquaintance began.”¹ + + ¹ _Narrative of Mr. Watt’s Inventions of the Improved Engine_, + by Professor Robison. + +In 1759, Robison left Glasgow, and went to sea as tutor to a son +of Admiral Knowles, with the rank of a midshipman. In this stage of +his life he saw some service in Canada; and the information which he +acquired by his extended means of observation was afterwards turned to +good account. He returned to Glasgow in 1764, and then concentrated his +attention on the study of chemistry under Dr. Black; and in 1766, on +the removal of Dr. Black to Edinburgh, Robison was appointed professor +of chemistry in the University of Glasgow. But in 1770, he again joined +Admiral Knowles as his private secretary and accompanied him to Russia; +and this led to his appointment as professor of mathematics in the +naval school at Cronstadt in 1772. In nine months he learned to speak +and write the Russian language with ease, and performed his duties +in a manner satisfactory to all concerned. In 1774, he was elected to +the chair of natural philosophy in the University of Edinburgh, and +was warmly invited to return to Scotland. He accepted the appointment, +and spent the remainder of his life in incessant toil and scientific +occupation. + +His first course of lectures was delivered in Edinburgh, in 1774‒75, +and embraced the sciences of mechanics, hydrodynamics, astronomy, +optics, electricity, and magnetism, all of which he treated with +remarkable clearness and precision. As a lecturer and expositor in his +own department, he was among the most eminent of his time in Britain. +He was succeeded in the chair by John Playfair, who had previously been +for twenty years professor of mathematics in this University; and he +is the author of the fine historical Dissertation on the progress of +mathematical and physical science, published in one of the supplements +of the _Encyclopædia Britannica_, and some other writings connected +with science. + +Professor Robison’s works consist of――(1) _Elements of Mechanical +Philosophy_, of which only the first volume was completed and published +in 1804, containing “Dynamics” and “Astronomy;” and (2) upwards of +forty separate treatises and articles contributed to the _Encyclopædia +Britannica_, which treated on several of the more experimental branches +of physical science, and on the following practical branches: (1) the +art of music, with which he was himself practically conversant, (2) +strength of materials, (3) carpentry, (4) roof, (5) the construction +of arches and centres for bridges, (6) watch-work, (7) rivers, (8) +waterworks, (9) pumps, (10) variations of the compass, (11) seamanship, +(12) machinery, (13) steam, and (14) the steam-engine. As already +mentioned, Sir David Brewster edited the above works, along with some +selections from the author’s manuscript; and to the articles “Steam” +and the “Steam-engine” Mr. Watt, at the request of Brewster, +contributed notes and additions. + +James Watt was born at Greenock in 1736, and received his education +there,¹ in the commercial school and grammar school, in which he +learned the elements of Latin and Greek, and attained a fair knowledge +of mathematical science. To this was added the homely but important +tuition which he received from his father, who carried on a business in +articles used in navigation, ship fittings, and tackle. “He had a small +forge set up for his own use; and was fond of repairing and making all +sorts of instruments; he was also at a very early age informed about +the use and principles of construction of the telescope, quadrants, +and other optical instruments of which his father kept a stock for the +supply of ships.” From the aptitude which he showed for this kind of +handiwork and in accordance with his own choice, it was decided that +he should qualify himself for the trade of a mathematical instrument +maker.² + + ¹ His kinsman, James P. Muirhead, published his _Life of Watt_ + in 1858, and he had before, in 1854, published _The Origin + and Progress of the Mechanical Inventions of James Watt_, in + three volumes. + + ² Muirhead’s _Life of Watt_, pages 25‒30. + +In 1755, Watt proceeded to London with the aim of attaining more skill +in the art of instrument making. An agreement was made with Mr. John +Morgan, a mathematical instrument maker in Finch Lane, Cornhill, that +young Watt should receive one year’s instruction, for which he was +to pay in return twenty guineas, and give his labour during that time +in the business. As was expected, he made rapid progress. When his +year’s working was completed, he announced “that he could now make a +brass sector with a French joint, which is reckoned as nice a piece of +framing work as is in the trade.”¹ + + ¹ _Ibid._, pages 36, 37. + +He returned to Scotland in the month of August, 1756, and shortly after +proceeded to Glasgow with the object of finding employment; and in +the month of October, the authorities of the University engaged him +to clean and set up the Macfarlane collection of instruments in the +College, as already mentioned. Thus it was that Watt was introduced +and became so intimate with the professors and the leading men of +this University; but he never attended any of Dr. Black’s courses +of lectures, nor any other course of lectures in the University. He +finished this piece of work before the month of December. He then tried +to establish himself in the city of Glasgow; but he met with unforeseen +obstacles. As he had not served a regular apprenticeship, and was not +the son of a burgess, the rules of the craftsmen came into effect, and +he was forbidden to set up a workshop. + +But to the credit of the eminent men who then illumined the University +of Glasgow, they nobly came to the rescue of the great mechanical +genius. And in the summer of 1757, they gave him permission to occupy +apartments and open a shop within the College buildings, and to use +the title of “Mathematical Instrument Maker to the University.” He +continued to occupy his rooms and workshop in the College till 1763, +when he quitted them for a small house in the city; but the intimate +and friendly relations which he had formed with the professors and +others connected with the University were continued throughout his life. +Turning attention to his inventions, touching steam itself, he says:―― + +“It was known very long before my time, that steam was condensed by +coming into contact with cold bodies, and that it communicated heat to +them. + +“It was known by some experiments of Dr. Cullen, and others, that water +and other liquids boiled in vacuo at very low heats; water below 100°. + +“It was known to some philosophers, that the capacity or equilibrium of +heat, as we then called it, was much smaller in mercury and in tin than +in water. + +“It was also known, that evaporation caused the cooling of the +evaporating liquid, and bodies in contact with it. + +“I had myself made experiments to determine the following facts:―― +1st, The capacities for heat of iron, copper, and some sorts of wood, +comparatively with water. Similar experiments had also subsequently +been made by Dr. Irvine, on these and other metals. + +“2nd, The bulk of steam was compared with that of water. + +“3rd, The quantity of water which could be evaporated in a certain +boiler by a pound of coals. + +“4th, The elasticities of steam at various temperatures greater +than that of boiling water, and an approximation to the law which it +followed at other temperatures. + +“5th, How much water, in the form of steam, was required every stroke +by a small Newcomen’s engine, with a wooden cylinder six inches +diameter, and twelve inches long in the stroke. + +“6th, I had measured the quantity of cold water required in every +stroke to condense the steam in that cylinder, so as to give it a +working power of about 7 pound on the inch.” He found that “water +converted into steam can heat about six times its own weight of well +water.... Being struck with this remarkable fact, and not understanding +the reason of it, mentioned it to my friend Dr. Black, who then +explained to me his doctrine of latent heat.”¹ This was in 1764. + + ¹ Letter and notes by Mr. Watt to Robison’s _Mechanical + Philosophy_, Volume II., pages 7, 8, 113‒116. + +Touching the steam-engine, Watt says:――“My attention was first +directed in the year 1759 to the subject of steam-engines, by the late +Dr. Robison himself, then a student in the University of Glasgow, and +nearly of my own age. He at that time threw out an idea of applying the +power of the steam-engine to the moving of wheel carriages, and other +purposes, but the scheme was not matured, and soon after abandoned on +his going abroad.”¹ + + ¹ _Ibid._, Volume II., page 113. + +Watt’s first improvement on the steam-engine was made in 1765; and +it consisted of the idea of introducing a separate condenser for the +steam――a contrivance to prevent the cooling of the cylinder, and make +the vacuum more perfect by condensing the steam in a vessel distinct +from the cylinder. This was patented in the beginning of the year +1769, and in his specification he undertakes to lessen the consumption +of steam and fuel in steam engines. This patent was renewed for a +period of twenty-five years by an Act of Parliament in 1775. He took +out another patent, in 1781, “for certain new methods of applying a +continuous circular motion round an axis, and thereby give motion to +the wheels of mills or other machines.” The specification contains a +description of five different modes of rotative motions. In 1782, he +took out another patent, and the specification in this one contains +six contrivances for equalising steam-power on the expansive principle; +and among these, the double-acting engine, in which the steam is +alternately applied to press on each side of the piston, while a vacuum +is formed on the other side. + +One of the most important of his improvements of the steam-engine was +inserted in his patent of ♦1784. This is the “parallel motion,” which +he described thus:――“Methods of causing the piston-rods, pump-rods, +and other parts of the engine, to move in perpendicular or other +straight lines, and to enable the engine to act upon the working beams +both in pushing and in pulling; and three varieties are described.” +This specification also described improved modes of applying the +steam-engine to drive mills which have many wheels requiring to +move round in concert; a simple method of applying the power of the +steam-engine to the working of heavy hammers or stampers; a portable +steam-engine and machinery for moving wheeled carriages.¹ + + ♦ “1874” replaced with “1784” + + ¹ Watt’s Notes to Robison’s _Mechanical Philosophy_, Volume + II., pages 118‒121, 149‒151; also Muirhead’s _Life of Watt_, + pages 180, 247, 278‒284, 285, 293‒296. + +It was only after great perseverance, patience, hard toil, and thought, +and many disappointments and untold anxieties that Mr. Watt at last +attained success. It was fortunate for him, and for mankind, that +from his first appearance in Glasgow he won not a few warm and able +friends――men who knew and appreciated his great genius and the worth +of his character, encouraged him, and stood by his side in one of the +greatest trials of his life, to give their testimony to his rare genius +and unimpeachable integrity.¹ + + ¹ With regard to two of the gentlemen alluded to above, I + will quote Mr. Watt’s own words:――“Although Dr. Black’s + theory of latent heat did not suggest my improvements on the + steam-engine, yet the knowledge upon various subjects which + he was pleased to communicate to me, and the correct modes + of reasoning and of making experiments of which he set me + the example, certainly conduced very much to facilitate the + progress of my inventions; and I still remember with respect + and gratitude the notice he was pleased to take of me when + I very little merited it, and which continued throughout his + life. + + “To Dr. Robison I am also bound to acknowledge my + obligations for very much information and occasional + assistance in my pursuits, and above all for his friendship, + which ended only with his life; a friendship which induced + him, when I was beset with a host of foes, to come to London + in the depth of winter, and appear as a witness for me in + a court of justice, whilst labouring under an excessively + painful disorder, which ultimately deprived him of life. + To the remembrance of that friendship is principally owing + my taking upon myself the office of his commentator at my + advanced age.”――Letter of Mr. Watt, in Robison’s _Mechanical + Philosophy_, Volume II., page 9. + +Watt entered into partnership with Mr. Boulton, of Birmingham, and, +after 1775, for many years he resided in that city; and continued his +exertions, with little intermission, to the further improvement of the +steam engines. The business proved successful, and Watt retired at the +end of the last century, leaving two of his sons in the establishment, +which continued to prosper. The ingenious improver of the steam-engine, +after many efforts and struggles, was enabled to spend the evening of +his days in comparative wealth and leisure. + +Mr. Watt invented many things beside his improvements of the +steam-engine, amongst which may be mentioned a micrometer for measuring +distances, which he used in his surveys of the Crinan and Gilp, and +the Tarbert intended canals, and in other surveys of canals which he +was employed to make; also, a copying-machine, which was patented in +1780, described as a “new method of copying letters and other writings +expeditiously.” At an early period of his career he built some organs. +He planned and superintended the construction of the Monkland canal. + +He wrote comparatively little, but he was an exceedingly well-informed +man. He was fond of chemistry as well as mechanics, and was well versed +in the theory and practice of both. He discovered the composition +of water, and his friends have maintained his priority to Cavendish +in this discovery. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of +Edinburgh in ♦1784; of the Royal Society of London in 1785, and a +correspondent member of the Institute of France in 1808. In 1806, the +University of Glasgow conferred on him the honorary degree of LL.D.; +and in 1814, the Academy of Sciences of the Institute of France elected +him one of its eight foreign Associates. After the toils and heat of +the day, his evening closed in calm serenity; full of honour and of +years, beloved by his friends, and surrounded by his family, he passed +away on the 25th of August, 1819, at Heathfield, near Birmingham, +in the eighty-third year of his age. Statesmen, philosophers, men of +science, and men of the world united in extolling the worth of his +character and the greatness of his genius. From the notices of his +death, I shall quote a part of the one which Lord Jeffrey wrote:―― + + ♦ “1748” replaced with “1784” + +“We have said that Mr. Watt was the great improver of the steam-engine; +but, in truth, as to all that is admirable in its structure, or vast in +its utility, he should rather be described as its inventor. It was by +his inventions that its action was so regulated as to make it capable +of being applied to the finest and most delicate manufactures, and its +power so increased as to set weight and solidity at defiance. By his +admirable contrivance, it has become a thing stupendous alike for its +force and its flexibility――for the prodigious power which it can exert, +and the ease, and precision, and ductility, with which it can be varied, +distributed, and applied.... It can engrave a seal, and crush masses +of obdurate metal before it――draw out without breaking a thread as fine +as gossamer, and lift a ship of war like a bauble in the air. It can +embroider muslin and forge anchors, cut steel into ribbons, and impel +loaded vessels against the fury of the winds and waves. + +“It would be difficult to estimate the value of the benefits which +these inventions have conferred upon this country. There is no branch +of industry that has not been indebted to them; and, in all the most +material, they have not only widened most magnificently the field +of its exertions, but multiplied a thousand-fold the amount of its +productions.... It has increased indefinitely the mass of human +comforts and enjoyments, and rendered cheap and accessible, all over +the world, the materials of wealth and prosperity. It has armed the +feeble arm of man, in short, with a power to which no limits can be +assigned; completed the dominion of mind over the most refractory +qualities of matter; and laid a sure foundation for those future +miracles of mechanic power which are to aid and reward the labours of +after generations. It is to the genius of one man, too, that all this +is mainly owing, and certainly no man ever bestowed such a gift on +his kind. The blessing is not only universal, but unbounded; and the +fabled inventors of the plough and the loom, who were deified by the +erring gratitude of their rude contemporaries, conferred less important +benefits on mankind than the inventor of our present steam-engine. + +“This will be the fame of Watt with future generations; and it is +sufficient for his race and his country. But to those to whom he +more immediately belonged, who lived in his society and enjoyed his +conversation, it is not, perhaps, the character in which he will be +most frequently recalled, most deeply lamented, or even most highly +admired. Independently of his great attainments in mechanics, Mr. Watt +was an extraordinary, and in many respects a wonderful man. Perhaps +no individual in his age possessed so much and such varied and exact +information――had read so much, or remembered what he had read so +accurately and well. He had infinite quickness of apprehension, a +prodigious memory, and a certain rectifying and methodising power of +understanding, which extracted something precious out of all that was +present to it. His stores of miscellaneous knowledge was immense――and +yet less astonishing than the command he had at all times over them. +It seemed as if every subject that was casually started in conversation +with him, had been that which he had been last occupied in studying and +exhausting; such was the copiousness, the precision, and the admirable +clearness of the information which he poured out upon it without +effort or hesitation. Nor was this promptitude and compass of knowledge +confined in any degree to the studies connected with his ordinary +pursuits. That he should have been minutely and extensively skilled +in chemistry and the arts, and in most of the branches of physical +science, might perhaps have been conjectured; but it could not have +been inferred from his usual occupations, and probably is not generally +known that he was curiously learned in many branches of antiquity, +metaphysics, medicine, and etymology, and perfectly at home in all +the details of architecture, music, and law. He was well acquainted, +too, with most of the modern languages, and familiar with their most +recent literature. Nor was it at all extraordinary to hear the great +mechanician and engineer detailing and expounding, for hours together +the metaphysical theories of the German logicians, or criticising the +measures or the matter of the German poetry. + +“It is needless to say, that, with those vast resources, his +conversation was at all times rich and instructive in no ordinary +degree: but it was, if possible, still more pleasing than wise, and had +all the charms of familiarity, with all the substantial treasures of +knowledge. No man could be more social in his spirit, less assuming or +fastidious in his manners, or more kind and indulgent towards all who +approached him.... He had a certain quiet and grave humour, which ran +through most of his conversation, and in a vein of temperate jocularity, +which gave infinite jest and effect to the condensed and inexhaustible +information which formed its main staple and characteristic. + +“In his temper and disposition he was not only kind and affectionate, +but generous, and considerate of the feelings of all around him; and +gave the most liberal assistance and encouragement to all young persons +who showed any indications of talent, or applied to him for patronage +or advice.... All men of learning and science were his cordial friends; +and such was the influence of his mild character and perfect fairness +and liberality, even upon the pretenders to these accomplishments, +that he lived to disarm even envy itself, and died, we verily believe, +without a single enemy.” + +The application of steam power to navigation in the end of the last +century, and to railway trains in the present, has produced the most +striking results; and although Watt was not directly connected himself +with the early attempts of steam navigation, still its introduction +was greatly dependent on his improvements of the steam-engine. The +development of steam-power in manufactories and other forms will be +afterwards noticed; but before quitting the subject, I will describe +the earliest attempts to propel ships by steam. Many projects were +spoken of which were never realised. But Mr. Miller of Dalswinton, +assisted by Mr. James Taylor, tutor in his family, formed a plan for +vessels with paddle wheels to be driven by a steam-engine; and with +the assistance of Mr. Symington of Wanlockhead, a practical engineer, +a small engine and a boat were constructed and fitted up: and in +October, 1788, this boat was launched on the Loch of Dalswinton, in +Dumfriesshire, and she attained a speed of five miles an hour. They +then built a larger boat, the engine of which Mr. Symington constructed +at Carron ironworks; and, in 1789, this vessel was launched on the +Forth and Clyde Canal and propelled by steam, and she attained a speed +of about seven miles an hour. These are among the earliest attempts +of steam navigation of which we have authentic record. For some time +after, this new enterprise lingered; but in the very beginning of +the present century Mr. Symington’s experiment was repeated on the +Thames with complete success. While in America on the river Hudson, Mr. +Robert Fulton, the son of a Scotsman who emigrated from Dumfriesshire, +started a steamboat with an engine of Boulton and Watt, in 1807. It is +a curious fact that, in the year 1814, Scotland had five steam vessels, +while England had not a single one. In the following year, however, +England had three, and in 1820, she had seventeen; while Scotland +had fourteen. Subsequently, owing to causes easily understood, steam +ships increased in number far more rapidly in England than in Scotland, +though not faster in proportion to the population and wealth of the +latter country. + +The most striking and important of the improvements in steam vessels +which have been made in the present century is the substitution of the +screw-propeller for the paddle-wheels; while in the construction of +ships themselves wood has been superseded by iron and steel. + +With regard to the importance, the variety, the subtilty, and the power +of its practical applications, and the latent or as yet undeveloped +power inherent in it, the science of electricity takes a high rank; and +with a brief and consequently a very imperfect notice of it in these +various relations, this chapter will conclude. + +The science of electricity is of modern growth; very little was known +of its nature or powers prior to the last century, though some of +its phenomena attracted the attention of a few scientific men in +the seventeenth century. Between the years 1720 and 1736, Stephen +Grey, assisted by Wheeler, discovered that the human body conducts +electricity, that it acts at a distance――motion in light bodies being +produced by frictional electricity at a distance of 666 feet; he also +stated the fact of electric induction and other phenomena. About 1733, +Dufay originated his dual theory of two electric fluids; and stated +that two bodies similarly electrified repel each other, and attract +bodies oppositely electrified. What was termed the Leyden Jar was +discovered by several persons in 1745; and the following year Winckler +constructed the Leyden Battery. About the same time, important +researches were made by Watson, Canton, and others. In 1747, Franklin +enounced his theory of a single fluid; he termed the vitreous +electricity positive, and the resinous negative; and, in 1752, he +demonstrated the identity of the electric spark and lightning, drawing +electricity from a cloud by the use of a kite. Still this subtle +and powerful element was then but little understood; and, in 1752, +Professor Richmann was killed at St. Petersburg while repeating +Franklin’s experiments. Since this period the subject has been treated +continuously by many able and famous men of science. + +The term electricity, as now applied, includes various phenomena of +very different characters; such as magnetism, frictional electricity, +and voltaic electricity. Two general properties may be noted――(1) +polarity and (2) current action. In the first there is a uniformity +through all its modes, and it is the pervading attribute which gives +a distinctive character to all the phenomena: the second peculiarity +of the electric forces is that they can be carried to any distance +through solid conductors, so as to discharge themselves at any point. +Frictional electricity is generated by mechanical force in electrical +machines. + +The practical applications of the electric forces are now numerous, and +all of comparatively recent introduction. Although the idea of applying +electricity to communicate signals was conceived by Watson about the +middle of the last century, the earliest proposal of this appeared +in the _Scots Magazine_ for February, 1753, when a correspondent from +Renfrew, who signed himself C. M., proposed several kinds of telegraphs, +acting by the attractive force of electricity, conveyed by a series +of parallel wires equal in numbers to the letters of the alphabet, and +insulated by supports of glass or jeweller’s cement at every twenty +yards. Words were to be spelt by the electricity attracting letters, or +by striking bells corresponding to letters. Towards the latter part of +the last century and the early part of this various plans of telegraphs +were proposed by different men; but 1837 is the date of the practical +realisation of the electric telegraph. A few years later it began +to be employed in connection with the working of railways; and it is +obvious that the railway system could not have been developed without +the aid of the electric telegraph, or some similar method of rapid and +instantaneous signalling. The modes of electric telegraph have been +much perfected, and the systems of communication immensely developed, +within recent years. + +Among those who have advanced the knowledge of electricity and the +development of its practical application during the past half century, +the veteran Professor of Natural Philosophy in the University of +Glasgow, Lord Kelvin, holds a distinguished place. He has made many +experiments, practical applications, and written much on the subject. + +Submarine electric telegraphs were successfully introduced in 1851, +when the first line between Dover and Calais was opened; and it has +since been greatly developed, and direct telegraphic communication +established between Europe and America many years ago. Electric clocks +were introduced in 1854, and are now common. + +An apparatus for regulating the electric light was first devised +and exhibited by Staite and Petrie in 1848. Jules Duboscq’s electric +lamp was shown at the Paris exhibition in 1855; and, in 1856, it was +employed by Professor Tyndall for illustrating his lectures on light +and colour, which he delivered that year at the Royal Institution in +London. Since, the electric light has been greatly developed, and used +for lighting public buildings, places of business, and the streets of +cities; and if the cost of its production was reduced it would be more +universally used for lighting purposes. + +In 1854, M. Bonelli, of Turin, invented a plan of employing magnets +and electro-magnets in weaving, by which he proposed to supersede the +tedious and costly Jacquard system of cards. His loom was set up in +London in 1859; and, in the summer of 1860, Professor Faraday lectured +upon it at the Royal Institution. There are other applications of +electricity which it is unnecessary to enumerate. + +An exceedingly useful and beautiful application has recently been made +in the science of acoustics, by the invention of the telephone, which +transmits the sounds of spoken language along wires to a considerable +distance. + +In concluding this chapter, the importance of mathematical science +was indicated, and the Scotch mathematicians noticed; Dr. Black’s +researches and discovery of latent heat, and Leslie’s treatment of +radiant heat and experiments were explained; I then indicated the +results of more recent researches and referred to spectrum analysis. +The writings, experiments, observations, and the discoveries of Sir +David Brewster were noticed; and the contributions of several Scotsmen +to geology were noted. The department of mechanical or applied science +was then treated, and the writings of Dr. Robison and his teaching +in this relation were noticed, and the bearing of the discovery of +latent heat on the application of steam-power. A short account of +Watt’s career was given; his experiments on steam, improvements on +the steam-engine, his struggles, and ultimate success, his genius, +accomplishments, and character, were noticed. The early attempts of +steam navigation were explained; and finally some account was presented +of the discovery and the varied applications of electricity. + + + + + CHAPTER XLV. + + _Progress of Medical Science in Scotland in the Eighteenth + and Nineteenth Centuries._ + + +THE aim of this chapter is like the last one, not an attempt to +present a history of the great and important science of medicine in +all its branches, but to indicate what Scotland has contributed to the +progress of this science, and also to give some account of the rise, +the progress, and the organisation of the several institutions in which +this science was taught in our country――in other words, the medical +schools of Scotland. It will therefore, in the first place, indicate +the bases of medical science; in the second, touch briefly on the +prevailing theory in the early part of the eighteenth century; and +in the third, proceed to narrate the advance of medical science in +Scotland, and the establishment of our several medical schools. + +The prime phenomenon presented to medical science is life. The first +requisite of this science, therefore, is to enounce what life consists +of, and more particularly what constitutes human life.――(1) As to +the constituent elements of the human organism; (2) with reference to +its structure; and (3) its functions. In other words, the science of +medicine must be founded on biology; and it rests immediately on that +part of biology termed human anatomy, physiology, and pathology――based +on physiological analysis; and its subsidiary sciences are chemistry, +botany, and some parts of physical science. The development of biology +is gradually leading to a more scientific basis in the science of +medicine, and the necessary conditions of health are becoming better +understood. + +Without entering into many details I shall endeavour to present +the chief features of the prevailing theory in medicine immediately +preceding the time when the Scottish schools began to arise; such a +sketch is interesting in itself, and it will enable us to understand +what Scotland has done in this great department of science. + +Galen, born A.D. 131, was the oracle in medical science for upwards of +1400 years; but, in 1492, Paracelsus was born. The son of a physician, +he determined to follow the profession of his father. He travelled +about in quest of remedies amongst the chemical practitioners of those +times, and from them he learned the use of mercury and antimony, and +of opium. By the application of these remedies he cured many diseases +which had baffled the remedies of the Galenists; and, being a bold man, +he made the most of this, and attained such a reputation that he was +appointed a professor in the University of Basle. In this position +he was forced to employ some method, and seizing on such theories as +then existed among chemists, he formed a system of physic, supported by +much new and meaningless jargon of his own. His lectures were chiefly +employed in recommending his own chemical remedies, and in bold attacks +upon the established schools of physic. He ordered the books of Galen +and Avicenna to be brought into his school and publicly burned as +useless lumber. Thus he formed a sect, and by the middle of the +seventeenth century physicians were divided into the two sects of +Chemists and Galenists.¹ + + ¹ Dr. William Cullen’s Works, Volume I., pages 392‒393. 1827. + +Galenism now fell rapidly in Germany, France, and England. The +philosophy of Descartes had adopted many of the doctrines of the +Chemists, readily united with their system, and established its credit; +and the publication of Harvey’s doctrine of the circulation of the +blood completed the ruin of the Galenic fabric. Bellini applied the +principles of mathematics to the physiology and pathology of medicine; +and his system was so specious and promising, and so consonant with +the reigning philosophy, that it immediately prevailed in Italy. It was +brought to this side of the Alps by Dr. Pitcairn,¹ and soon became the +prevailing system in Holland, England, France, and Germany; and it is +recorded that the followers of this system were always the friends of +observation and experiment, and that they detected and exploded many +false hypothesis. + + ¹ Mackintosh’s _History of Civilisation in Scotland_, Volume + III., page 329. + +At the beginning of the eighteenth century the medical school of Leyden +had a high reputation, which was extended by the celebrated physician +Herman Boerhaave,¹ who was appointed to the Chair of Medicine in this +University in 1701. He digested and taught a medical theory which +held an almost undisputed sway for upwards of half a century. When he +entered the school of Leyden, he found it divided between the chemical +system of Sylvius de le Boe, and the mechanical system of Bellini +and Pitcairn; and he had the discernment to select the most useful +parts from both systems. From ♦Bellini he adopted the doctrines of +obstruction, and of lentor; from the Chemists he took the doctrine +of acid and alkali, but corrected and limited; he also admitted the +doctrine of plethora, the only remains of the Galenic theory which the +discovery of the circulation of the blood seemed to support. Thus he +combined the doctrines of the mechanical or mathematical school and the +Chemists; and, as he possessed good analytic and elaborative faculties, +he produced a system superior to any that had before appeared. He +endeavoured to simplify the study of medicine, and rejected many +useless hypotheses. He lectured on the theory of medicine, botany, and +chemistry, with surprising clearness, and till then unmatched precision; +and students flocked to him from all quarters.² + + ¹ Born in 1668; died 1738. + + ♦ “Belini” replaced with “Bellini” + + ² Hamilton’s _History of Medicine_, Volume II., pages 199‒203: + Dr. Cullen’s Works, Volume I., page 411. + +Boerhaave’s _Aphorism or Practice of Physic_ appeared in 1709, and his +_Institutions or Theory of Physic_ shortly after. These two treatises +contain his system; they passed through many editions, and were +translated into almost every European language, and into Arabic; while +they are remarkable for elegance, clearness, and brevity of style. But +the influence of Descartes’ philosophy appears in his physiology, and +in other parts of his system; and it is a curious fact which has not +been noticed before, that through the teaching of Boerhaave’s system +in Scotland, parts of the philosophy of Descartes reappear in more +than one form in the medical literature of our own country. He adopted +Descartes’ idea of mind and body, and other notions of this philosopher. +Boerhaave in his physiology considered man as composed of two distinct +substances――mind and body; the essential nature of mind is to be +conscious, to think, and to will; but the essential nature of the body +is to be extended and impenetrable. He says “the idea or definition of +body has nothing in common with that of mind; nor has the idea of mind, +on the other hand, anything in common with that of body.” He considered +the study of mind to be an important part of physiology; and so he +gives an exposition of the mental faculties under the heads of the +internal and external senses. He states that “our bodies receive +nothing else from sensible objects, to produce sensation, than a change +in the surface of the nerves excited by the contact of the object. +I do not say that this is to feel, but I say that we feel when this +takes place. Sensation, therefore, is nothing either in the object or +in the nerve affected, but a certain idea which God has assigned to +this particular corporeal change. This is acknowledged by Newton in +the last edition of his _Optics_.” Following Descartes, he assumed +that the change produced upon the extremity of a sentient nerve +must be propagated along the nerve to the brain before sensation +can be produced; until his time, two mechanical explanations of this +phenomenon had been given, one of which considered the nerves as solid +vibratory cords, the other as hollow undulatory canals. Boerhaave +adopted the latter view, and assumed that the change in the sensorium +was nothing more than a repulsion of the nervous fluid against their +origin in the brain. He conceived that the cerebrum controls the +voluntary motions, and the cerebellum, the involuntary; but, as in +other parts of the body, both these classes of motions are performed +together, he assumed that the nerves of these parts must be composed of +fibres, derived partly from the cerebrum and partly from the cerebellum, +and retaining throughout their course a peculiar function according to +the part whence they issue. He was also inclined to believe that each +of the external senses had its own distinct seat in the brain. + +He conceived the human body to be a combination of all sorts of +mechanical contrivances or machines arranged by God into one system, +so as to enable it to maintain its existence for a series of years, +repairing the waste it undergoes from its own motions, and producing +systems similar to itself. Thus, he attempted to explain the phenomena +of the human body by the principles of mechanical philosophy, but +accompanied with some limitations. He says: “I am persuaded that, +even in simple bodies, general laws are insufficient to explain all +the individual phenomena, much less do I suppose them capable of +accounting for those in the human body, the most complex of all. But +if some portions of the human body correspond in their structure with +mechanical instruments, they must be governed by the same laws. For +all the power of these parts is in the motion which they produce; and +motion, by whatever body it is performed, takes place according to +the universal laws of mechanics. There are some who think that those +actions should not be explained by mechanical laws, the mechanical +causes of which are unknown to us. But this is said without an accurate +examination of the matter, for we do not speak of the causes but of +the effects as being governed by mechanical laws. There are many and +considerable motions performed in nature, of the causes of which we +are ignorant; but the motions themselves are governed by supreme and +universally diffused laws. The magnet, the cause of whose action is +wholly unknown to us, performs its motions agreeable to a certain +and ascertained law, which, when once known, can be applied, without +danger of mistake, to future experiments. The human body in like manner +exhibits motions, the causes of which are unknown to us; but their +effects are the elevation of weights by cords affixed to them, the +propulsion of fluids through determinate vessels, and other effects +like those produced by mechanical causes, and they are not governed +by any other laws. So it appears that both parties have erred, the +mechanicians, in attempting to define all things from their art, +without being sufficiently acquainted with the structure of the parts, +the powers of which they expressed by numbers; and those who hated +the very name of mechanics have declared that our body is independent +of those very laws by which all bodies whatsoever are governed. The +misfortune is that such physiological subjects are usually handled +either by mathematicians unskilled in anatomy, or by anatomists who +are not versed in mathematics.”¹ + + ¹ _Institutions._ + +He attempted to explain the contraction of the muscular fibre upon +mathematical principles, and displayed ingenuity and skill, but he +failed to explain this interesting phenomenon. He had, however, a +pretty distinct idea of the use and the abuse of chemistry in medical +science. The following contains in his own words a kind of summary of +his physiological system:――“We are obliged to confess that there are +many truths, and those too of the greatest importance, in the whole of +medical physiology, a knowledge of which can be acquired only by the +assistance of chemistry. But the greatest glory of this valuable art +is, that it alone is able to expose and correct those errors, which +some whimsical dabblers in chemistry had introduced into medicine, as +Boyle, Bohn, Hoffmann, Homberg, and others, have shown by beautiful +examples. Those vain trifling chemists were certainly in the wrong, +who have pretended by their art alone to explain physiology in all its +parts; nor, however, are those less mistaken who imagine they can do +this without chemistry. Let anatomy faithfully describe the parts and +structure of the body; let the mechanician apply his particular science +to the solids; let hydrostatics explain the laws of fluids in general, +and hydraulics their actions, as they move through given canals; and, +lastly, let the chemist add to all these, whatever his art, when fairly +and carefully applied, has been able to discover; and then, if I am not +mistaken, we shall have a complete account of medical physiology.” This +is not a very perfect conception of the human organism. + +But his pathology was more defective than his physiology, and took +less account of the essential functions of the human body; there was +no clear conception of the real normal human organism formed, far less +explained, either upon mathematical or any other principles. + +Such, then, was the state of medical science in the first half of the +eighteenth century; and such was the system which was introduced into +Scotland, and taught in the early stages of the history of our medical +schools, as the following statement from the highest authority shows:―― + +“When I first applied myself to the study of medicine, I learned only +the system of Boerhaave; and even when I came to take a professor’s +chair in this University, I found that system here in its entire and +full force; and as I believe it still subsists in credit elsewhere, and +that no other system of reputation has been yet offered to the world, +I think it necessary for me to point out particularly the imperfections +and the deficiencies of the Boerhaavian system, in order to show the +propriety and necessity of attempting a new one. To execute this, +however, so full as I might, would lead me into a detail that can +hardly be admitted of here, and I hope is not necessary, as I think +that every intelligent person, who has acquired any tolerable knowledge +of the present state of our science, must in many instances perceive +its imperfections. I shall therefore touch only upon the great lines of +this system; and from the remarks I am to offer, I trust that both the +mistakes and the deficiencies which run through the whole of his works +will appear.”¹ I will now proceed to the chief subject of the chapter. + + ¹ Dr. William Cullen’s _Introductory Lectures on the Practice + of Physics_, Volume I., page 412. + +As stated in a preceding volume, the first charter to the surgeons +was granted by the Town Council of Edinburgh in 1506; the science of +medicine, however, had made little progress in Scotland two centuries +later. But towards the end of the seventeenth century a movement began +and various efforts were made to found a medical school in Edinburgh, +which ultimately succeeded. The influences and the efforts which led +up to the founding of the Edinburgh school originated from the outside, +not from within the University itself, in the early stage of its +history. As stated in the last volume, the College of Physicians in +Edinburgh was incorporated in 1681;¹ and the old College of Surgeons +got a royal charter in 1694, and at the same time a grant from the Town +Council of unclaimed dead bodies. The anatomical theatre was opened +in 1697. Thus the incorporated physicians and surgeons began to form +a medical school outside the University; and afterwards some of the +members of these bodies were taken into the University as professors. +In this way the great medical school of Edinburgh arose, and it has +continued to be surrounded by extra-mural teachers, some of whom were +highly distinguished members of the profession. + + ¹ Mackintosh’s _History of Civilisation in Scotland_, Volume + III., page 369. + +In 1705, Robert Elliot, a member of the College of Surgeons, was +elected by his fellow-members as the special teacher of anatomy; +and the Town Council recognised his appointment under the title of +Professor of Anatomy in the University, and for his encouragement +granted him a salary of £15: thus Elliot became the first Professor of +Anatomy in the University of Edinburgh. The teaching of chemistry was +recognised by the University in 1713, when James Craufurd, a pupil of +Boerhaave, was appointed Professor of Medicine and Chemistry. He was +succeeded in 1726, by Andrew Plummer, a graduate of Leyden and a pupil +of Boerhaave. He lectured ably upon chemical pharmacy for twenty-nine +years. He was the author of the preparation known under the name +of Plummer’s Pill; and it was recorded that he was a man of varied +knowledge and accomplishments. The study of botany was recognised +by the University authorities in 1676; and Dr. Charles Preston, the +second professor of this useful branch of knowledge, was appointed in +1706. The following year he issued an advertisement in the _Edinburgh +Courant_ to this effect: “Dr. Preston teaches his lessons of botany +in the Physic Garden at Edinburgh, the months of May, June, July, and +August, 1707. Therefore, all gentlemen and others, who are desirous +to learn the said science of botany, may repair to the said garden, +where attendance will be given.” Botany as a subject for lectures in +a class-room scarcely then existed. + +John Munro, a military surgeon, who had served in King William’s +army, retired and settled in Edinburgh early in the century, and was +president of the College of Surgeons in 1712. He had an only son, +Alexander Munro, who was carefully educated by his father. In 1717, +young Munro, at the age of twenty, was sent to study anatomy under +Cheselden, in London; subsequently he proceeded to Paris, where he +studied anatomy under M. Bouquet, and attended classes in the hospitals; +whence to Leyden, and placed himself under Boerhaave, who gave a +favourable report of his pupil’s progress. He returned to Scotland in +1719, and was admitted a member of the College of Surgeons. + +In January, 1720, Alexander Munro was appointed professor of anatomy in +the University of Edinburgh, and soon after commenced lecturing in the +surgeons’ theatre. In 1726, Doctors Andrew Sinclair and John Rutherford +were appointed professors of the theory and practice of medicine; and +thus the faculty then consisted of a chair of anatomy, three professors +of medicine, a professor of chemistry, and a professor of botany. These +professors were appointed for life, and this was the first regular +establishment of the medical faculty in the University of Edinburgh. + +Munro started his course of lectures with a class of fifty-seven +students, and the class gradually increased in numbers. For the first +ten years the average number was sixty-seven, for the second one +hundred and nine, and for the third one hundred and forty-seven: +students joined his class from all parts of Scotland, England and +Ireland. His course of instruction was a comprehensive one, and +embraced surgery as well as anatomy; and he illustrated his teaching +by dissections of the human body, and of animals, birds, and fishes, +for comparison. After explaining the anatomy of each part, he treated +of its diseases, especially the organs which required operations, and +concluded his course with a few lectures on physiology. He delivered +this course continuously for thirty-eight years, and spoke without +notes except for the names and dates. + +In 1726, he published his work on _The Human Bones_, which passed +through eight editions in his lifetime, and was translated into most of +the European languages; and it contributed much to raise the reputation +of the Edinburgh medical school. The whole of his writings have been +collected and published in one large volume. It was also mainly by the +exertions of ♦Monro and Provost Drummond that the Royal Infirmary of +Edinburgh was erected, endowed, and incorporated, the foundation stone +of which was laid in 1738. When it was opened Monro attended it and +delivered lectures on surgery;¹ the clinical lectures were begun in +1746. + + ♦ Author switched spelling from “Munro” to “Monro”. + Transcriber left as printed. + + ¹ Monro was the originator of the Medical Society, formed in + 1732, for the publication of papers on medical subjects, + and he was appointed its secretary, and the editor of + the six volumes of medical essays and observations which + it published. In 1739, on the suggestion of Maclaurin, + the mathematician, its scope was extended to subjects of + philosophy and literature; but its meetings were interrupted + for some years by the Rebellion. In 1752, they were + renewed, and, under the name of The Philosophical Society + of Edinburgh, the first volume of its _Transactions_ was + published in 1754, the second in 1756, and the third in 1771; + but in 1782, a scheme was proposed for the establishment of + a society on a wider plan for the culture of every branch of + science and taste; and the Royal Society of Edinburgh, which + included all the members of the Philosophical Society, and + many other eminent men, was formed and incorporated by royal + charter in 1783. + +In 1758, Dr. Monro resigned the chair of anatomy to his son, and +devoted himself for the remaining nine years of his life to practice, +and to lecturing in the Infirmary as one of the clinical professors. He +died in 1767, in the seventieth year of his age. His merits have been +summed up, by a well qualified Professor thus:―― + +“He had family and friends influential and plenty, but the work he had +to do was of a kind at which friends could only stand and look on. He +had to do a new thing in Edinburgh: to teach anatomy, and to provide +for the study of it, in a town of then only thirty thousand inhabitants, +and in a half-civilised and politically disturbed country; he had +to gather in students, to persuade others to join him in teaching, +and to get an infirmary built. All this he did, and at the same time +established his fame not only as a teacher but as a man of science, +and gave a name to the Edinburgh school which benefited still more +the generation which followed him. This really great and good man, +therefore, well earned the title often given him, of father of the +Edinburgh medical school.”¹ + + ¹ Professor Struthers, _Historical Sketch of the Edinburgh + Anatomical School_, page 25 (1867); compare Hamilton’s + _History of Medicine_, Volume II., pages 296‒299. + +A chair of midwifery was regularly established in the University in +1739――Mr. Robert Smith being appointed by the town council “professor +of midwifery in this city’s College, with the same privileges and +immunities which the other professors in the said College do enjoy, or +that are known to appertain to a professor of midwifery in any other +well-regulated city or place.” It is well known that the institution +of this chair, like most of the other chairs connected with medicine +in Edinburgh, originated with the Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons. +The Town Council had before, in 1726, on the recommendations of the +Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons, appointed Mr. Joseph Gibson +“professor of midwifery in this city, with power to him to profess and +teach the said art, in as large extent as it is taught in any city or +place where this profession is already instituted.” But Gibson had no +chair in the University, he was merely appointed to teach in the city.¹ +A separate chair of materia medica was instituted in 1768; and a chair +of natural history was established by the Crown in 1767. + + ¹ _Burgh Records of Edinburgh_; Professor A. R. Simpson’s + _Introductory Lecture on the History of the Chair of + Midwifery, etc._, pages 9‒10. + +Dr. Cullen and Dr. Black contributed greatly to raise and to maintain +the reputation of the Edinburgh medical school, of the teaching and +discoveries of the latter, I have already spoken in the last chapter. +Dr. Cullen was born at Hamilton on the 15th of April, 1710; his father +was a writer, and acted as factor to the Duke of Hamilton. He received +the rudiments of education at the Grammar School of Hamilton, and +afterward studied at the University of Glasgow. He was apprenticed +with Mr. John Paisley, a practising doctor in Glasgow: to serve an +apprenticeship was then almost the only way in which a knowledge of +medicine could be obtained in Scotland. His master, though engaged +in a large practice, had collected an extensive and valuable medical +library; and Cullen fully availed himself of the advantages which +it presented. When his medical studies were completed at Glasgow, in +the end of 1729, he went to London, with the object of obtaining some +situation in which he might have opportunities of acquiring a practical +knowledge of his profession. He obtained an appointment as surgeon to +a merchant ship engaged in trading to the West Indies; and during her +voyage she remained for six months at Porto Bello, and this and other +circumstances connected with the voyage gave him an opportunity of +seeing many new scenes and peculiarities of life and manners. After +returning from the West Indies, he remained for some time in London, +and attended the shop of an apothecary in Henrietta Street. At this +time he seems to have specially directed his attention to materia +medica. + +He returned to Scotland about the end of the year 1731, and was invited +by Captain Cleland to live in his family and attend to the health of +his son, in the parish of Shotts, near Hamilton. This was a very good +locality for Dr. Cullen to commence the practice of his profession. +After practising here for about two years, he resolved to devote his +attention entirely to medical studies for some time, preparatively +to starting as a practitioner in Hamilton. With this view he went +to the village of Rothbury, in Northumberland, where he lived with +a dissenting clergyman, and chiefly occupied himself in the study of +philosophy and general literature, which would partly account for the +wide and accurate knowledge of the history of philosophic thought which +appears in his writings. + +In 1734, he entered the University of Edinburgh and attended the +medical classes for two years. On finishing his courses at Edinburgh, +in the spring of 1736, he commenced business as a surgeon in Hamilton; +and in a short time he obtained a good practice. Soon after his +settlement in Hamilton, Dr. Cullen became the friend and the medical +preceptor of the well-known Dr. William Hunter, whose genius and love +of study were so congenial with his own; and their friendship continued +till the death of Dr. Hunter in 1783. Dr. Hunter retained to the end +of his life a warm feeling of gratitude for Cullen, and never omitted +an opportunity of acknowledging how much he owed to him. Dr. Cullen +removed from Hamilton to Glasgow in 1744, where he had a wider sphere +for the exercise of his genius and his great talents. He thought that +a medical school could be established in Glasgow, and his foresight was +well founded. + +He applied to the authorities of the University for leave to deliver +lectures on the theory and practice of medicine, chemistry, and botany, +so bold and comprehensive was the grasp of principles which he had +attained. The authorities acceded to his request, and his first courses +of lectures were delivered in the University of Glasgow in 1746; and +they mark an era in the history of medicine in Scotland. In the first +place, he laid aside the use of Latin in the composition and delivery +of his lectures, which appeared to many a rash and unpardonable +innovation; in the second, he had the courage and discrimination to +reject the use of the ♦_Institutions_ and _Aphorisms_ of Boerhaave +as text-books, which were then generally used in the medical schools +of Europe; in the third, he struck out new lines himself; and in the +fourth, he was the first in Britain who assigned to chemistry its +proper position as a science of great importance, and susceptible +of wide application. In his introductory lectures on this memorable +occasion he referred to the advantages which a teacher has when he +explains his own ideas and writings, instead of commenting upon those +of others, and then adds:――“I ought to give a text-book myself, but +shall not attempt it, till after a little more experience in teaching. +In the meantime, I shall endeavour to supply its place by an easy, +clear order and method, so that the want of it may be less felt;” +and in allusion to his attempting to lecture from notes, he remarked: +――“Written lectures might be more correct in the diction and fluent in +the style; but they would take up too much time, that may be rendered +otherwise useful. I shall be as correct as possible, but perhaps a +familiar style will prove more agreeable than a formal one, and the +delivery more fitted to command attention.”¹ + + ♦ “Iustitutions” replaced with “Institutions” + + ¹ Dr. John Thomson’s _Life of Cullen_, Volume I., pages 4‒28. + +In 1747, in accordance with the plan which he had formed of +establishing a regular medical school in the University of Glasgow, +Cullen was appointed Professor of Chemistry. At the commencement of +his second course of chemistry, he printed and distributed among his +students, “The Plan of a Course of Chemical Lectures and Experiments, +directed chiefly to the improvement of arts and manufactures, to be +given in the Laboratory of the College, during the session 1748.” +At this time he specially directed his attention to investigate the +application of chemistry to the useful arts. He suggested various +improvements in the art of bleaching, and proposed an improved method +for the manufacture or purification of common salt. Some of the +difficulties which he had to encounter in his efforts to present +a comprehensive account of chemical phenomena were thus stated by +himself:―― + +“Chemistry is an art that has furnished the world with a great number +of useful facts, and has thereby contributed to the improvement of +many arts; but these facts lie scattered in many different books, +involved in obscure terms, mixed with many falsehoods, and joined to +a great deal of false philosophy; so that it is no great wonder that +chemistry has not been so much studied as might have been expected with +regard to so useful a branch of knowledge, and that many professors +are themselves but very superficially acquainted with it. But it +was particularly to be expected, that, since it has been taught in +Universities, the difficulties in this study should have been in some +measure removed, that the art should have been put into form, and a +system of it attempted――the scattered facts collected and arranged in +a proper order. But this has not yet been done; chemistry has not yet +been taught but upon a very narrow plan. The teachers of it have still +confined themselves to the purposes of pharmacy and medicine, and that +comprehends a small branch of chemistry; and even that, by being a +single branch, could not by itself be tolerably explained. I do not +choose the invidious task of derogating from established reputations; +but were it necessary, I could easily show that the most celebrated +attempts towards a system or course of chemistry are extremely +incomplete, as examining but a few of the objects of chemistry; that of +those examined a very scanty and imperfect account of their relations +to other bodies is given, and that, even what is given, is in a method +inconvenient and faulty. Now this is the case with the generality +of the books on chemistry; but I must take notice, however, that Dr. +Stahl is one who has endeavoured to avoid these faults; he has taught +chemistry with a more general view, and attempted to collect the +chemical facts, and to arrange them in better order.... From what I +have said, you will judge of the state of chemical learning, and what +a difficult task I undertook when I engaged to teach chemistry, and +it is very necessary to tell you, that I did not engage in it from +any confidence of my abilities, but because it was thought proper to +be undertaken, and nobody else was found to do it; and if I can be so +lucky as to engage you to apply to the study, I dare say that the more +you become acquainted with it, the less will my performance need an +apology with you.” + +In the end of the year 1753, he sent to the Philosophical Society of +Edinburgh a paper entitled, “Some Reflections on the Study of Chemistry, +and an essay towards ascertaining the different species of Salts.” This +paper contains more wide and precise information touching the general +properties and relations of the different species of salts than is +to be found in any chemical work of the period; and especially the +distinctive characters and compounds of soda, a substance then not +generally admitted in this country to differ specifically from potash.¹ + + ¹ Thomson’s _Life of Dr.Cullen_, Volume I., pages 57, 58. + +Cullen’s reputation was rising rapidly, and in 1751 he was formally +appointed to the Chair of the Practice of Medicine in the University of +Glasgow, but also continued to lecture on chemistry as well as medicine +for the next five years. It was a bright period in the history of this +University. Adam Smith was then delivering within its walls a part of +the rich store of information which afterwards appeared in the _Wealth +of Nations_, while Cullen was laying a better foundation for medicine +and the progress of medical science. + +But he was appointed Professor of Chemistry in the University of +Edinburgh, and entered upon the duties of the chair in the beginning of +the year 1756. He then extended and carefully improved his lectures on +chemistry, and prepared as an introduction to his course seven lectures +giving a history of chemical science, which are fine specimens of that +branch of scientific exposition. He occupied the chair of chemistry +in Edinburgh ten years, but his class was not a very large one. During +his first course of lectures the number of students was only seventeen; +in the second it rose to fifty-nine; and it gradually increased, the +highest number reached in one session being one hundred and forty-five. +He also commenced to deliver clinical lectures in the Royal Infirmary +in 1757, instead of Professor Rutherford, whose health was failing. + +In 1766 he was appointed to the chair of institutes of medicine; +his predecessor in the chair was an able man.¹ But Cullen taught +the institutes of medicine with marked success. He divided the main +subject into three divisions――physiology, pathology, and therapeutics +――embracing the consideration of health, disease, and remedy. After +delivering his historical introduction, he commenced thus:―― + + ¹ Robert Whytt was one of the luminaries of the rising medical + school; and was professor of the institutes of medicine from + 1747, till his death in 1766, in the fifty-second year of + his age. He is the author of a treatise _On the Vital and + other Involuntary motions in Animals_, which attracted the + attention of many physiologists; and of a work _On Nervous, + Hysteric Diseases, and on the Sympathy of the Nerves_, a + treatise in advance of the age, which contributed to the + progress of medical science in the latter part of the + eighteenth century. + +“Medicine is the art of preventing and curing diseases. The common +language is that ‘Medicine is the art of preserving health and of +curing diseases;’ but I have said, the art of preventing diseases; for +although I do not deny that the preserving of health is the object of +the physician’s care, yet I maintain that there is truly no other means +of preserving health but what consists in preventing diseases. Every +other idea is false, and has led to superfluous, very often dangerous, +practice. I say, that health being properly understood, we cannot add +to it, nor increase its powers. There is never room for our art, but +when there is some defect in the constitution――some bias and tendency +towards disease; and it is only by preventing this tendency, by +correcting these defects, that is, by preventing disease, that we can +preserve health. + +“What we call the practice is the art applied to particular diseases +and persons. But before considering the application of this art to +particular diseases, certain general doctrines are necessary to be +premised, which are called the Institutes of Medicine.” He describes +physiology thus:―― + +“The doctrine which explains the conditions of the body and of the mind +necessary to life and health, is called Physiology, or the Doctrine +of the Animal Economy――I mean that physiology considers the matter +of which the body is formed in its mixed, in its aggregation, and, +especially, in its organisation or mechanism. With regard to the +conditions of the body, physiology considers everything that natural +philosophy, chemistry, or anatomy teaches with regard to it. But you +are to observe that philosophy, chemistry, and anatomy consider the +state of the body, and its several parts, abstracted from its several +effects. The business of physiology is only to explain the conditions +which these several sciences point out as applicable to the exercise +of the functions of the body. + +“I have added here a particular to my physiology that is not +common――and ‘of the mind.’ ... However the condition of the mind may +ultimately arise, we often do see conditions of mind arise, that we +cannot trace to a corporeal cause; while at the same time they may +produce very considerable effects upon the bodily state; so that it +was necessary to say physiology referred to the conditions of the mind, +as well as to those of the body. So far from being able to neglect the +mind, the most considerable functions are connected with particular +operations ... and, indeed, I find that the conditions of the human +mind must engage our intention more than they have done hitherto.”¹ +Accordingly he treats at considerable length on sensation and the +functions of the brain. + + ¹ Cullen’s Works, Volume I., pages 3‒6; 1827. + +On the death of John Gregory in 1773, Cullen became professor of the +practice of physic, and held this chair for seventeen years with great +advantage to the medical school, the University, the nation, and the +world. He resigned his chair in the end of the year 1789, and he died +on 5th February, 1790. He had been a professor in the medical faculty +of the University of Edinburgh for a period of thirty-four years, and a +lecturer and professor in the University of Glasgow for nine years, so +that he had been a hard-working professor for a period of forty-three +years. As a teacher he was remarkably successful, he had all the +qualifications of a great expositor――vast and accurate knowledge, +analytic powers of the first order, a mastery of method and systematic +development, and a copious command of appropriate language; an +intellect of a philosophic and original cast which threw new light on +many points; in short, a genius who never failed to make every subject +which he handled clear and interesting. He was highly respected and +beloved by all earnest students of medicine, and many of his pupils +rose to eminence.¹ He took a keen interest in everything connected +with or bearing on medical science, and his sagacity, judgment, and +practical experience were invaluable to the Universities of Glasgow and +Edinburgh, and to the nation. + + ¹ I shall give an indication of his method from his _Nosology_: + ――“The several diseases to be treated of are determined by + the nosology. What I call a genus is everywhere to afford + to me a particular subject of discourse; and under each of + these heads I shall treat the following subject. + + “First, I am to give what may be called the History of the + disease――of the genus, that is, and an account of all the + special phenomena which constantly attends the appearance + of such a disease, as they are severally combined together, + or occur in succession. Secondly, the investigation of + the proximate cause, on the knowledge of which the cure of + the disease is chiefly and almost unavoidably founded.... + Thirdly, from the phenomena of the disease, and with a view + to the conclusion respecting the proximate cause. I am next + to enter into a critical disquisition with regard to the + proper character and limits of every genus, and its division + into species and varieties.... Fourthly, we shall proceed + to the consideration of the remote causes, upon which the + prevention of diseases chiefly depends.... Fifthly, we shall + proceed to the prognostic.... The sixth and last article is + that for which all the others are intended, viz., the method + of cure.... You have thus, gentlemen, my plan for treating + the several heads――the several genera of diseases which are + to enter into my course.... I wish to make you critics in + nosology; but this I shall perhaps find a difficult task. + Perfect division and definition is the summit of human + knowledge in every part of science, and requires not only + the clearest but the most comprehensive views, such as, with + respect to diseases, we can arrive at only by often-repeated + exercises and much study.”――_Works_, Volume I., pages + 440‒445. + +His chief works are:――(1) _Institutions of Medicine_, 1777; (2) _First +Lines of the practice of Physic_; (3) _Synopsis Nosologiæ Methodicæ_, +1785; (4) _Treatise of the Materia Medica_; (5) Various lectures and +papers. Both his teaching and his writings have had great influence in +advancing medical science, in almost every branch, and especially the +nervous system of the human organism. This was owing not simply to the +number of new facts which he discovered or the generalisations which +he formed, but chiefly to the original characteristics, and the method +of his teaching, which was admirably calculated to interest and arrest +the attention and stimulate the powers of those who came under its +influence. His own mind was comprehensive, the extent of his acquired +information even outside of his special profession was vast and varied, +and his knowledge of recorded philosophic thought was remarkable. + +Dr. John Gregory succeeded his father as professor of medicine in +King’s College, Aberdeen, in 1755; and, in 1766, he was appointed +professor of the practice of physic in the University of Edinburgh. In +his introductory lectures he treated on “The Duties and Qualifications +of a Physician,” and these were afterwards published. In 1770, he +published his _Elements of the Practice of Physic_, for the use of +his class. He died in 1773, in the forty-ninth year of his age; and +was succeeded in the chair by Dr. Cullen. He was the author of the +well-known work, _A Comparative View of the Faculties of Man with those +of the Animal World_. His son, James Gregory, also became a professor. + +James Gregory was born at Aberdeen in 1753, and went to Edinburgh with +his father; he was the great grandson of James Gregory the celebrated +Professor of Mathematics, and himself the sixteenth Professor that had +sprung from the loins of David Gregory of Kinairdy.¹ He was appointed +Professor of Institutes of Medicine in 1776; and in 1788, he published +a text-book for the use of his class, entitled _Conspectus Medicinæ +Theoreticæ_, which was much admired for its elegant Latinity; it was +adopted as a text-book in several of the German Universities. On the +retirement of Dr. Cullen, Gregory was transferred to the Chair of the +Practice of Physic, which he held till his death in 1821. Thus he had +taught in the University for the long period of forty-five years. He +took an active part in questions touching Infirmary management, and +engaged in hot disputes with his brethren on these matters. + + ¹ It appears to me that an account of the careers of the + distinguished members of this family of Gregories would form + a very interesting subject for a volume or two among the + tomes to be printed by the New Spalding Club. + +Dr. Andrew Duncan, a son of a merchant, was born at St. Andrews on +the 17th October, 1744. He entered the University of St. Andrews, and +graduated Master of Arts in 1762. He then proceeded to the University +of Edinburgh and pursued his medical studies, and completed his course +in 1769. In the absence of Dr. Drummond, during the sessions of 1774‒5 +and 1775‒6, Duncan delivered lectures on the theory of medicine in +the University of Edinburgh, while he undertook the editorship of a +periodical work entitled _Medical and Philosophical Commentaries_. This +publication contained an account of the best new books on medicine, +and the cognate branches of science; medical cases and observations; +and the most recent medical intelligence. It was published quarterly, +forming one volume annually, and continued till 1795 under his +editorship, when it had extended to twenty volumes. Subsequently he +continued it under the title of _Annals of Medicine_ to 1804, when +he ceased to act as editor. In 1805 its title was changed to the +_Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal_, and under the editorship +of Dr. Duncan’s son, it became one of the leading medical Journals in +Europe. + +On the transference of Dr. Gregory to the chair vacated by Dr. Cullen, +Dr. Duncan was appointed to the chair of the Institutes of Medicine in +1790. He was an able and successful professor, and much esteemed. The +style of his lectures was clear and direct, and excellent specimens +of instructive exposition. He showed great interest in his pupils, +often inviting them to his house, and cultivating a kindly intercourse +with them. His sympathies were wide and warm. Having often seen the +sad condition and suffering of insane persons, he originated a plan +for the erection and endowment of a Lunatic Asylum, which he brought +before the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in 1792. After +many difficulties had been surmounted, a petition was presented to +the King, who granted a royal charter in April 1807, under which a +Lunatic Asylum was built and opened at Morningside. In September 1808 +the Town Council of Edinburgh presented Dr. Duncan with the freedom of +the City, as a public recognition of his services to the community by +the establishment of the Lunatic Asylum, and also a public Dispensary. +After a long and useful life, he expired on the 5th of July, 1828, in +the eighty-fourth year of his age. He was the author of a considerable +number of works, including _Elements of Therapeutics_, _Medical +Commentaries_, _Medical Cases and Observations_, _Heads of lectures +on the Theory and Practice of Physic_, _Essay on Consumption_, and +other treatises. He bequeathed to the Royal College of Physicians of +Edinburgh, one hundred volumes of practical observations in his own +hand-writing, which he had used as notes for his clinical lectures. + +His son, Andrew Duncan, was born at Edinburgh on the 10th of August, +1773. While a boy, he had pored over medical books; and at the age of +fourteen he entered on an apprenticeship of five years with Messrs. A. +& G. Wood, Surgeons. Afterwards he went through the courses of Arts and +Medicine, at the University of Edinburgh, and graduated M.A. in 1793, +and M.D. in 1794. Subsequently he studied a winter in London; and made +two sojourns to the Continent, staying in each of the notable medical +schools of Germany and Italy long enough to study under the professors, +visit the hospitals, and acquire some knowledge of the languages and +literatures of these countries. On returning to Edinburgh, he joined +the College of Physicians; and issued his great work on materia medica, +entitled the _Edinburgh Dispensatory_, which for many years was a +standard authority in the medical schools of Europe. He was appointed +professor of Medical Jurisprudence in 1807; as stated in a preceding +page, he was editor of the _Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal_. +His lectures in the chair, and the papers which he produced in his +_Journal_ on this subject excited much interest both among his students +and the medical profession. He taught in this chair for thirteen years; +and in 1819 he was appointed professor of the institutes of medicine, +which he held for two years. In 1821 he was transferred to the chair +of materia medica, of which he was an able and careful teacher till +1832. As a professor in three chairs, he was remarkably successful and +industrious; and made continual additions to his courses of lectures. +He was also a very active and efficient member of the Senatus; and +rendered invaluable service as a member of “the College Commission” for +rebuilding the University. Besides the important work mentioned above, +he contributed many articles on medical subjects to his own _Journal_, +to the _Encyclopædia Britannica_, and the _Edinburgh Review_. His +experiments on Peruvian bark, and on other substances contributed to +advance pharmaceutical science. After a career of incessant and useful +work, he died in 1832, at the age of fifty-nine. + +As stated in a preceding page, Dr. Monro, the first Professor of +Anatomy, was succeeded by his son, Alexander Monro. He was born in 1733, +and educated in Edinburgh. After taking his degree in the University, +he proceeded to London, Leyden, Paris, and Berlin, and in these cities +he spent two years and a half in extending and completing his medical +studies. + +He returned to Edinburgh in 1758, and shortly after entered on his +duties as Professor of Anatomy. He began his course of instruction in +the University with vigour and boldness, and it was at once seen that +he was master of his subject and of the art of expounding knowledge. +His style was easy, clear, argumentative, and impressive; and from the +first his career through half a century was a marked success. + +The number of students attending his courses of lectures continued +to increase; yet he found time to carry on a large practice, being +one of the leading physicians of his day, and he was often consulted +in important surgical cases. He also found time to produce works of +original research in anatomical science; and thus raised his fame +at home and abroad, and contributed to extend the reputation of the +Edinburgh medical school. + +Omitting several of his papers and minor publications, Monro’s chief +works are:――(1) _Observations on the Structure and Functions of +the Nervous System_, which appeared in 1783; (2) _The Structure and +Physiology of Fishes explained and compared with those of Man and other +Animals_, 1785; (3) _Experiments on the Nervous System, relative to the +Nature and Effects of Animal Electricity_, 1793; (4) _Observations on +the Muscles, and particularly on the Effects of their Oblique fibres_, +1794; (5) _The Brain, the Eye, and the Ear_, 1794.¹ These works gave +him a reputation as an able anatomist. But it may be remarked that +he had no difficulties to overcome, that he had only to step into a +ready-made position and every advantage to start with, and that in +such circumstances success was comparatively easy; nevertheless, he +held his place with distinction and merit, alongside a body of able +and brilliant colleagues and contemporaries, which is the greatest +praise that can be given him. He died in 1817, at the advanced age of +eighty-four years. + + ¹ Professor Struthers in his _Historical Sketch of the + Edinburgh Anatomical School_, states that manuscript volumes + of notes of Monro’s lectures on anatomy, physiology, and + surgery are preserved in many private and public libraries. + ――Page 32. + +His son Alexander was appointed Joint-Professor and successor to his +father in the Chair of Anatomy, and from 1808 to 1846 he discharged the +duties of the Chair. Thus the three Monros in succession held the Chair +of Anatomy in the University of Edinburgh for a period of one hundred +and twenty-six years: the first Monro occupied it from 1720 till 1758, +the second from 1758 to 1808, and the third from 1808 till 1846, when +he retired. + +The third Monro was an accomplished man, fond of paintings, and spoke +Latin fluently. But it was recorded that his talents as a teacher of +anatomy were not equal to that of his father or his grandfather. The +circumstances, however, were changed: there was then a greater number +of men well qualified to teach anatomy and surgery, and the spirit of +the time had become more critical and exacting than it was a hundred +years before. Remembering this, there seems to be some ground, not for +reversing the accepted verdict, but of somewhat modifying the opinion +of the merits of the third Monro. + +His writings are numerous and manifest great industry, if not original +powers. The following are his most important works:――(1) _Dissertation +on the varied direction of the Fibres of the Muscles_, 1812; (2) +_Elements of the Anatomy of the Human Body_, in two volumes, 1825; (3) +_The Anatomy of the Brain, with some Observations on its Functions_, +1831; (4) _Observations on the Different Kinds of Small Pox_, 1818. He +died in 1859, at the great age of eighty-five years. + +On the retirement of Monro, in 1846, Mr. John Goodsir was appointed +professor of anatomy. He had gained some experience as an extra-mural +lecturer, and was a remarkably successful teacher; he rendered his +special subject more interesting by extending the scope of illustration +to allied branches of science. He died in 1867, and was succeeded by +William Turner. + +During the greater part of the period under review, there was much +extra-mural teaching in Edinburgh, and sometimes very able men engaged +in it; I can only, however, notice a few of them. The elder Dr. Duncan, +noticed in a preceding page, was among the first extra-mural lecturers +on medicine in Edinburgh. He commenced lecturing extra-murally +on medicine in 1775, and continued it for fifteen years, and +attracted a considerable number of students to his class. John Bell, +a distinguished anatomist and surgeon, was born in May, 1763. After +finishing his medical education in Edinburgh, he travelled for some +time in Russia and the north of Europe, but returned to Edinburgh in +1786, and was entered as a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. In +1787, he commenced lecturing on surgery and midwifery, and his lectures +were numerously attended. But it seems that some jealousy existed among +a few of the professors of the University towards the lecturers of the +Surgeons’ Hall; accordingly Bell was vehemently assailed by pamphlets +and squibs spread over the city. The assailants, as often happens, had +greatly under-estimated the powers of their enemy; for in his replies +to their attacks he wielded his weapons with such force and effect +that his blows staggered some of them and surprised them all, insomuch +that on the main issue he won the day. Bell continued to teach anatomy +and surgery till the last year of the eighteenth century, when he was +deprived of his connection with the Surgical Hospital; he then retired +and devoted himself to practice, and to the composition of his works. +As a practitioner he attained the position of the leading operating +and consulting surgeon of his time in Edinburgh; and his reputation +drew patients from all parts of Britain and the Continent. He was also +a cultured man, well versed in ancient and modern literature, a good +musician, and skilful artist, while as a teacher, he was a ready and +polished speaker, and master of a bold and vivid style. He died at Rome +in 1820, in the fifty-seventh year of his age.¹ + + ¹ Professor Struthers’ _Historical Sketch of the Edinburgh + Anatomical School_, pages 39‒42. “He was the reformer of + Surgery in Edinburgh. He was not only a bold and dexterous + operator, but combined all the qualities, natural and + acquired, of a great surgeon to an extraordinary degree; + he was original and fearless, and a thorough anatomist; he + had intellect, nerve, and also language――was master alike of + head, hand, and tongue or pen; and he was laborious as well + as brilliant.”――_Ibid._, page 43. + +His chief works are:――1. _The Anatomy of the Human Body_, published +in 1793‒97, in three volumes, which contained the most complete +view of the progress and discoveries in anatomy up to the date of +its publication. 2. _Engravings of the Bones, Muscles, and Joints_, +illustrating the first volume of his _Anatomy of the Human Body_; they +were drawn and engraved by himself, and appeared in 1794. 3. _On the +Nature and Cure of Wounds_, 4. _Principles of Surgery_, 1801‒8, in +three volumes. + +He taught his younger brother Charles Bell¹ anatomy and surgery; and +when John retired he continued to instruct his class for several years. +But Charles Bell went to London in 1804, to seek his fortune in a wider +sphere, and for years he had to struggle with many difficulties. He +began to teach in London with three of a class, and it was long ere it +reached the number of forty. In 1811, he became one of the lecturers +in the Hunterian School of Anatomy in Windmill Street, and in 1814 he +was appointed surgeon to the Middlesex Hospital. At length he attained +a high reputation in London both as a teacher and man of science. In +1836, the Chair of Surgery in the University was offered to him, and +he accepted it and returned home. + + ¹ Born in 1774; died in 1842. + +A Chair of Clinical Surgery was instituted in the University of +Edinburgh, 1803; at the same time the College of Surgeons established +a Chair of Surgery. But the Chair of Surgery in the University was +reconstituted in 1831, and the same year a Chair of Pathology was +established. Thus Sir Charles Bell was the second Professor of Surgery +in the University, after a separate Chair was assigned to it, although +a Chair for Military Surgery was established in 1803, it was abolished +in 1823. During the reign of the Munros they claimed the exclusive +right of being Professors of Surgery as well as Anatomy within the +walls of the University, and this delayed the establishment of a Chair +of Surgery. + +Sir Charles Bell discharged the functions of the Chair of Surgery +with marked ability and success for five years; and also worked at his +writings and researches. He died on the 27th of April, 1842. He was +among the greatest men that have ever taught in this University, and +the only regret is, that it was so long of securing his service. His +researches and discoveries touching the nerves and the nervous system +are well known, and were recognised throughout Europe long since. He +was not only great in the science of the human organism in all its +branches, but also a cultured and accomplished gentleman, skilled in +the highest and most delicate operations of mind and hand. + +Sir Charles’ works are:――(1) _System of Dissections_, in three volumes, +1798‒1803; (2) _Engravings of the Arteries_, 1801; (3) _Engraving of +the Nerves_, 1801; (4) _Engravings of the Brain_, 1802; (5) _The +Anatomy of Expression in Painting_, 1806; (6) _System of Operative +Surgery_, in two volumes, 1807‒9; (7) _On Diseases of the Urethra_, +1810; (8) _Engravings of Specimens of Morbid Parts_, 1813; (9) _Gunshot +Wounds_, 1814; (10) _Surgical Operations_, in two volumes, 1816‒18; +(11) _On the Forces which circulate in the Blood_, 1819; (12) _On the +Nervous System_, 1821; (13) _Illustrations of the Great Operations in +Surgery_, 1821; (14) _Treatise on the Diseases of some of the Internal +Organs_, 1822; (15) _Observations on Injuries of the Spine, and of the +Thigh Bone_, 1824; (16) New edition of John and Charles Bell’s _Anatomy +and Physiology_, 1829; (17) Bridgewater Treatise, _On the Hand_, +1833; (18) _Institutes of Surgery_, arranged in the order of lectures +delivered in the University of Edinburgh, in two volumes, 1838; (19) +_Practical Essays_, in two volumes, 1841; (20) Letters to the Members +of Parliament for the city of Edinburgh, on two Bills before Parliament, +for improving the medical profession. + +Regarding other extra mural lecturers, Dr. John Barclay lectured on +anatomy in Edinburgh from 1797 to 1825, and by his attention and marked +ability attracted a considerable number of medical students. From 1804 +onward he had a class of about three hundred. He also published several +treatises on anatomical and physiological subjects. Barclay was a wit +as well as a man of science, of which the following is a characteristic +specimen:――“Gentlemen, while carrying on your work in the dissecting +room, beware of making anatomical discoveries, and above all beware +of rushing with them into print. Our precursors have left us little to +discover. You may perhaps meet with a trifling supernumerary muscle or +tendon, a slight deviation or extra branchlet of an artery, or perhaps +a minute stray twig of a nerve, that will be all. But beware; publish +the fact, and ten chances to one you will have it shown that you +have been forestalled long ago. Anatomy may be likened to a harvest +field. First come the reapers, who, entering upon untrodden ground, cut +down great stores of corn from all sides of them. These are the early +anatomists of modern Europe, such as Vesalius, Fallopius, Malpighi, and +Harvey. Then come the gleaners, who gather up ears enough from the bare +ridges to make a few loaves of bread. Such were the anatomists of last +century, Valsalva, Contunnius, Haller, Winslow, Vieg d’Azyr, Camper, +Hunter, and the two Monros. Last of all come the geese, who still +continue to pick up a few grains scattered here and there among stubble, +and waddle home in the evening, poor things, cackling with joy because +of their success. Gentlemen, we are the geese.”¹ + + ¹ Sir R. Christian’s _Recollections_. + +Dr. Gordon lectured on anatomy in Edinburgh from 1809 to 1819, and +he was the author of several treatises. In the second quarter of the +present century, Dr. Knox, the morphological anatomist, attained great +celebrity as a lecturer on anatomy. To his dissecting room the victims +of Burke and Hare were brought as subjects, but without any connivance +of foul play on his part. For some time his class reached five hundred +students. So much touching extra mural lectures. + +Dr. John Thomson, a son of a silk weaver of Paisley, was born in +1765. His father wished him to enter into business with himself, but +his mental faculties and aspirations rose above such employment. He +privately acquired some knowledge of Latin, and his father allowed +him to become an apprentice to a local medical practitioner. In 1787 +he attended the medical classes at Glasgow, and afterwards he studied +under Munro and Blackwood at the University of Edinburgh. He was +appointed assistant-apothecary to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh +in 1790. In 1798 his edition of Fourcroy’s _Elements of Chemistry and +Natural History_ appeared. Lord Lauderdale came to Edinburgh in 1799 to +study chemistry, and Thomson assisted him, and a warm friendship arose +between them. He continued to practise surgery attentively, and was +admitted a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. In 1800 he issued +a pamphlet entitled “Outlines of a Plan for the Regulation of the +Surgical Department of the Royal Infirmary.” He was then appointed one +of the Surgeons of the Infirmary, and commenced to deliver clinical +lectures, and also courses of systematic surgery in a private theatre. +In 1804 he was appointed Professor of Surgery to the Royal College of +Surgeons; while in 1806 he was encouraged by Lord Lauderdale to apply +for a Commission to be Professor of Military Surgery in the University +of Edinburgh. The Great European war had created an unusual interest in +this subject. Lord Spencer, the Home Secretary, after an interview with +Thomson, created the Chair, and appointed him as the first Professor. +As mentioned in a preceding page, the Monros claimed a monopoly of +teaching surgery in the University, and consequently it was treated +as a mere appendage to anatomy, and not systematically taught. Thus +Thomson introduced a very important innovation in the Edinburgh +School. He admitted students without fee to his lectures, and in one +session about two hundred persons embraced this privilege. In 1813 his +Lectures on Inflammation appeared, which exhibited the pathological and +practical doctrines of medical surgery. This work was widely circulated, +and translated into German, Italian, and French. At the close of the +war in 1814, he made a tour among the hospitals and medical schools +of the Continent; while the following year, immediately after the +battle of Waterloo, he was commissioned to inspect the condition +of the wounded soldiers in Belgium. He performed this duty with the +utmost care, and rendered much assistance to the Army-Surgeons at +Brussels. During the following winter his lectures in Edinburgh were +well attended, as the class numbered two hundred and eighty, of whom +eighteen medical officers of the army and sixty-two of the navy were +admitted gratis. It was recorded that his lectures were animated and +eloquent, and excited much discussion touching the different modes +of surgical treatment. His lectures were not limited to surgery, +but also embraced medical pathology. Before 1820 he began to collect +coloured pathological delineations, and engaged Mr. Carswell, who +visited a number of hospitals and museums at home and abroad, to make +water-colour drawings of morbid structures. This resulted in a valuable +collection of pathological diagrams, which is still in the possession +of the University, and was the first of its kind ever made. + +On the death of Dr. James Gregory in 1821, Dr. Thomson became +a candidate for the Chair of the Practice of Physic; but he was +unsuccessful, the Chair was given to Dr. James Hope. After this he +resigned the Professorship of Military Surgery and commenced to deliver +extra-mural courses of lectures on the practice of physic and pathology. +He was invited to give evidence before the Universities Commission of +1826, and embraced the opportunity of strongly urging the necessity for +a separate Chair of Surgery and one of Pathology in the University. He +addressed a memorial to Lord Melbourne in 1831, pointing out the great +advantages of the establishment of a Chair of General Pathology. Such +a Chair was founded by the Government, and Thomson was appointed by +the Crown as the first Professor of General Pathology. At the same +time a Chair of Surgery was established in the University. Although +Dr. Thomson was advanced in years, yet he commenced the work of his +new Chair with remarkable vigour, and his teaching for several years +was very efficient. But in 1835 his strength began to fail, and his +lectures were delivered by an assistant till 1841, when he resigned the +Chair. In his time, he had executed much useful and important work. He +issued his edition of Cullen’s works in 1827; the first volume of his +_Life of Cullen_ appeared in 1832, and the second completed by his son +in 1859. Dr. Thomson died in 1846, at the advanced age of eighty-one.¹ + + ¹ Memoir of Dr. Thomson, prefixed to second edition of _Life + of Cullen_. + +On the resignation of Professor Thomson, Dr. William Henderson +was appointed to the chair of general pathology. In 1835‒37 he had +published a series of papers on the “Diseases of the Heart and the +Larger Blood-Vessels.” He was an expert stethoscopist, and used the +microscope in pathological histology. Henderson, however, became +heterodox, and embraced the homœopathic conception of medicine; and in +1845 published his _Enquiry into the Homœopathic Practice of Medicine_. +He then commenced business as a homœopathic practitioner, and proposed +to follow this theory in his clinical ward in the Infirmary. This +caused a great stir among the Medical Faculty in the University and +the College of Physicians. Henderson resigned his post as a clinical +teacher of medicine; but continued his lectures in the chair of +pathology. He obtained a large private practice, though several of his +colleagues treated him bitterly. Owing to failing health, he resigned +his chair in 1869; and died in 1872. + +Dr. William R. Sanders was appointed to the chair of pathology in +1869. He had a high reputation as a physician, and a large consulting +practice. He contributed a number of important papers to the _Edinburgh +Medical Journal_; and had delivered lectures on the institutes of +medicine in the extra-mural school. As professor of pathology, he +introduced practical teaching, and trained the students to observe for +themselves. The practical classes were instructed by Sanders’ assistant, +Dr. Hamilton, and the teaching of pathology in Edinburgh was raised +to a higher stage. Professor Sanders died in 1881, at the age of +fifty-three. + +Shortly after Dr. Thomson resigned the chair of military surgery, Dr. +George Ballingall was appointed professor of the subject. He was born +in 1780, a son of the minister of the parish of Forglen in Banffshire. +At an early age he went through the arts course at the University of +St. Andrews; and subsequently studied medicine at Edinburgh, graduating +as M.D. in 1803. In 1806 he entered the army as an assistant-surgeon, +and saw service in India and other countries. He was at the capture of +Java in 1811; and in 1815 he was with the army of occupation at Paris. +He retired on half-pay in 1818, and commenced practice in Edinburgh. +In 1823 he was appointed to the vacant chair of military surgery. After +the accession of William IV., he received the honour of knighthood, and +became Sir George Ballingall; he was surgeon to the Queen in Scotland, +and had other honorary titles. He was an able professor, well informed, +an excellent expositor, and a favourite with the students. He was +the author of the following works:――_A Treatise on Fever, Dysentery, +and Liver Complaints_; _Introductory Lectures to a Course of Medical +Surgery_; and _A Treatise on Military Surgery_. He died in 1856. The +chair of military surgery was then removed from Edinburgh. + +Dr. William P. Alison was a son of the Rev. A. Alison, the author of +the _Essay on Taste_, mentioned in a preceding chapter. He was educated +in the University of Edinburgh, and was a great admirer of the writings +of Dugald Stewart. He was appointed professor of the institutes of +medicine in 1821; and he discharged the functions of this chair till +1842. In 1831, he published his _Outlines of Physiology_, and in 1833, +_Outlines of Physiology and Pathology_. He was a successful teacher. +In 1842, he was appointed to the chair of the practice of physics, +and shortly after he published his _Outlines of Pathology and Practice +of Medicine_. He took a keen interest in the condition of the poor in +Scotland; and in 1840, he published his _Observations on the Management +of the Poor_. He advocated the introduction of a systematic poor-law +act for the relief of the destitute. He was a kind, generous, and +sympathetic gentleman, and devoted much of his means to charitable +objects. His health failed and he resigned his chair in 1855, and died +in 1859. + +James Syme¹ was educated in the High School and the University of +Edinburgh, and became assistant and demonstrator to Barclay, the +extra-mural lecturer on anatomy. Afterwards he specially directed +his attention to surgery, and studied for a year in Paris, practising +surgical operations under Lisfranc. He returned to Edinburgh, +and opened an extra-mural class in surgery, and his abilities and +♦perseverance soon commanded success. In 1833, he became professor +of clinical surgery in the University, and introduced a better method +of instructing the students in the principles of treatment. He was a +successful teacher, and attained a reputation as an operator. His chief +work is his _Principles of Surgery_, which appeared in 1833; while he +wrote upwards of two hundred papers on various points connected with +his subject. He died in 1870, having held the chair for thirty-six +years. His successor, Joseph Lister, introduced the antiseptic system. + + ¹ Born in 1799; died in 1870. + + ♦ “perseverence” replaced with “perseverance” + +Dr. Alexander Hamilton was professor of midwifery from 1780 to 1800. He +was the author of several treatises on _Midwifery and the Management of +Female Complaints_, which were translated into German. He was succeeded +in the chair by his son, Dr. James Hamilton, who was a man of great +energy, and an excellent professor. He had great experience and a +vast store of information, thus his means for teaching were ample, +and his class was well attended by students. In 1839 his work entitled +_Practical Observations_ appeared, which was recognised as an important +book. He died in November 1839. + +James Y. Simpson, the distinguished introducer of chloroform, was born +at Bathgate, the youngest son of a small tradesman. It was resolved to +give him a better education than the rest of the family. He entered the +University of Edinburgh at the age of fourteen, and obtained a small +bursary, attended the greater part of the arts course and the medical +classes, passed the examination of the College of Surgeons in his +nineteenth year, in 1830, and received his degree in medicine in 1832. +Dr. Thomson, the professor of pathology, then appointed Simpson as +his assistant; and on Thomson’s advice he afterwards directed special +attention to midwifery. In 1838, he became a lecturer on midwifery in +the extra-mural school; and in 1840, was elected professor of midwifery +in the University of Edinburgh. + +Simpson was in every respect a successful and enthusiastic professor, +and many of those who attended his class have risen to distinction. +He first tried the effect of chloroform by inhalation in 1847. Shortly +afterwards operations were performed under chloroform in the Infirmary +of Edinburgh; and it soon came into general use. But Dr. Duncan, in a +short treatise entitled _On the Mortality of Childbed_, 1870, argues +against its use in childbed, except in extreme or particular cases; +and he struggles hard to make out a case against Simpson’s view of +its application in this connection, but notwithstanding a parade of +statistics his arguments are not conclusive. + +He obtained a large private practice, and throughout his career he +was incessantly occupied. Still he sometimes worked to good purpose +outside of his profession. Archæology was a favourite subject of his, +and his essays and papers in this department of research are admirable +specimens of workmanship and style. He was knighted in 1866, and +received honorary titles from Academies and Societies from the four +quarters of the globe. After a short illness, he died in 1870, having +occupied the chair of midwifery for a period of thirty years. He shed +new lustre on the University of Edinburgh, and conferred a blessing +upon the human race. + +Robert Christison was appointed Professor of Medical Jurisprudence +in 1821, and he has himself recorded that he was so ashamed of his +first course of lectures that he destroyed them. He held this Chair +twelve years, and, in 1832, was elected to the Chair of Materia Medica. +Christison became an able and successful teacher, and altogether he was +a Professor in the University for fifty-five years. He died in 1882. In +1829, his valuable _Treatise on Poisons_ appeared; his _Dispensatory_ +was published in 1842, and he prepared the last edition of the +_Edinburgh Pharmacopœia_. He is also the author of many papers on +medical subjects. + +There were other professors of the medical school of Edinburgh, whom I +should have been happy to notice, but space is limited, and I can only +add that the great reputation which this school has so long enjoyed is +likely not only to continue to be maintained, but also to rise still +higher as time rolls on. The number of students in the faculty has been +rising from year to year, and in the session of 1885‒86 the number of +matriculated students in the faculty of medicine was 1635. + +In the preceding volumes some account was given of the University of +Glasgow. It has passed through many vicissitudes. At the Reformation it +was nearly extinguished, and after the Restoration it suffered so much +for want of funds that three out of its eight Chairs had to be given +up, and no relief came till after the Revolution of 1688. + +At the opening of the second quarter of the eighteenth century +the medical faculty of this University consisted of the following +Chairs:――(1) Anatomy, founded in 1718, with which Botany was at +first associated; (2) Practice of Medicine, revived in 1712. But even +with its two Chairs several of the most distinguished physicians and +surgeons of the eighteenth century received the elements of their +medical instruction in this University, and they have left memorable +evidence of their gratitude for the early instruction which they +had there received. After maturing his medical knowledge and gaining +experience, Cullen returned to Glasgow in 1744, and by the exercise of +his great talents and the force of genius led to the establishment of +the Chair of Chemistry, and to the creation of lectureships in several +other branches of medical science; while by his noble efforts, well +seconded by his colleagues, in a comparatively short time he raised +the standard and established the reputation of the medical school +of Glasgow. Dr. William Hunter, after a distinguished and honourable +career in London, bequeathed his museum, books, and manuscripts to his +Alma Mater. In a word, from the middle of the eighteenth century the +medical school of Glasgow has continued to advance. + +In the present century, the following chairs in this faculty have been +instituted:――(1) Natural History, in 1807; (2) Surgery, in 1815; (3) +Midwifery, in 1815; (4) Botany, in 1818; (5) Materia Medica, in 1831; +(6) Physiology, in 1839; (7) Forensic Medicine, in 1839; (8) Clinical +Surgery, in 1874; (9) Clinical Medicine, in 1874. Thus the faculty of +medicine in the University of Glasgow now consists of twelve Chairs and +a Lectureship on Diseases of the Eye. + +But in this great city, medical science is also successfully taught by +a body of extra-mural lecturers. Those in Glasgow whose lectures have +been recognised by the University Court of the University of Glasgow, +for the purpose of graduating in medicine, are twenty-six in number; +and these twenty-six gentlemen lecture on all branches of medical +science, and many of them are highly distinguished teachers. + +Before the middle of the present century measures were taken for the +removal of the University to more extended buildings, and for this +purpose the lands of Gilmorehill were secured――a fine elevated space of +ground in the western part of the city. The new buildings were designed +by the late Sir G. Gilbert Scott; and on the 8th of October, 1868, +the foundation stone of these buildings on the Gilmorehill was laid by +the Prince of Wales amidst manifestations of joy and rejoicing. They +were opened for the classes in 1870.¹ These buildings have an imposing +appearance to the eye; but the interior accommodation, and also the +workmanship, are far superior to what one would imagine by simply +looking at the outside of the buildings. The principal and a number +of the professors have residences within the buildings; while each +faculty has a special or main division of the buildings for itself, +with splendid class-rooms and every other requisite of accommodation +for effective teaching. The large room for holding examinations, the +Senatus meeting-room, and the chapel are all that could be desired. +The space of the buildings in which the large and valuable library +is located has been calculated to be sufficient to hold the annually +increasing number of volumes for many generations to come. The large, +interesting, and valuable Hunterian Museum occupies the north side +of the eastern quadrangle, and consists of two halls, the upper one +being galleried; and it has been intimated that “visitors desirous of +consulting in the Museum should, if possible, arrange to come between +2 and 4 P.M. Numismatists desirous of consulting the cabinet of medals +should communicate with the keeper a few days before the date of their +proposed visit.” + + ¹ The tower, however, for want of funds was not finished at + first; but it was completed in 1888 by the Marquess of Bute, + K.T., and is one of the highest towers in the kingdom. + +The foundation-stone of the Glasgow Royal Infirmary was laid on the +18th of May, 1792,¹ and it was opened for the reception of patients in +1794. Clinical lectures are given in it by the surgeons and physicians. +Shortly after the opening of the New University buildings, the Western +Infirmary was erected, a large building measuring 500 feet by 240. +It is situated in a fine, airy and open locality, and it has been +authoritatively declared to be one of the best establishments of the +kind in Britain. It contains 400 beds for medical and surgical patients, +including wards for skin diseases, and one for diseases peculiar to +females; it has also a full staff of physicians and surgeons. Several +courses of clinical instruction are given. There are also in Glasgow +an Eye Infirmary; Dispensaries for Diseases of the Skin and Ear; and +in the Royal Lunatic Asylum, at Gartnavel, clinical instruction on +insanity is given. + + ¹ On occasion of laying the foundation, a religious service + was held in St. Andrews Church, at the close of which a hymn + written for the occasion was sung, and concluded thus:―― + + “Then let us join with heart and hand, + To raise this glory of our land, + Which shall to latest times declare, + To ease the wretched was our care.” + +In short, Glasgow possesses all the requisites of a great medical +school in an ample degree. In the session of 1884‒85, the number of +matriculated students in the faculty of medicine was 679; and with its +many and invaluable advantages, this school should have a great and +beneficent career before it. + +The medical school of Aberdeen is a recent development. At the opening +of the present century there was one professor of medicine in King’s +College, and in Marischal College there was one professor of medicine +and a professor of chemistry. A chair of anatomy was instituted in +1839, and a chair of surgery the same year; and a chair of medical +jurisprudence was established in 1857. In short, the late Dr. Pirrie, +the first professor of surgery, the late Dr. Macrobin, Dr. Dyce, and +Dr. Francis Ogston, were the founders of the Aberdeen medical school, +as they first gave it a reputation in the second quarter of this +century. + +But it may be said that it was not till after the union of King’s +College and Marischal College, which was completed in 1860, that there +was a well constituted and organised medical school in Aberdeen. After +the union of the Colleges, the buildings of Marischal College were +assigned to the classes of the medical faculty and the faculty of law; +and though the accommodation for the medical classes was then more than +sufficient, owing to the greatly increased number of students attending +these classes in recent years, it has now become quite inadequate, and +several of the professors experience difficulty in conducting their +classes within the existing apartments. + +Since this was written, a movement for the extension of Marischal +College buildings has assumed a practical form. A plan of new buildings +has been sanctioned, consisting of new class-rooms――embraced in the +north and south wings of the extension scheme, a grand new graduation +hall, heightening of the central tower, and other extensions. A large +part of these has been erected. + +The hall and the tower are characteristic parts of the new buildings. +The most attractive feature of the hall is the fine memorial window in +its east end, which is 32 feet in height and 28 feet in breadth. It is +designed to illustrate the history of the College by a series of finely +coloured heraldic and portrait representations. There are four tiers +of panels in it, which are beautifully embellished with the armorial +bearings of George Keith, fifth Earl of Marischal, the founder of the +College; the armorial bearings of eleven Chancellors of the College; +those of thirty benefactors of the College; and the portraits of a +number of the distinguished alumni of the College and University. +There are other ten windows in the hall――five on each side, which are +decorated with various coloured emblems in a fine symmetrical style. +The hall is a magnificent structure. + +The tower is 248 feet in height. It is in clustered style, well formed, +proportionate, and attractive to the eye. The tower and the hall +were gifts to the University from the late Dr. Charles Mitchell, +Newcastle-on-Tyne, who in all gave £32,000 to the University extension +scheme. + +At the date of the union of the Colleges four new chairs were +established, namely, the chair of institutes of medicine or physiology, +the chair of materia medica, the chair of midwifery, and the chair of +botany; while the chair of natural history was also renewed. A chair of +pathology was founded by Sir Erasmus Wilson in 1882. Altogether there +are eleven chairs in the medical faculty of Aberdeen. + +Courses of lectures and practical instruction are regularly given +by the medical staff of the Royal Infirmary, and other institutions, +on the following branches: clinical medicine, clinical surgery, +pathological demonstrations, diseases of the skin, diseases of the +ear and larynx, dental surgery, the eye and practical ophthalmology, +sanitary science, and, finally, insanity. + +The body of professors in the medical faculty of the University are +able instructors; while the staff of the Royal Infirmary are well +qualified and careful teachers of the special branches which they +profess. The result is, that within the last thirty-five years the +standard and reputation of the Aberdeen medical school has risen +rapidly; and it has sent out a large number of admirably qualified +graduates, many of whom have taken a front rank among the eminent +physicians and surgeons of the time. + +Dr. Pirrie was a native of the parish of Gartly, in Aberdeenshire, and +was appointed professor of surgery in 1839. He was a successful teacher, +a clear and careful expositor of the principles of surgery, and for +many years one of the surgeons of the Royal Infirmary. He had the +reputation of being an able operator. He is the author of an elaborate +work entitled _The Principles and Practice of Surgery_, the third +edition of which appeared in 1873, thoroughly revised and enlarged. +The work extends to forty-six chapters, and the whole subject is ably +treated in a plain, simple, and clear style. As a very short specimen, +the following is from his chapter headed “Injuries of the Brain”――the +special point being concussion of the brain:―― + +“_Causes._――The injury which is termed by British authors concussion +of the brain, by French commotion, and in common parlance stunning, is +produced by one or other of the three following causes: a blow, or a +fall on the cranium itself, or a fall from a considerable height on +some other part of the body, as the buttocks, or the feet, by which +a sudden shock is communicated to the brain, through the medium of +the vertebral column. I lately had under my care a mason, in whose +case there were strongly marked symptoms of concussion, caused by his +falling from the second floor of a house on his buttocks; and I am +at present attending to a female, who, in consequence of the horse +becoming restive, jumped from the top of a cart loaded with hay, and +alighted on her feet, sustained fracture of one leg and concussion of +the brain. The spine in these circumstances is suddenly brought into +a state of rest, and the head being still in projectile motion is +forcibly struck against the summit of the vertebral column, the sudden +jerk thus communicated to the brain occasions concussion.” + +The late Dr. Keith was one of the most eminent practical surgeons +and lithotomists of his time. He acted for many years as one of the +surgeons of the Royal Infirmary. Dr. Kerr and Dr. Fiddes were also able +surgeons. + +Dr. Alexander J. Lizars was professor of anatomy from 1841 till his +death in 1863. He is the author of a text-book entitled _Elements +of Anatomy_, which evinces considerable powers of classification and +exposition. The late Dr. Francis Ogston, the first professor of medical +jurisprudence in this University, who delivered lectures for a quarter +of a century, and retired from the chair in 1883, was a gentleman of +vast experience and considerable culture. He published his lectures +on medical jurisprudence in 1878, in two volumes; and they contain an +able and remarkably clear exposition of the subject. The work has been +recognised at home and abroad as a high authority. + +In the preceding part of this chapter attention has been directed to +those specially engaged in teaching medicine in Scotland, and although +my space is almost exhausted, still some notice should be given of a +few other Scotsmen who have attained distinction in this profession. Dr. +James Douglas¹ was one of the earliest and most distinguished teachers +of anatomy in Britain. After completing his studies, he settled in +London as a teacher, and attained great success. In 1707, he published +his _Specimen of Comparative Anatomy_, and it gave the most correct +account of the muscles which had up to that time appeared. In 1715, his +_Specimen of Anatomical Bibliography_ was published, in which he gives +an account of the various works on anatomy, with sketches of their +authors; and in 1726, he published a treatise on lithotomy, under the +title of _A History of the Lateral Operation for the Stone_. A second +edition appeared in 1733, with an appendix presenting a comparative +view of the methods of operating by different lithotomists, and +especially that recommended by Cheselden.² Douglas also contributed a +number of papers to the Royal Society, on the anatomy of some of the +generative organs, and reports of various cases in surgery. + + ¹ Born in 1674; died in 1742. + + ² His brother, John Douglas, was surgeon to the Westminster + Infirmary, and the author of several works. In 1736, he + published _A Short Account of the state of Midwifery in + London_, in which he severely criticised the works of + Chamberlen and Chapman; and in another publication he + derided the obstetric forceps invented by Smellie. + +Dr. William Hunter was born on the 23rd of May, 1718, at Kilbride, in +Lanarkshire. He was educated at the University of Glasgow, which he +entered at the age of fourteen, and passed five years studying there. +Afterwards he received assistance in the prosecution of his medical +studies from Dr. Cullen at Hamilton, and in 1740, he attended the +medical lectures in the University of Edinburgh. In the summer of +1741, he proceeded to London, and almost immediately began his great +career as an assistant to Dr. Douglas; but Douglas died in 1742. Hunter +continued his course, and attained distinction as a lecturer and a +practising physician, gained wealth and honour, and collected his +remarkable museum, which he finally bequeathed to the University of +Glasgow. + +Dr. William Hunter’s writings consist of a series of papers on several +of the internal organs of the human body; a few of his introductory +lectures on anatomy which he left fully written out; but his principal +work is _The Anatomy of the Human Gravid Uterus_, which appeared in +1775, and a more complete edition was issued by Dr. Baillie in 1794. +As a teacher of anatomy he was deservedly celebrated. “He was a good +orator, and having a clear and accurate conception of what he taught, +he knew how to place in distinct and intelligible points of view the +most abstruse subjects of anatomy and physiology.... He had the talent +of infusing much of his ardour into his pupils, and if anatomical +knowledge is more diffused in this country than formerly, we are +indebted for this, in a great measure, to his exertions.”¹ He died on +the 30th March, 1783, in London. + + ¹ _Account of the Life and Writings of William Hunter, M.D., + F.A.S., and S.A._, 1783. + +William Cruickshanks, the son of an officer in the excise, was born at +Edinburgh in 1745. He received the rudiments of his education at the +schools of Edinburgh: and went through a complete course of medical +study at the University of Glasgow. After devoting his attention for +eight years to medical science, he proceeded to London and obtained +the office of librarian to Dr. William Hunter. Shortly after Dr. +Hunter appointed him as his assistant; and ultimately admitted him as a +partner in superintending his establishment in Windmill Street. On the +death of Dr. Hunter, the students of the school presented an address +to Cruickshanks and Dr. Baillie, requesting that they might assume the +superintendence of the school, which they did. ♦Cruickshanks’s work +on _The Anatomy of the absorbent vessels of the Human Body_ appeared +in 1786, and it has been translated into several languages. He was +also the author of a few other papers on points connected with his +profession. He was an able anatomist, a skilful surgeon, and an +exceedingly generous and benevolent man. He died in 1800. + + ♦ “Cruickshank’s” replaced with “Cruickshanks’s” + +John Hunter, a younger brother of the above, was born at Long +Calderwood, in the parish of Kilbride, Lanarkshire, on the 13th of +February, 1728. In 1748, he joined his brother in London, and commenced +to work in the dissecting-room, under the instruction of his brother’s +assistant. In the summer of 1749, Dr. William Hunter obtained +permission for his brother to attend at the Chelsea Hospital, under +Cheselden, who was thus John Hunter’s first teacher in surgery. In 1751, +he entered as a surgeon’s pupil at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, under +Pott; in 1754, he entered St. George’s Hospital as a surgeon’s pupil; +and two years later he served in the office of house-surgeon to this +hospital. At this time he entered as a partner with his brother in the +anatomical school, and a portion of the lectures was allotted to him; +he had also to take his brother’s place when he was absent. From the +year 1759 to 1763 he served as a staff-surgeon in the army. + +He then settled down in London, prosecuted his researches in anatomy +and physiology, and delivered lectures on anatomy and surgery. In 1776, +Hunter was appointed surgeon-extraordinary to the King. After a life +of incessant research, toil in lecturing, in private practice, and in +collecting his museum, he died suddenly on the 16th of October, 1793. +His life has been written by Ottley, from whom I shall give a few brief +quotations:――“Boldness and independence in the pursuit of truth, one +of the striking characteristics of Hunter’s mind, was well exhibited +in his lectures. He attached no value to opinions, except they could +be shown to be firmly based on fact. Fallacious reasoning he quickly +saw through, and instantly demolished; while he was not more indulgent +towards his own theories when he discovered them to be erroneous.... + +“In forming an estimate of Hunter’s professional character, and the +influence which his labours have had on the improvement of surgery, +we are not, as with ordinary minds, simply to enumerate the various +practical amendments of which he was the immediate author. His claims +are of a far higher nature; and inasmuch as he was the first who taught +us to bring the lights of physiology to bear upon the practice of our +art, and by his writings, his teaching, and his example stimulated the +minds of numerous able followers to pursue the tract he had pointed +out, he justly merits to be considered as the author of a new era in +the history of our profession. + +“In the character of a naturalist it is impossible for us to form a +full estimate of Hunter’s labours, either from his published works or +from his incomparable museum as it at present stands. In the course +of the numberless dissections which he prosecuted during thirty +years of unwearied diligence he necessarily made a great variety of +isolated observations, which, though not immediately applicable to +the objects he had in view, would doubtless have constituted important +contributions to the general stock of knowledge in comparative anatomy. +Such observations he always recorded carefully in appropriate volumes; +but by Sir Everard Home’s extraordinary destruction of his manuscripts, +science has been deprived of these fruits of his industry, of which +scarcely the smallest portion now remains in existence. But even in +such cases where the records of his researches have been preserved, +either in the form of preparations or by means of drawings forming +part of his museum, the want of descriptive catalogues has often caused +them to be overlooked, whilst more modern naturalists have been reaping +the honour of discoveries which were due in the first place to Hunter. + +“Nevertheless, though we cannot estimate the full extent of his labours, +enough remains to entitle him to a place in the highest rank as a +natural philosopher.”¹ + + ¹ Hunter’s _Works_, Volume I., pages 48, 135‒136. + +A good edition of Hunter’s works, in four volumes, edited with +notes by Mr. James F. Palmer, and illustrated by a volume of plates, +in quarto, was published in 1835‒37. John Hunter was probably the +greatest physiologist that Britain has produced, taking into account +the extensive series of preparations contained in his museum and his +writings. In reference to comparative anatomy Richard Owen said in 1837: +“It appears to me that he marks a new epoch in its history, and that +the historian of the natural sciences has just and sufficient grounds +for regarding Hunter as the first of the moderns who treated of the +organs of the animal body under their most general relations, and who +pointed out the anatomical conditions which were characteristic of +great groups or classes of animals; as one, in short, throughout whose +works we meet with general propositions in comparative anatomy, the +like of which exists not in the writing of any of his contemporaries +or predecessors, save in those of Aristotle.”¹ + + ¹ Preface to Hunter’s _Treatise on the Animal Economy_, + Hunter’s Works, Volume IV., page 11. + +In conclusion, the rise and progress of medical science in Scotland has +been narrated in sufficient detail to indicate what she has contributed +to this branch of knowledge; while the gradual development of the +three centres or schools of medicine has been shown. The great work for +medical science in the future will be sanitary progress and hospital +organisation; in short, the exercise of medical knowledge and skill to +prevent disease of every description. + + + + + CHAPTER XLVI. + + _Progress of Education in the Eighteenth + and Nineteenth Centuries._ + + +AN account of the rise and progress of primary education in Scotland, +and of the act of the Scottish parliament of 1696, which enforced the +parish school system, was given in the preceding volumes; and that +system continued with little variation through the eighteenth and +nineteenth centuries till the introduction of the new Education Act in +1873, which placed the management and organisation of primary schools +upon a different footing. There is little of national importance +concerning the parish schools to record in the eighteenth century. +But it should be specially observed, that even in the seventeenth +century the general intelligence of the Scotch people was in advance +of the surrounding conditions of their material civilisation; in other +words, their moral and intellectual faculties were further developed +and organised than their practical knowledge of the mechanical and +industrial arts of life. This interesting social phenomenon became +distinctly manifest before the end of the seventeenth century, as was +shown in the last volume; and, by the middle of the eighteenth century, +when the internal peace and order of the country became more assured, +then the results of the previous moral and intellectual training of the +nation appeared in every direction. Thus it was that Scotland started +on a career of progress which has not only changed the face of the +country, but also contributed to advance the industry of the civilised +world, as has been indicated in this volume. + +In the Highlands of Scotland, the old parish school system was +ineffective, owing to various circumstances: (1). Some of the parishes +were so large and the inhabitants so thinly spread over them that +regular attendance at the school was impracticable; (2). No means +were provided for teaching the Celtic boys and girls through their own +language. Thus, when they entered the school, though they did not know +a word of the English language, yet teachers of the schools usually +spoke nothing but English, and taught from books entirely in English; +so Highland boys had to learn a foreign language without the least +assistance from their mother tongue. Efficient teaching by this method +was out of the question. + +In the burghs and towns much interest continued to be taken in the +education of the young. In the latter half of the eighteenth century, +in Glasgow, the children were usually sent to the English school +at five or six years of age; at seven or eight they were sent to +learn Latin in the Grammar School; and at eleven or twelve they were +enrolled at the College.¹ In the schools of other towns the age at +which children entered was about the same as above. + + ¹ Macgregor’s _History of Glasgow_, page 361. + +The Government began to give annual grants in aid of education in +1834; the first grant amounted to £20,000, which continued till 1839, +when the committee of the Privy Council on Education was instituted. +Afterwards the annual grants were gradually increased; and from 1839 +to the close of the year 1865, the total sum given to the primary +schools of Scotland was £1,055,765, which was divided among the schools +connected with the Established Church, with the Free Church, the +Episcopal Church, and the Roman Catholic Church. These grants were +made conditional on a certain amount of local subscriptions being +raised, and the operation of this was extremely unsatisfactory; for +the localities most in need of assistance seldom got it――the crowded +districts in large towns, and the thinly-peopled rural districts unable +to raise the required quota of local funds, got none of the grant. The +result was that those least in want of Government money got most of it, +while those most in need of it rarely got any. + +Shortly after Government grants began, Government Inspectors of Schools +were introduced into Scotland. At first there were only a few, but +they multiplied rapidly. In 1864 there were ten Government Inspectors +of Schools; six for the schools connected with the Established Church, +three for the Free Church schools, and one for the schools of the +Episcopal Church. In 1867 they had increased to thirteen; but, since +the introduction of the new Education Act in 1873, the institution +of Government Inspectors has rapidly developed. In 1879, there were +upwards of forty Inspectors of Schools in Scotland, while at present +there are over one hundred on this side of the Tweed. + +The Free Church, for many years after the Disruption, gave a marked +impetus to the development of education in Scotland. From 1843 onwards +for a quarter of a century, a large number of Free Church schools +were erected throughout the country. In 1862, she had three hundred +and seventy-seven certificated male teachers, one hundred and eleven +certificated female teachers, five hundred and ninety-four male pupil +teachers, and two hundred female; while at this date the number of +teachers in the schools connected with the Established Church was six +hundred and thirty-two certificated male teachers, two hundred and +fifty certificated female teachers, eight hundred and ninety male pupil +teachers, and three hundred and eighty-five female. In 1865, the number +of male certificated teachers actually employed in teaching in the +Free Church schools was four hundred and forty-two, and twenty-three +assistant teachers, one hundred and forty-five certificated female +teachers, three hundred and eighty-one male pupil teachers, and one +hundred and seventy-two female. At the same time in the Church of +Scotland schools there were eight hundred and forty male certificated +teachers actually employed in teaching, three hundred and fifty-one +certificated female teachers, seven hundred and twenty-seven male pupil +teachers, and three hundred and fifty female. Moreover, the Free Church +has erected normal schools and colleges of her own; and thus she has +contributed to advance education in Scotland. + +Since the introduction of the Education Act in 1873, many excellent +new schools have been built throughout the country. The enforcement +of the compulsory clause of the Act has been rendered more practicable +since the abolition of fees in the primary schools. In recent years, +also, there has been some improvement in the method of teaching. In the +year 1893‒94, the money expended on education in Scotland amounted to +one million and a half pounds, of which about one half came from the +Imperial Exchequer, and the other from local rates. + +Sabbath schools began to be formed in Scotland about the beginning of +the present century, and within recent years they have been greatly +developed. Each body of Christians has their own system or organisation +of these schools, while there are a number of Sabbath schools in which +all denominations are welcomed, and freely taught without distinction. + +Reformatory schools began to be certified by Government in Scotland +about the middle of the present century; and industrial and ragged +schools began to be certified about the same period. Both classes +of these have been established in the large towns of Scotland for a +considerable number of years; as to whether they have answered the +ends originally contemplated, is a much disputed point, on which I must +refrain from entering. + +In the last volume I explained the course of education taught in +the grammar or burgh schools; and it continued with little variation +through the greater part of the eighteenth century. The teaching of +geography was introduced into those schools in the beginning of the +eighteenth century, and the elements of mathematical science began +to be generally taught about the middle of that century. In 1761, +astronomy and several other branches of physical science were taught +in the Grammar School of Ayr, and in Perth Academy.¹ There was also a +drawing-master in Perth Academy in 1777, and French was likewise taught +in Perth in 1769, Haddington in 1721, Stirling in 1755, Ayr in 1761, +and in other towns. But English was not thoroughly taught as a special +branch in the grammar schools till well through the present century. + + ¹ Burgh Records. + +A very marked improvement has been effected in the teaching in +grammar and secondary schools within a recent period. The course of +instruction in these schools usually embraces the following branches: +――(1) Classics――Latin and Greek; (2) Arithmetic and Mathematics; (3) +Science; (4) English, French, and German; (5) Vocal and Instrumental +Music; (6) Writing and Drawing; (7) Elocution; while in some schools +Phonography, Freehand and Technical Drawing, and Handicrafts are also +taught. Many of the gentlemen at the head of these schools in Scotland +are able and highly qualified instructors and organisers, and are well +seconded by staffs of competent teachers. + +There are also a number of schools and institutions specially employed +in technical and art teaching. Knowledge and skill in these branches is +becoming more necessary as civilisation advances; in order to hold our +own we must make the utmost effort. + +After the notices and references to the teaching and writings of many +of the professors given in the preceding pages, it would be superfluous +to enter into long details of the Universities themselves; and I shall +only touch briefly on a few points. + +A Royal Commission was issued for a visitation of the Universities +and Colleges of Scotland in August, 1826, to which I referred in +a preceding volume;¹ this commission continued its sittings and +investigations till the 28th of October, 1830, when their report +was finally revised and copies ordered to be printed. In the course +of their inquiries they collected a vast mass of evidence which +fills three very large volumes; and anyone who desires to have ample +information about the Scotch Universities, from their foundation to +1830, should consult these volumes. In 1837, a bill was brought into +parliament which proposed to appoint a board of visitors for each of +the Universities of Scotland. These boards were to act as executive +commissions to carry out, with modifications, the recommendations of +the royal commission; they were to frame statutes and regulations, +which, after receiving the sanction of the Privy Council, would then +become law. But the proposal was vehemently opposed in Scotland, and +the Government abandoned it. + + ¹ Mackintosh’s _History of Civilisation in Scotland_, Volume + II., page 409. + +In 1843, the Disruption of the Church came, and this event had +a remarkable influence on the Scotch Universities. The Church of +Scotland could no longer present a united front in her control of the +Universities, and from that hour her hold upon them began to slacken. +A movement for University reform was inaugurated; and, in 1853, a bill +was passed in parliament which enabled Free Churchmen legally to hold +chairs in the Scotch Universities. On the 22nd April, 1858, the Lord +Advocate of Scotland brought before parliament a bill entitled, “An +Act to make provision for the better government and discipline of the +Universities, and improving and regulating the course of study therein, +etc.”; this Act was passed on the 2nd of August. Its main provisions +were the following:―― + +(1) The erection of a select body called the University Court, as one +of the ruling bodies, for each University; (2) a parliamentary grant of +£10,000 per annum, to increase the professors’ salaries and establish +some new chairs; (3) to provide for assistant professors; (4) clauses +providing for the amalgamation of the two Colleges of Aberdeen; +(5) the creation of University councils. The first thirteen sections +of the Act laid down the future constitution of the Universities of +Scotland; and the fourteenth named and appointed an Executive Committee +to carry the intention of the Act into effect, and to form ordinances +for the regulation of the revenues, studies, degree systems, election +of officers, and all other important points in the organisation of +the four Universities. Their decisions were subject to the review of +parliament and appeal to the Privy Council. + +The commissioners held their first meeting on the 27th of August, +1858, and elected the Lord Justice Clerk of Scotland, Inglis, chairman +of the commission. The commission continued in office for four years +and some months; they held one hundred and twenty-six meetings, and +framed ninety-two ordinances, very few of which were disallowed. It was +under this Act and ordinances that the Scotch Universities were ruled; +or, in other words, the Universities are mainly controlled by the +University Court, the Senatus and General Council, under the ordinances +then framed. The following is a part of the general report of the +commission in reference to future alterations of ordinances:――“While +providing means for altering the commissioners’ ordinances, where such +alterations may be desirable, the Universities Act has been careful +to interpose securities against rash change, by requiring the consent +of the Chancellor and the Queen in Council. In this latter requirement +the commissioners understand it to have been the intention of the +legislature that the steps for effecting the alteration of an ordinance +hereafter should be precisely similar to those which were necessary +to its original sanction. It is obviously, they think, of importance +that when any such alteration is proposed, the same publicity should +be given, and equal opportunities for making objections to the proposed +change afforded, as were required in passing the ordinance. In addition, +however, to publishing any proposed change in the _Edinburgh Gazette_, +and laying it before both Houses of Parliament, which would thus be +necessary, the commissioners recommend that, before the decision of the +Queen in Council is given, intimation should in every case be made to +each of the Universities, so as to afford to any University which may +consider itself interested in the change, an opportunity of expressing +its opinion thereon. It is by no means impossible, they think, that a +proposed change, although nominally affecting one of the Universities +only, may in reality be one in which all have an interest. Thus it +has been an important object of the Universities Act, to which the +commissioners were specially directed to have regard, that as far as +possible the conditions under which degrees should be conferred should +be uniform in all the Universities of Scotland. To the attainment of +that object the commissioners used their best endeavours, and they +think it would be unfortunate if, now that a power of initiating +alterations of the ordinances is vested in each University court, that +power should be so exercised as to introduce a divergence from the +uniformity which, in a great measure, the commissioners have succeeded +in establishing.” + +Since this date a Royal Commission on the Scotch Universities took +evidence, and framed a report, which contained various recommendations. + +In 1889, Parliament passed “An Act for the better Administration and +Endowment of the Universities of Scotland.” This act increased the +number of the members of each of the courts of the Universities, and +constituted them on a more popular basis. The powers of the court were +also greatly extended, as the chief governing body in each University. +The court was empowered to manage the whole property and administer +the revenue of the University, to appoint professors to all the chairs +in the patronage of the University, also lecturers and examiners; +to review decisions of the Senatus Academicus; and to deal with all +representations and reports from the Senatus and General Council. + +This Act like the one of 1858, appointed an Executive Commission to +carry out the intention of the Legislature. The commissioners have held +many meetings, framed a considerable number of new ordinances, and are +still proceeding with their work. An improvement in the administration +of the Universities, better organisation, and the admission of +important modern subjects in the courses of study, will widen the +scope and tend to raise the standard and value of University education. + +In connection with research, science, philosophy, art, and culture, +libraries are ♦indispensable. Edinburgh has at least five valuable +libraries――The Advocates’ Library, the University Library, the Writers +to the Signet Library, the Library of the Royal Society, and a large +free library. The Advocates’ Library is the largest in Scotland, and +is one of the five libraries which receives a gratis copy of every book +published in the United Kingdom. The Signet Library is also a large and +valuable one, especially in the historical and record department. The +University Library contains about 155,000 volumes and 1000 manuscripts, +many of which are valuable and curious. + + ♦ “indispensible” replaced with “indispensable” + +The Library of the University of Glasgow contains upwards of 172,000 +volumes, and a number of manuscripts. About ten years ago the +University acquired the library of the late Sir William Hamilton, +which amounted to 8,000 volumes, including many treatises on logic +and metaphysics. This library is especially rich in works on mining, +engineering, music, and medicine. + +The Stirling’s Library in Glasgow, established in 1790, contains +upwards of 40,000 volumes; it has also a lending department and a +reference department. It contains many valuable works, and a large +number of patents. Another reference library in the same building, +called the Library of Baillie’s Institution, was established in 1887 +“in a hall reconstructed and fitted up for the purpose.” Through the +kindness of Mr. Mason, the late librarian, I had the pleasure of seeing +and inspecting this reference library, and I saw at once, in looking +round the shelves, that the works had been selected with remarkable +discrimination and judgment. + +The Mitchell Library in Glasgow was opened in 1877. It is a reference, +consulting, and reading library, not a lending one. It contains +upwards of 72,000 volumes, representing all branches of literature and +science. In the historical department it is very complete and valuable, +especially in British history; science and art is also well represented. +Its rare collection of Scottish poetry and editions of Burns, were +already mentioned. + +The Library of the University of Aberdeen contains about 94,000 +volumes and a considerable number of manuscripts. There are besides, +six special or class libraries for the use of students. The Society +of Advocates in Aberdeen have a pretty large library, containing many +valuable works. + +Many towns in Scotland have adopted the Free Libraries Act, among which +may be mentioned Dundee, 1869; Paisley, 1871; Galashiels, 1874; Hawick, +1878; Thurso, 1875; Forfar, 1870; Inverness, 1877; ♦Dumbarton, 1881; +Dunfermline, 1882; and Aberdeen, 1884. The organisation and management +of those libraries have already attained a remarkable degree of +completeness, and much intelligence and skill have been brought to bear +in forming the reference departments. There can be no doubt that they +will prove a source of enjoyment and benefit to the people, by placing +within the reach of every citizen the means of becoming acquainted with +the thoughts and sentiments of the great minds of the past and present. + + ♦ “Dunbarton” replaced with “Dumbarton” + + + + + CHAPTER XLVII. + + _Progress of Agriculture in the Eighteenth + and Nineteenth Centuries._ + + +IN the early part of the eighteenth century agriculture was in a +wretchedly backward state. The whole area under cultivation was +comparatively small; even in the Lothians and the southern counties +of the kingdom, only patches of what was called “infield” were under +tillage. Oats and barley were the chief crops; wheat as yet was little +raised; clover and rye-grass, potatoes and turnips, were hardly then +introduced. The use of manure was little understood; loads were mostly +all carried on horseback, and there was no cattle-feeding as now +understood. The whole of the agricultural and farming implements were +of the most primitive and rude description. The ploughs were made of +wood, and long after this period timber-ploughs were used in some parts +of Scotland; in fact, I have seen them working. The plough-wright made +the body of the implement; it was then sent to the smith, who fitted +it with two or three pieces of iron. The farm-steadings were in general +little better than a collection of huts. + +James Meikle, a country wright of Wester Keith, having learned the art +of winnowing corn with a machine, and of making barley with the use of +a mill, in Holland, brought to Scotland a pair of fanners, and the iron +work of a barley-mill. About the year 1720, the barley-mill and the +winnowing machine were set up at Saltoun. But the people were slow in +adopting these machines in farming work. Andrew Meikle, a son of James +Meikle, was an ingenious mechanic; and he settled at Houston Mill, in +East Lothian, where he carried on the several occupations of a small +farmer, a miller, and a mill-wright. He directed his attention to the +improvement of agricultural machinery, especially to that connected +with the thrashing, winnowing, dressing, and grinding of grain. He +often travelled through the counties of Edinburgh and Berwick to repair +and fit up mills. But his most important achievement was the invention +of the thrashing-machine. Many attempts had been made before his time +to invent a machine for thrashing corn, but without effect. After many +years of thinking and planning, Meikle at last succeeded in perfecting +his thrashing-machine, to which he joined solid fluted feeding-rollers, +and afterwards a machine for shaking the straw, fanners for winnowing +the corn, and other improvements. + +He erected his first thrashing machine on the new principle in 1787, +for Mr. Stein of Kilbeggie, in the county of Clackmannan; but the +novelty of the experiment, and the doubts of the efficacy of the +machine, induced Mr. Stein to impose the condition that if it did not +answer the intended purpose, Meikle was not to receive any payment +for it. This thrashing-machine, which was driven by waterpower, proved +highly satisfactory, and long continued in good working order. The +second machine, which he erected the same year, was for Mr. Rennie, at +Phantassie; and he had so perfected it that it could be driven by water, +wind, or horses, and this one was worked by the latter power. In 1788, +Meikle took out a patent for his invention; but it is sad to record +that he did not reap those pecuniary advantages from his invention +which a more bold and self-assertive man would have done. “Pirates +fell upon him from all sides and deprived him of the fruits of his +ingenuity, even denying him any originality whatever. Mr. Smeaton +(the famous engineer) knew Meikle intimately, and frequently met him +in consultation respecting the arrangements of the Dalry Mills, near +Edinburgh, and other works; and he was accustomed to say of him, that +if he had possessed but one-half the address of other people, he would +have rivalled all his contemporaries, and stood forth as one of the +first mechanical engineers in the kingdom.”¹ + + ¹ Smiles’ _Lives of the Engineers_, Volume II., pages 105‒114. + +The thrashing-machine was one of the greatest benefits ever conferred +upon the husbandman: it effected a vast saving of corn and of labour. +“It is calculated to have effected a saving, as compared with the +flail, of one hundredth part of the whole corn thrashed, or equal to a +value of not less than two millions sterling, in Great Britain alone.” +Within twenty years after the date of Meikle’s patent, upwards of +three hundred thrashing-mills were erected in East Lothian alone, at +an estimated cost of about forty thousand pounds; and soon after, it +was generally adopted in England and throughout the civilised world. + +Meikle also introduced improvements in working the sails of windmills, +and important improvements in water-wheels, which on one occasion +proved effectual in carrying out a remarkable undertaking in Perthshire. +This was the washing away into the river Forth of about two thousand +acres of peat moss, and thus laying bare an equal surface of arable +land. The moss of Kincardine was a level swamp of about four miles +long and two broad; the moss was seven feet in depth upon a bottom of +clay, and lay between the rivers Forth and Teith. In 1766, Lord Kames +came into possession of the Blair-Drummond estate, to which this moss +belonged, and he resolved if possible to improve it. His plan was to +wash away the entire moss into the Forth, and to effect this the water +of the Teith was used; accordingly, the stream was turned in upon the +moss and men employed to cut the stuff for the current to carry away. +But the process was rather slow, and when his lordship died in 1783, +a thousand acres still remained, which his son, Mr. Home Drummond, +determined to remove by a more rapid process. He consulted several +engineers, and Mr. Whitworth recommended a plan; but George Meikle, a +millwright at Alloa, the son of Andrew, proposed another, the invention +of his father; and Whitworth at once acknowledged its superiority to +his own, and urged Mr. Drummond to adopt it. “The invention consisted +of a newly-contrived wheel, twenty-eight feet in diameter and ten feet +broad, for raising water in a simple, economical, and powerful manner, +at the rate of from forty to sixty hogsheads a minute; and it was +necessary so to raise it about seventeen feet, in order to reach the +higher parts of the land. The machinery on being erected was set to +work, and with such good results that in the course of a very few years +the four miles of barren moss were completely washed away, and the +district was shortly after covered with thriving farmsteads, as it +remains to this day.”¹ + + ¹ Tytler’s _Life of Lord Kames_, Volume II., pages 27‒30; + Smiles’ _Lives of the Engineers_, Volume II., pages 115‒116. + Andrew Meikle was the first master who trained John Rennie, + the well-known Scotch engineer. + +Other requisite agricultural implements were gradually improved and +adopted. In the department of ploughs and other implements used in land +tillage, the Sellars of Huntly, in Aberdeenshire, were among the first +in Scotland who made and introduced an effective and superior class of +such implements, which have contributed much to the improvement of the +tillage of the soil in the present century. The ploughs of this firm +(the drill-plough) effected a saving of labour, and their single-furrow +ploughs when worked by capable men produced a quality of work as yet +unsurpassed in any quarter of the globe. + +In the present century all kinds of agricultural implements have +been brought to great perfection; and within my own recollection +a revolution has been effected in agricultural machines. The water +and horse-power thrashing-mills were a great improvement, and in +the early part of this century a vast number of them were erected +throughout the north and west of Scotland. Now there are not only +stationary thrashing-mills driven by steam, but also locomotive steam +thrashing-machines which can travel from end to end of the country, +and operate wherever they are required. While, instead of sowing +grain and other seeds with the hand, there are now various kinds of +sowing-machines; and instead of cutting with the hand-hook or scythe +as of old, there are cutting-machines and reaping-machines in endless +variety. Instead of the wooden plough, with its point of iron, which +only scratched the soil, although it was drawn by twelve oxen, there +are many kinds of iron ploughs drawn by horses, and also steam ploughs. +Such contrasts show the advance which has been attained. + +The enclosing of waste lands for pasture was begun in the district of +Galloway about 1720, by the cattle-dealers, who bought and pastured +live stock which they drove to the English markets. In course of time +their example was followed by some of the landholders in different +parts of the country. The Earl of Haddington, Cockburn of Ormiston in +East Lothian, the Earls of Stair and Eglinton in Ayrshire, and others +became improvers of husbandry upon their estates. In 1733, they formed +the plan of a Society for the Encouragement of Agriculture, and in a +short time three hundred of the principal landowners in Scotland joined +it. This society continued in vigour for twenty years, and contributed +to diffuse a spirit of improvement over a considerable part of the +country.¹ It is reported that Cockburn was among the first landlords +in Scotland who granted nineteen years’ leases to their tenants. + + ¹ “Infinite good was done by this society to their country, + particularly by receiving memorials, and answering queries, + concerning husbandry and manufactures; by their proposals + relative to the public funds, drawn up by a committee of + their number; by their application to the royal burghs for + their concurrence; by their joint application to parliament; + by the acts in consequence of that application, and by the + king’s patent following thereon, naming trustees for the + fisheries and manufactures, almost all chosen out of this + society. Before this society commenced, we seemed to have + been several centuries behind our neighbours in England; + now, I hope we are within less than one of what they are, + either with regard to husbandry or manufactures.” Maxwell’s + _Practical Husbandry_; Edinburgh, 1757. The appointment + of the Board of Trustees for the Encouragement of the + Fisheries, Arts and Manufactures, spoken of in the quotation, + arose from the Treaty of Union. In the 15th article it + was stipulated that a sum of money, termed the equivalent, + should be paid by England, and applied to public purposes + in Scotland; thus the duties of the Board were to administer + this fund. + +At this time, however, a large part of the land in the best parts +of the country was occupied by a number of small holders who shared +the ground among them by alternate ridges; this custom of run-ridge +possession was inconsistent with good farming, and retarded improvement. +As clearer and wiser ideas of agriculture were gradually formed, this +system decayed and died out, excepting in some remote parts of the +Highlands, where it was practised till recently. + +After the battle of Culloden, the forfeited estates were placed under +the management of a Board of Commissioners, of whom Lord Kames was +one; and his duty as a member of this Board gave him an opportunity +of considering plans for the improvement of those large domains, of +which they had the charge for the public benefit. The first step was +to obtain a correct report of the actual position of those estates, the +soils of the different farms, the modes of culture in use, the crops +usually raised, the manures used, the prices of labour and provisions, +and, in general, every kind of information which might tend to suggest +the best modes of improving the lands. Mr. Andrew Wight of Ormiston, an +active and intelligent man, was proposed by Lord Kames, and appointed +by the Board to proceed under a set of instructions and make a survey. +His reports were issued in 1773 and 1774, and they were deemed so +satisfactory that the Commissioners adopted from them a number of +wise regulations for the management of those estates, and carried +out the most effective improvements of the lands.¹ With the view of +extending those advantages to the whole country, they engaged Wight +to continue his surveys and to draw up similar reports of the actual +state of agriculture in every quarter of Scotland. The result was, +the collection of a vast body of useful information, which was printed +in six volumes, from 1778 to 1784, and contributed much to raise +the spirit of improvement, which from this date has been continually +progressive――insomuch that before the end of the century the state of +agriculture in the Lowlands was completely changed, and the face of the +country had assumed a new aspect. + + ¹ This Board was of course superseded when the forfeited + estates were restored in 1784. + +But in the Highlands and Islands the changes which were effected with +regard to the relation of the people to the land, in the latter part of +the last century and the early part of this one, were of a questionable +and less beneficial character; but I have elsewhere discussed this part +of the subject, and deem it unnecessary to enlarge on it here.¹ + + ¹ _Celtic Magazine_ for January, 1887. + +The Society for the Encouragement of Agriculture in Scotland, formed +in 1733, referred to in a preceding page, was the first Society of +the kind in Britain. The Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland +was instituted in 1784, and established by Royal Charter in 1887. It +has thus had a continuous life of one hundred and twelve years; and +has directed attention to the important matters of breeding cattle and +horses, and stimulated the improvement of agriculture in many ways.¹ +In the present century, agricultural societies and associations have +been formed in every county and district in Scotland, and have attained +a high stage of development. Their chief object is the improvement +of live stock of every description, and also the improvement of all +kinds of cereals which may be advantageously cultivated on farms, +and all kinds of vegetables useful and profitable for animal and +human food. That these societies have done incalculable good, and +contributed greatly to the progress of civilisation in Scotland, +cannot be questioned; because they have been instrumental in improving +the quality and increasing the quantity of the prime necessaries of +existence. + + ¹ The history of this society has been admirably written by + Dr. Ramsay, the editor of the _Banffshire Journal_, in a + work which was published in 1879. + +In the present century one of the most remarkable changes in +agriculture has been the extension of the cultivation of turnips. Prior +to this century they were but little cultivated in Scotland: but when +the modern method of feeding cattle for sale in the great centres of +population began to be developed, it became necessary to put a larger +portion of the cultivated land of the country annually under this crop. +In the north-eastern counties of Scotland the most common modes of +rotation of crops on farms are these:――(1) The farm is divided into +five shifts or divisions, one of which is under turnips, excepting a +small proportion of it usually under potatoes; (2) two out of the five +divisions are under grain crops; and (3) the remaining two are under +grass. Under this mode of farming there is always nearly one-fifth of +the entire extent of the farm under turnips. Again: (1) The farm is +divided into seven shifts, one of which is under turnips, excepting +the small fraction under potatoes; (2) three out of the seven equal +divisions of the farm are under grain crops; and (3) the remaining +three are under grass. Under this mode of rotation a seventh part of +the farm is always under turnips. I have seen farms worked under six +shifts, but this mode is not common in Scotland. The common grain crops +are oats, barley and wheat. + +Breeding, rearing, and feeding cattle have attained a high degree of +development within the present century in Scotland. As a consequence +of this the rent of cultivated land has also risen greatly; and I +may repeat what I stated elsewhere not ten years ago:――“The sharpest +period of competition in farm-letting was during the second and third +quarters of the present century. From about 1830 to 1876 the rent of +agricultural land in Scotland rose at least from 30 to 40 per cent., +and there were several causes which enabled farmers for a time to pay +this rise of rents:――(1) There was a marked change and improvement in +the modes of culture; (2) there was a notable change in the system of +feeding cattle, and an immense increase in the number of cattle thus +fed; (3) greater attention and care were paid to the important matter +of breeding; (4) there was an almost continuous rise in the price of +fat cattle during this period. Thus it was, and especially owing to the +latter cause, that farmers were able to pay such high rents. + +“This period was also one of great commercial activity and prosperity, +unapproached before in the annals of Scotland. But this brought +outsiders into the number of those competing for farms; as many men +who had made fortunes in trade and commerce desired to have farms, and +offered high rents――often more than they were worth. This for a time +tended to raise rents still higher. But eighteen years ago it became +manifest that the rents of land in Scotland were too high, for the +price of fat cattle had fallen about 15 shillings per hundredweight, +which represents a sum of from £6 to £7 per head on ordinary fat +cattle. This fall in the price of fat cattle is mainly owing to two +causes:――(1) To the long-continued depression of trade throughout the +civilised world; (2) to the importation of preserved meat and live +stock, chiefly from America. Thus it has happened that at the present +time many of the farmers in Scotland cannot continue to pay the rents +which they may have contracted to do before the fall in the price of +fat cattle.” + +Thus far I have indicated the improvement and progress of agriculture +in Scotland, and pointed out its prime and fundamental importance in +relation to the advancement of civilisation. I have also indicated the +real state of the question of land rents as it at present stands in +Scotland. + +In conclusion, it may be remarked that in the early part of the +eighteenth century the common wage of day labourers was fivepence a day +in winter and sixpence in summer. And within my own recollection, the +most capable farm-servant acting as foreman only received six pounds of +wages for the half year, and second and third class men five and four +pounds, youths from two to three pounds, and boys from one pound to +two pounds according to their strength and appearance. In regard to the +quality of food there was not much difference between the eighteenth +and nineteenth centuries, so far as farm-servants were concerned. + +In the present century horticulture began to receive more attention, +and within the last sixty years it has attained a considerable +development. Horticultural societies began to be formed in the first +quarter of the century, and such societies now exist all over the +country, and form a source of enjoyment to a large number of people. + + + + + CHAPTER XLVIII. + + _Progress of Mining, Manufactures, and Commerce, + in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries._ + + + SECTION I. + + _Coal, Iron, and Lead Mining._ + +IN the Introduction, it was stated that the country was rich in the +raw materials of industry;¹ and in the preceding volumes an account +was given of the various attempts at mining, and the introduction of +manufactures, to the end of the seventeenth century. In this chapter +an effort has been made to present a clear and concise account of +the development of mining operations, the manufacture of iron, the +development of the means of communication and commerce, and, finally, +of all the chief branches of manufactures. + + ¹ Mackintosh’s _History of Civilisation in Scotland_, Volume I, + page 29. + +The carboniferous system of Scotland has been fully treated by +geologists, and its peculiarities and extent have been often described. +Although broken strata of coal have been found in the Western Islands +and Sutherlandshire, the great coal-bearing strata of Scotland extends +from Fife Ness across the country in the line of the valleys of the +Forth and Clyde. The superficial area of the coal-fields of this region +is calculated to be about 1600 square miles. + +The carboniferous or coal-bearing system occurs immediately above the +old red sandstone, and it consists of a series of formations, which are +usually classed in four groups thus:――(1) The upper strata, commonly +called “the true coal-measures”――a thick series of sandstones, shales, +fireclays, some impure limestones, ironstones, and numerous coal seams; +(2) Millstone grit――generally a local formation of moderate thickness, +consisting of gritty sandstones, with inter-stratified shales and +thin seams of coal; (3) Mountain or carboniferous limestone――a series +of thick-bedded marine limestones, with some shales, sandstones, and +thin seams of coal; (4) Lower coal measures――a great thickness of +fine sandstone and grits, with shales, fireclays, ironstone, shell +and fresh-water limestones, and thinnish seams of coal. Thus coal and +ironstone occur in the same group of strata. + +The coal seams and beds occur in all degrees of breadth and thickness. +At Johnstone, in Renfrewshire, there was a seam of 100 feet in +thickness, but it is exceptional; while the thickest seam in the +Lothians is only 13 feet.¹ The centre of the coal-fields is Clydesdale, +where about one-half of the Scotch collieries are placed; they extend +through or touch upon thirteen counties, and of these Lanarkshire +has the greatest number, and Ayrshire, Fifeshire, Stirlingshire, +Edinburghshire, and Linlithgowshire follow in order. In most of +these counties, more or less valuable beds of ironstone, shale, and +♦limestone are intermixed with the coal. + + ¹ Coal is found in layers or seams varying from one inch up to + thirty or forty feet in thickness, but seven or eight feet + is the maximum thickness of single seams; miners consider + one which measures five feet as a thick bed, and seams of + one foot or under are not deemed worth working. + + ♦ “limeston eare” replaced with “limestone are” + +In the early part of the eighteenth century the coal-mining operations +in Scotland were on a very small scale; but considerable progress +was made before the end of the century. When the shallower parts +of the coal-fields were exhausted, it became necessary to form the +sinking shafts. The early mode of mining was simply to drive into +the coal-seams tunnels; but only a small extent of the seams could +be worked in that way, when the tunnels became dangerous by the +accumulation of foul air. Where the seams dipped downwards, water +accumulated, and much labour was required to keep the workings clear. + +After the method of working the coal by shafts descending to the seams +was adopted, contrivances for raising the coal and keeping the pits +clear of water were introduced. In some pits the coal and water both +were drawn up by a winch worked by men; in others, chain and bucket +engines were employed for hoisting the water out of the pit. In 1762 +a steam-engine was used for the first time at a coal pit in Scotland. +Few of the pits of those days exceeded a depth of twenty or thirty +fathoms, and with such appliances as were then available the difficulty +of working them was great.¹ + + ¹ _Industries of Scotland_, by D. Bremner, page 4; 1869. + +From this date to the end of the century the coal trade increased +slowly but steadily; and, as steam-power began to be more and more +applied to manufactures, the consumption of coal increased. When +steam-ships and railways were introduced a much greater demand for coal +arose. But there were some unpleasant and unsatisfactory conditions +connected with the working of the coal mines which cannot be passed +over unnoticed. + +In a preceding volume the state of the workmen in mines and at +salt-works was explained;¹ in short, they were in a state of +semi-slavery until 1775, when they were emancipated by an act of +parliament. So it could not be expected that men kept in this condition +for centuries would at once assume the spirit and characteristics +of those who had been long accustomed to the exercise of liberty and +freedom. In the year 1842, it was found that children and women were +employed in the coal mines of Scotland, as well as in those of England. +An act of parliament was then passed prohibiting the employment of +children and women in coal pits; but neither this act nor subsequent +ones were altogether effective for a long time. There were, however, +a number of Scotch pits in which women and children had never been +employed; and at present the mines are placed under a regular system +of inspection. + +All the collieries in Scotland are now worked by steam-power; and +various attempts have been made to apply this power to machinery for +excavating the coal. Seams of coal are now worked at a much greater +depth than they could have been before steam-power was introduced. +The Nitshill Pit in Renfrewshire is 175 fathoms in depth――one of the +deepest in Scotland. + + ¹ Mackintosh’s _History of Civilisation in Scotland_, Volume + III., page 291. + +In 1866, the quantity of coal raised in Scotland was 12,034,638 +tons; and the same year, the declared value of the coal exported +from Scotland was £515,805: the quantity of coal, cinders, and culm +represented by this would amount to about 1,500,000 tons. Since this +date the annual produce has greatly increased. In 1875 the minerals +raised in the Scotch coal-fields amounted to a total of 21,778, 480 +tons, consisting of coal, ironstone, limestone, and oil-shale. + +In 1871, there were 47,620 persons employed in coal mining in Scotland; +and of this number, 14,497 were under twenty years of age; and out of +the total there were 355 females engaged in this work, of whom 184 were +under twenty years of age. The hands were distributed in the centres of +the mining industry thus:――In Lanarkshire, 23,658; in Ayrshire, 8208; +in Fifeshire, 4646; in Stirlingshire, 3822; in Edinburghshire, 3399; +in Linlithgowshire, 1721; and the remaining number were distributed +among the counties of Haddington, Clackmannan, Dumbarton, Renfrew, +and Dumfries. In 1891 the coal miners were distributed thus:――In +Lanarkshire, 38,000; in Ayrshire, 10,910; in Fifeshire, 8,352; +Stirlingshire, 5,230; Edinburghshire, 4, 113; Linlithgowshire, 3,213; +and the remainder in the other counties above indicated. + +In 1875, in these districts there were upwards of 76,000 persons +employed in raising coal, ironstone, and lime. In 1891 the number of +coal, ironstone, and shale miners was 82,701. The pits through which +the minerals are raised vary from 30 to 180 fathoms in depth, and as +a rule are not heavily watered. + +Touching the wages and the social condition of the coal miners much +might be said, but space is limited, and brevity must be observed. +In no occupation has there been a greater fluctuation of wages in the +present century than in that of the coal miner. In Lanarkshire, in +1836, the daily wage was 5 shillings; the next year a reduction was +made to 4 shillings; and a strike ensued which lasted four months, and +then the men returned to work at the terms offered. Wages gradually +declined, and in 1842 they were as low as 2 shillings 6 pence and +1 shilling 8 pence a day. Their union was then renewed, and they went +out on strike; and this time the masters yielded and granted an advance +of 1 shilling; but it was soon after reduced again. In 1847, there was +a great strike, when the men stood out for 5 shillings a day; they, +however, recommenced work at 3 shillings a day, which in a few weeks +after was reduced to 2 shillings a day. In 1851, the average wage of +miners was 2 shillings 6 pence a day; but in 1852, the Scottish Miners’ +Association was formed, “for the protection of miners’ rights and +privileges.” In 1854, the daily wage was 5 shillings; but a gradual +fall followed, and in 1858 the average wage was 3 shillings¹ From this +date onwards for about fifteen years the coal miners’ wages in Scotland +continued to rise till they reached the figures of 8 shillings, 10 +shillings, and even 12 shillings a day; then they fell greatly. In 1887 +their wages was only 2 shillings 6 pence a day: a rate which was too +low for their class of labour, or for any body of regularly working men. +Since then their wages have fluctuated. There has been several strikes, +and an extremely disastrous one in 1894. + + ¹ _Notices of some of the Principal Manufactures of the West + of Scotland_, page 14; 1878. + +The sons of miners generally follow the occupation of their fathers, +and begin to work at twelve years of age, when he enters the pit and +“is attached to his father or some other man, and becomes known as +a ‘quarter-man.’ The miner with whom he works is entitled to put out +one-fourth more coal than if he worked without assistance, and from +the price received for the extra quantity he pays the boy, whose +duty it is to fill the coal into the ‘tubs’ and convey it to the +pit bottom. At fourteen, the boy becomes a ‘half-man;’ at sixteen, a +‘three-quarter-man;’ and at eighteen, he assumes the title of ‘miner,’ +performs a man’s work, and draws a man’s pay.”¹ + + ¹ _Industries of Scotland_, by D. Bremner, page 22. + +As a class, the coal-miners of Scotland have had upon the whole a hard +lot, and their present condition is not a comfortable or happy one. +Although in recent years their houses have been rebuilt, which in early +days were wretched huts, still many of their dwellings are far from +comfortable. They are small: their dimension is usually twelve feet by +fifteen; but of course there are exceptions at some of the collieries. +At the Dalkeith Colliery, which belongs to the Duke of Buccleuch, the +miners’ houses are well constructed and commodious, with spaces of +ground attached to them for drying clothes or as playground for the +children. + +It has to be understood that those engaged as iron-miners all work +within the district of the coal fields; in fact, the ironstone miners’ +work differs but little from that of the coal-miner. Although it +was known that ironstone existed in the Scotch coal measures before +the eighteenth century, little was done in the way of mining or +manufacturing iron in Scotland before that century, and it was only +towards the end of it that the manufacture assumed much importance. + +At first there were only a few persons employed in mining for iron, +and in the last century the number of iron-miners were not numerous. +But the great development of the iron trade in the present century +increased the number of miners of every description. In 1871, the +number of persons employed in mining for metals was 14,201, and of this +number 3830 were under twenty years of age, and among them there were +20 female miners. The number directly engaged in mining for iron was +9087. + +In the preceding volumes it was noticed that lead ore exists in +Scotland, and has been worked in many parts of the country, but only in +a few cases has it proved remunerative. At present, four or five mines +are worked, and the total produce is about 1500 tons of pure lead per +annum. The chief mines are at Leadhills in Lanarkshire, about fifty +miles from Glasgow, and Wanlockhead in Dumfriesshire. The veins of ore +in these mines have been worked to a depth of from 70 to 140 fathoms. +In 1861, there were 538 lead-miners in Scotland; and in 1871, there +were 600 employed, and of this number six were females. In 1891 the +number had fallen to 432. + +Traces of copper ore have been found in many places in Scotland, and +from early times attempts have been made to work the veins, but only +in a very few cases with success. In 1861, there were forty-one copper +miners in Scotland; in 1871, there were thirty-six, one of whom was +a female. In 1891, there were only thirteen. In 1871, the number of +persons employed in connection with mining for minerals and metals――as +mineral borers, sinkers, and mine service, was 4000. + + + SECTION .II + + _Iron Works and Iron Manufactures._ + +Iron is one of the staple manufactures of Scotland, and the development +which it has attained since the middle of the last century is +surprising and wonderful. The Scottish ores are known by the names of +the clayband ironstone and the blackband ironstone; the former only +was known and used in the eighteenth century, the latter was not even +discovered till about the beginning of the present century. But for +many years the Scotch ironmasters have imported considerable quantities +of hæmatite iron ores from England, ochrey iron ores from Spain, +magnetic iron ores, and spathic ores, from various countries, which +were used in the Scotch blast-furnaces. Thus the quality of Scottish +iron has not been dependant on the native ores. From an early period +small quantities of iron were smelted by a rude process. + +A furnace was built at Goatfield in Argyleshire, about 1750; and about +the same time another was erected at Bonawe, also in Argyleshire, for +making charcoal iron from hæmatite ores. The Bonawe furnace continued +and was subsequently known as the Lorne furnace, and carried on by +Messrs. Harrison, Ainslie and Co. The hæmatite ore used in this furnace +was taken from Cumberland, and the charcoal was produced at the works +in the woods in the neighbourhood. In 1788, the produce of these two +furnaces was 1400 tons of iron per ♦annum. The Bonawe furnace, in 1875, +was only producing 800 tons a year, which is accounted for from its +being so far removed from the centre of iron ore and coal. + + ♦ “annnm” replaced with “annum” + +In 1760, the Carron Ironworks were erected by a company, consisting of +Dr. John Roebuck, a native of Sheffield, William Cadell of Cockenzie, +Samuel Garbet of Prestonpans, and others. They were assisted in some +important contrivances connected with the work by Smeaton, the eminent +engineer. The first furnace was blown on the 1st of January, and from +that memorable day onward the works have had a remarkably successful +career. + +These works in a few years became amongst the most famous in Europe; +and the products of the firm long held a high reputation in the leading +markets of the world. Sir John Sinclair in his _Statistical Account of +Scotland_, published in 1792, describes the Carron Works thus:―― + +“There are five blast furnaces, sixteen air-furnaces, a clay mill for +grinding clay and making fire-bricks for the use of the said furnaces, +an engine that raises four tons and a half of water at one stroke, +and on an average draws seven strokes per minute. This engine goes +in time of drought, and consumes sixteen tons of coal in twenty-four +hours. Besides the coals consumed by the engine, there are a hundred +and twenty tons burned every day in the works and by the inhabitants +belonging to them. Besides the air-furnaces there are three cupola +furnaces that go by virtue of the blast-furnaces, by pipes conveyed +from the machinery of the blasts; their business is much the same with +the air-furnaces. There are also four boring-mills for boring guns, +pipes, cylinders, etc. One of the boring-mills is adapted for turning +the guns on the outside. They have likewise Smith’s forges for making +the largest anchors and anvils, as well as small work of various kinds, +besides a forge for making malleable iron, and a plating forge; also a +forge for stamping iron, the hammer of which, with the helve, are both +of cast metal, and weigh a ton and a half.” + +Thus it appears that, though Carron obtained its reputation chiefly for +its pig-iron manufacture and castings, it was also the first place in +Scotland where malleable iron was made. There are about two thousand +men and boys employed at the works. A farm of four hundred acres is +attached to the works, and there are five villages in the neighbourhood, +dependencies of the company, in which many of the houses have been +built by them.¹ + + ¹ _Notices of some of the Principal Manufactures of the West + of Scotland_, pages 31‒32, 1876. From Burns to the present + day there is a concurrence of testimony to the effect that + it was next to impossible for any stranger to get a look + through the Carron Works. Mr. Smiles wished to see a long- + disused apparatus which Smeaton, the engineer, had contrived, + but in the autumn of 1858, when he called at the works for + that purpose, and requested admittance, the reply of the + manager was, “Na, na, it canna be allood. We canna be fashed + wi’ strangers here.”――_Lives of the Engineers_, Volume II., + page 61. + +From the establishment of these works till 1788, the quantity of iron +produced in Scotland was about 1500 tons per annum, but before the end +of the century a number of other iron works were erected. Shortly after +1770, the Cramond Works were started with two furnaces, which were +each 40 feet high and 14 in diameter. Between 1779 and 1796 there were +furnaces erected at Glenbuck, Muirkirk, Wilsontown, Calder, Clyde, and +Omoa, in Lanarkshire. The Clyde Works were begun in 1786; there were +two furnaces in blast in 1792, and in 1799 there were three. At that +time nearly the whole produce of the works was cast into cannon and +artillery equipments. In 1796 there were seventeen blast-furnaces in +Scotland, and the quantity of pig-iron produced in that year was 18,640 +tons. + +The first of the important group of blast-furnaces in the neighbourhood +of Coatbridge and Airdrie was commenced in 1800. Shortly after, David +Mushet discovered the blackband ironstone in this locality. While +he was crossing the river Calder, at a spot a little above Cairnhill +Old Mill, he first observed the blackband in an outcrop. When he +ascertained that it belonged to the upper coal measures he continued +his investigation, and soon found other beds of the blackband ironstone +in the lands of Clifton Hill, Airdrie, Burnfoot, Kipsbyre, Rochsoles, +Woodhall, and Lauchope. Since his discovery, this iron ore has been +found in other parts of the carboniferous system, and its existence has +contributed greatly to the progress of the Scotch iron trade. + +“The blackband ironstone contains from 50 to 70 per cent. of iron in +combination with sufficient carbonaceous matter to calcine it when put +into heaps.”¹ Good blackband iron ore contains from 2 to 8 per cent. +of coal; if it contains more than 20 per cent. of coal, it is of little +value save when mixed with clayband, which uses up the excess of coal. + + ¹ _Notices of some of the Principal Manufactures of the West + of Scotland_, page 37. + +After the discovery of the blackband ore, the iron trade advanced more +rapidly in Scotland. The most of this ore is embedded in Lanarkshire +and Ayrshire, and they became the chief centres of the iron manufacture. +The quantity of iron produced in 1806 was 20,240 tons; in 1825 it was +24,000 tons; and in 1829 it had reached 29,000. But the introduction of +railways now began to cause a greater demand for iron, and this, with +the rapidly increasing consumption of iron in supplying the machinery +and apparatuses of the many manufactories which were springing up +throughout the country, gave an enormous stimulation to the iron trade. +Accordingly new ironworks and many furnaces were erected in Scotland +between the years 1825 and 1850. In 1827, J. B. Neilson, engineer +of the Glasgow Gasworks, formed the idea of heating the air before +injecting it into the furnace; and in 1829 his invention was tried +at the Clyde Ironworks with marked success.¹ This invention gave a +great impetus to the iron trade; and the patentee and his partners were +reported to have realised £300,000 from it. Powerful engines are used +for generating the blast. + + ¹ _Industries of Scotland_, by D. ♦Bremner. + + ♦ “Bremmer” replaced with “Bremner” + +An idea may be formed of the activity of the iron trade and its rapid +progress in Scotland from a comparison of the annual production of iron +at different periods. As stated above, the production in 1829 was 29, +000 tons; but for the year 1835 it had risen to 75,000; in 1840 it was +197,000 tons; in 1845 it reached to 475, 000 tons; in 1850 it was 690, +000 tons; in 1855 it was 820, 000 tons; in 1861 it rose to 1,050,000; +in 1865 it was 1,164,000 tons; the following year the production fell +to 994,000; but it rose again, and in 1870 it was 1,206,000. Thus the +production of iron in Scotland had increased in forty years more than +a million of tons. But this rapid development of the iron trade was +not peculiar to Scotland; there was also a remarkable increase in the +production of iron in England and in other countries springing from +similar causes. + +The Gartsherrie Ironworks, in the vicinity of Coatbridge, which were +started by Alexander Baird in 1830, with one blast furnace are now +the largest in Scotland. These works were developed with remarkable +enterprise and skill. In 1875, the works consisted of sixteen furnaces, +placed in two parallel rows, one on each side of the Monkland Canal; +these furnaces are all open-topped, and, having been built at different +dates, they are of various patterns and sizes. The works produce +100,000 tons of pig iron per annum, and upwards of 3000 men and boys +are employed in connection with the works. In the neighbourhood of +the works there are some 500 houses belonging to the Messrs. Baird & +Company, which are occupied by their workmen. + +In 1875 this firm had other four ironworks in Ayrshire; in all they had +forty furnaces, which produced 300,000 tons of pig-iron per annum, and +gave employment to about 9000 men and boys. + +The Summerlee Ironworks, which were started in 1836, are near by +Gartsherrie Works. In 1875 these works had eight furnaces, from which +a portion of the gas is taken off and used for generating steam for +driving the blowing engines and heating the blast, and three of the +furnaces had been raised to a height of 70 feet; the others varied from +42 feet upward. The annual produce of Summerlee Works when the furnaces +were all in blast was from 50,000 to 70,000 tons of pig-iron. The +Langloan Ironworks, belonging to Messrs. Addie & Sons, are situated +in the same locality, and consist of eight furnaces, which are chiefly +employed in making foundry iron. In 1875, the Calder Ironworks, which +commenced in 1800, where blackband ironstone was first used, consisted +of eight furnaces. The Coltness Ironworks were begun in 1837, and in +1875 they consisted of twelve furnaces placed in two parallel rows. +Each of these furnaces produce from 12 to 15 tons at a cast, and are +tapped every twelve hours.¹ + + ¹ _Notices of some of the Principal Manufactures of the West + of Scotland_, pages 39‒43. + +In 1867 the number of furnaces in Scotland was 164, but they were +not all in blast. On an average each furnace produced about 9546 tons +per annum, and each gives employment, directly and indirectly, to +200 men and boys. Thus, if the furnaces were all in blast, the annual +production of iron would exceed 1,500,000 tons, and give employment to +upwards of 33,000 men and boys. + +During the early stages of iron manufacture in Scotland there was not +much malleable iron produced. But between the years 1828 and 1836 this +branch was successfully established, and it has since been carried +on with surprising energy and skill. In 1875, there were upwards +of 400 puddling furnaces, many scrap and heating furnaces, and 50 +rolling-mills. The average annual produce of malleable iron was about +145,000 tons, representing a value of over a million sterling. + +These works produce plates, bars, and all kinds of manufactured iron; +and some of them are very large establishments. The Glasgow Iron +Company have the largest ironworks of this class in Scotland, at St. +Rollox and Motherwell, which were established in 1845. In 1875, these +works had 102 puddling furnaces, and fourteen rolling-mills; and were +fully equipped for turning out from 300 to 400 tons of finished iron +per week, consisting of ship and boiler plates, angle iron, tee iron, +and other kinds. The works of the firm were also equipped for producing +from 600 to 800 tons per week of sheets, rails, nail-rods, hoops, and +all kinds of small merchant iron. + +There are many other great ironworks in and around Glasgow, but space +is limited, and I can only notice a few. The Parkhead Ironworks, +belonging to the Messrs. Beardmore, is a very large and remarkable +establishment. In 1875, the works had forty puddling furnaces, a +corresponding number of rolling-mills, fourteen steam hammers with +heads varying in weight from seven tons downwards, and many other +well-designed appliances of a heavy type. There were 600 hands employed +in the works, and they can turn out 1000 tons of plates, and 150 tons +of forgings of all descriptions, per month. It was in this work that +the double crank-shaft of the _Monarch_ (a huge warship) was forged, +which weighed, when it left the hammers, 32 tons. + +The Lancefield Malleable Ironworks stand on the south side of Glasgow, +in Scotland Street, and its productions are of a similar nature to +those of the Parkhead works. The Lancefield establishment is famed +for its great forgings of the class of crank shafts, propeller shafts, +stern posts, and so on. “When it was required to produce the forgings +for the _Great Eastern_, there was only one forge in the whole world +ready and prepared to execute the task. That forge was Lancefield. The +propeller-shaft of the _Great Eastern_ was 47 feet long, and weighed +35 tons, the crank-shaft 31 tons, and the stern-frame 25 tons.” In +short, it was once said:――“When a shipbuilder requires a stern-frame +for an iron vessel of 5000 or 6000 tons burden ... there are in all +Europe only the government establishment of Russia, the forge of Messrs. +Marrell in France, one or two forges on the Thames and Mersey, and some +three or four on the Clyde equal to the task.”¹ + + ¹ _Notices of some of the Principal Manufactures in the West + of Scotland_, pages 51‒53. + +Steel has not been extensively manufactured in Scotland; and, in 1875, +it was mostly limited to one company, which commenced in 1871, under +the name of the “Steel Company of Scotland.” This firm then employed +700 men, and produced from 2000 to 2600 tons per month, consisting +chiefly of rails, forgings, and plates. This, with the exception of a +small quantity of crucible steel, embraced all the production of steel +in Scotland. Since there has been a large increase in the production +of steel, mainly caused by the substitution of steel for iron in +shipbuilding. Lanarkshire is the centre of the steel manufacture in +Scotland. In 1891 there were 4,393 men employed in this manufacture. + +There are a number of branches connected with iron:――(1) +_Iron-founding_, often carried on in connection with special branches +of trade pursued by some engineering firms; and sometimes engineering +establishments are called foundries, though they have discontinued +iron-founding. But the general tendency for long has been to draw +the lines of the division of labour within more specialised limits; +and iron-founding now embraces several pretty well defined branches. +In the Glasgow district there are a number of foundries which limit +their attention to the production of iron castings alone; and in other +places――Dundee, Aberdeen, and other towns――such works have long been +in operation. The work produced in such foundries comprises sugar-pans +and batteries, round pans and coolers, vacuum pans and connections, +kokers, round and square tanks, bleaching boilers, soap pans and +boilers, chemical pans and retorts, castings for marine and land +engines, for sugar mills, gearing, hydraulic presses, etc. (2) Domestic, +sanitary, and architectural castings, gas and water castings; (3) the +pipe-founding trade; (4) apparatus for gasworks; (5) the iron tube +manufacture; (6) rivet, bolt, and nut trade; (7) screening apparatus; +(8) the machine tool trade; (9) boiler making, rivetting machines, etc.; +(10) iron piers, bridges, and roofing, etc.; (11) railway plant; (12) +locomotive engine trade; (13) colliery machinery; (14) blowing engines, +and pumping machinery; (15) agricultural implements and machinery; +(16) wood-working machinery; (17) sugar-making machinery; (18) textile +machinery; (19) the sewing machine trade; (20) distilling apparatus; +(21) cranes and other hoisting apparatus; (22) traction engines, and +many other mechanical appliances. All these branches of manufactures +are carried on in and around Glasgow to a greater or less extent, +and many of them also in the other centres of industry throughout the +kingdom. + +Having indicated the progress of the coal and mining industries, which +may be considered as the foundation stones of the whole circle of +manufactures; and the progress of the iron manufacture, which may be +conceived as the dressed materials, the indispensable links in the +development of all the other great manufactures. But, before proceeding +to give a brief account of the evolution of the other manufactures, +the order of events, and the relation of causes and effects renders it +requisite to treat of the means of communication, for in a preceding +volume it was stated that――“Means of intercourse, as roads, bridges, +communication by sea, and postal arrangements, are closely connected +with trade and national progress. Roads, in the order of development, +naturally precede the other modes of transit, and are followed by +ferry-boats, canals, improved harbours, and a regular postal system. +As civilisation advances, these are rapidly improved, and by-and-by +partly superseded by better expedients and arrangements, as steamships, +railways, telegraphic and telephonic communication, all which +evince the resources of the human mind.”¹ Therefore, let us proceed +to indicate the progress which has taken place in the means of +communication during the past century and a half. + + ¹ Mackintosh’s _History of Civilisation in Scotland_, Volume + III., page 294. + + + SECTION III. + + _Improvement of the Means of Communication._ + +In the early part of the eighteenth century, the roads in Scotland were +very bad, but there was then little traffic, and few wheeled vehicles +of any kind were used. The roads constructed by the Government in the +Highlands were of little commercial importance, as they were planned +for military ends. This part of the country was not opened by good +traffic roads till the beginning of the present century. The spirit +of improvement, however, had begun in the Lowlands a century earlier, +although it made little progress in road-making for a considerable time. + +In 1776, an authoritative Survey of the roads of Scotland was +published.¹ In this Survey, the great roads throughout the country +are measured from Edinburgh, and it gives a list of the different +stages, and shows the distance between one stage and another, as well +as the distance of each stage from Edinburgh; all the cities, towns, +and villages on the lines of these leading roads are marked, and +the bridges and cross-roads indicated. It is pretty evident that +at this time considerable progress has been made, and the statement +in the Survey concludes thus:――“It may be expected that we should +give a particular description of the roads, but this would be too +great a departure from our original plan for us to undertake; we shall, +therefore, only observe, that the military roads are kept in the best +repair; and so much has been done of late years to the other roads, by +the attention of the nobility and gentry, that travelling is thereby +made incredibly easy, expeditious, and commodious; and such a spirit of +improvement prevails throughout Scotland, that we may venture to say, a +few years will complete all the public roads in that part of the United +Kingdom. + + ¹ ♦Taylor and Skinner’s _Survey and Maps of the Roads of North + Britain or Scotland_. + + ♦ “Tylor” replaced with “Taylor” + +“There are good inns on all the roads, with post-chaises and horses at +every stage, as far north as Inverness by Aberdeen.” About this time +the general construction of turnpike roads began, and before the end of +the eighteenth century the means of communication were greatly improved +throughout the Lowlands. During this period the talents of Mr. Telford, +the engineer, were much employed in planning and constructing roads +and building bridges. His advice concerning the repairs of the road +between Glasgow and Carlisle was sought. The roads to Glasgow, north of +Carlisle, were in a very unsatisfactory state, and, in 1784, when the +first mail-coach from London was driving into Glasgow by this route, +the citizens formed a procession on horseback, and went out several +miles to meet and welcome it.¹ A line of road was made from Carlisle, +across the counties of Dumfries and Wigton, to Portpatrick, for the +purpose of obtaining more rapid communication with Belfast and the +northern parts of Ireland. Many roads and bridges were formed in the +latter years of the eighteenth century and the early years of the +present century. + + ¹ Smiles’ _Lives of the Engineers_, Volume II., page 428. + +In 1802, the Government employed Mr. Telford to make a survey of +Scotland and report on the state of the roads and bridges, and on the +means of promoting the fisheries on the east and west coasts, with the +object of preventing further emigration of the inhabitants of those +regions. He collected a vast mass of facts, and presented his report +in April, 1803; and in the following summer, he received instruction +to prepare for beginning practical operations. He proceeded to the +Highlands to draw out the lines of roads and plan the bridges which +were most necessary. His first aim was to secure the connection of the +new lines of road by bridges at the most important points, such as at +Dunkeld over the Tay, and other points. The bridge at Dunkeld formed +the opening, as it were, to the central Highlands, and it was finished +and opened for traffic in 1809. The communication to the north of +Inverness was continued by a bridge over the Beauly, and another over +the Conan. He also erected three or four important bridges to connect +the existing lines of road at Ballater over the Dee, at Alford over the +Don, and at Craigellachie over the Spey. The bridge of Craigellachie +was a light cast-iron arch of 150 feet, a beautiful structure. +Telford, having thus connected the main lines of road, concentrated +his attention upon the interior of the Highlands; and by the year 1820, +one thousand two hundred new bridges were erected, and nine hundred +and twenty miles of good roads were added to the road communications +of this region. The first stage-coaches that ran northward from Perth +to Inverness were tried in 1806; before 1811 they were regularly +established, and in 1820 forty stage-coaches arrived in Inverness every +week, and as many departed.¹ + + ¹ Smiles’ _Lives of the Engineers_, Volume II., pages 377‒388. + +Shortly after the Union the idea arose of uniting the east with the +west, by a canal uniting the Forth and the Clyde. The scheme at first +was thought to be impracticable; but when commerce had advanced a few +degrees farther, it was readily adopted, and this important work was +commenced in 1768. The canal runs nearly in the line of the old Roman +wall, and it was opened in 1790. The main canal joins the Clyde a few +miles below Glasgow. It is 38 miles in length; its medium width at the +surface is 56 feet, and at the bottom 27; at first it was about eight +feet in depth, but its banks were raised, and the depth of water then +reached ten feet. It has thirty-nine locks, with a rise of 156 feet +from the sea to the highest level. + +In the latter half of the eighteenth century, many plans of canals were +projected in Scotland, and surveys made, which were never executed. +In 1807, a canal, intended to form a communication between Glasgow, +Paisley, and Ardrossan, was begun; but only the part extending past +Paisley on to Johnstone was made. It is about twelve miles long, thirty +feet broad at the top and eighteen at the bottom, and four feet and a +half in depth. The Union Canal, which joined the Forth and Clyde Canal +near Falkirk, and thence to Edinburgh, a distance of thirty-one miles, +was opened in 1822. In 1803, the construction of the Caledonian Canal +was commenced, but it had been thought of long before. For in 1773, +Watt, the improver of the steam engine, was employed to make a survey, +and he announced that the canal was practicable, and pointed out how it +could be constructed. It was made, at the expense of Government, from +plans, and under the superintendence of, Telford, the engineer, and +opened in 1822. Some other canals in Scotland, after being made and +used for years, have been superseded by railways. + +Thus far it appears that with regard to the means of internal +communication both by land and water Scotland was fairly well advanced +before the first quarter of the present century expired. But her +manufactures and commerce were rapidly extending, and she was thus so +far prepared to take advantage of any improved means of communication +which might be discovered. The great revolution in the means of +communication which took place in the second quarter of this century, +however, does not seem to have been anticipated even by those who were +most actively engaged in originating it. + +A waggon-road, tramway, or railroad, is a kind of road with ways +formed of wood, stone, iron, or other material, on which the wheels +of vehicles or waggons passing along it run. The immediate end of all +such roads is to enable a less quantity of power to impel a loaded +carriage and send it forward at a greater speed. It is reported +that wooden-rails were first employed about 1630, on roads used for +coal-waggons in the north of England. It is recorded that, in 1745, +a tramroad existed between the Tranent coal-pits and the harbour of +Cockenzie in East Lothian. The first iron rails were cast at Colebrook +Dale Ironworks, in Shropshire, in 1767. Rails were laid down at +several of the collieries in Mid-Lothian, Lanark, and Ayr, long before +locomotives were introduced. The first public railway in Scotland was +constructed between Kilmarnock and Troon, nine and a half miles long, +which was opened for traffic in 1812. The rails of this tramway were +of cast iron and fixed in stone blocks, and the carriages were drawn +by horses. + +The earliest lines were mostly all connected with mines or quarries, +and were worked by horses or by fixed engines. Before the year 1830 +the sanction of Parliament had been obtained for the construction of +upwards of a hundred miles of railways; and between 1830 and 1840, +Parliamentary powers were obtained for two hundred miles of new +lines of railways. The more important of these were the Edinburgh and +Glasgow; the Glasgow, Paisley, and Greenock; the Dundee and Arbroath; +Arbroath and Forfar. In the next ten years there was a vast extension +of railways, and many of the short lines were united into systems. +But a number of the new railways then proposed were never made, though +some of them were fifteen or twenty years afterwards, but not by the +original projectors. For a time the country rang with projects of new +and impracticable schemes of railways, and immense sums of money were +lost and won; those were the days when millionaires began to arise in +the iron trade, and in other less legitimate lines of business. Railway +extension, however, continued till the whole country became penetrated +with lines; and twenty-six years ago almost the whole of the railways +in Scotland were either worked or leased by a few companies――The +Caledonian, Glasgow and South-Western, North British, Great North of +Scotland, and Highland――each of these companies have large systems of +railway communication. In 1866, there were 2244 miles of railways in +Scotland. + +Along with the development of the railway system, a remarkable +improvement and development of the postal system has taken place. The +Post Office system is entirely under the control of the Government, +and forms a distinct and important department of the administration. +The introduction of the penny postage in 1840, and since then the +introduction of post-cards, the telegraphic system, and the parcels +post, were all important and convenient improvements. + + + SECTION IV. + + _Shipbuilding._ + +In the preceding volumes of this History the progress of shipbuilding +from its origin in Scotland, in the form of a boat simply consisting +of a single tree scooped out in the centre, has been traced to the +end of the seventeenth century; in this section the vast changes and +progress of the art since the beginning of the eighteenth century to +the present time will be briefly indicated. In 1692, the number of +vessels belonging to the chief Scotch ports was about 100, with a total +tonnage of about 6000, which gives an average of 60 tons to each. But +after the Union, a wider field was opened for the enterprise of the +Scots, and the commerce of the nation extended amazingly. In 1760, +the number of vessels had increased to 999, with a total tonnage of +53,913, giving an average of 54 tons to each. But in 1800, the number +of ships had increased to 2415, with a total tonnage of 171,728, giving +an average of 71 tons to each, and employing 14,820 seamen. The number +and size of vessels continued to increase, and, in 1840, there were +3479 ships with a total tonnage of 429,204, giving an average of over +123 tons to each, while the number of seamen employed was upwards of +28,000. In 1850, the number of sailing ships was 3432, with a tonnage +of 491,395, being an average of 143 tons each; and steamships 169, +with a tonnage of 30,827; thus giving a total tonnage of 522,222. +During the next ten years a marked change took place in the size of the +ships, mainly owing to the improvement of harbours and docks, and the +extension of foreign trade. The number of sailing ships in 1860, was +3172, being 260 fewer than 1850; but the tonnage had increased 60,817; +so that in ten years the average tonnage of the sailing ships had risen +from 143 to 175; the number of steamships had increased to 314, with a +tonnage of 71,579, giving an average of 228 tons. In 1865, the number +of sailing vessels of and under 50 tons was 1057, with a tonnage of +32,050; and above fifty tons 1925 vessels, with a tonnage of 600,195; +the number of steam vessels of and under 50 tons was 119, and their +tonnage 3080; above 50 tons 330, with a tonnage of 131,650. + +Leith two centuries ago was the chief shipbuilding port in Scotland. +After the Union, the _Fury_, a line-of-battle ship, was built at Leith. +In 1840, two steamships were built, larger than any then afloat; about +the same time other large ships were built at Leith; and it was even +thought by many that this port would keep the lead in shipbuilding. It +is needless to say that Leith has been left far behind in the race, and +the centre of shipbuilding in Scotland has for many years been on the +Clyde. The order of historic exposition seems to require that the other +shipbuilding ports of Scotland should be noticed before this modern +centre. + +In Dundee shipbuilding was carried on from an early period. At the +beginning of the present century a considerable number of vessels was +built in Dundee for the coasting trade and the over-sea commerce. The +size of the vessels continued to increase, and, in 1856, the Messrs. +Alexander Stephen built a ship of 1848 tons burthen. There were then +six firms engaged in building wooden ships, but, in 1870, there were +only two exclusively employed in this branch. Steamship building was +introduced at Dundee in 1823, when a paddle vessel was built for the +traffic between Dundee and Perth, and it has since been carried on +with great energy. Iron shipbuilding was begun at Dundee in 1838, but +there were not many iron vessels built at this port till after 1854. +The first screw steamer was launched from the yard of Mr. John Brown in +1851. In 1854, the firm of Messrs. Gourlay Brothers began to build iron +ships, and for many years they turned out a large number of steamers. +Prior to 1865 all the vessels built in Dundee had been formed either of +wood or iron, but in that year the Messrs. Stephen began to build ships +with a combination of both materials; such vessels were known under the +name of “composite,” as consisting partly of iron and partly of wood.¹ +In 1869 there were five shipbuilding firms in Dundee. In 1891 the +number of hands employed in Dundee was 1,772. + + ¹ “A number of years ago there was a great run upon what was + designated ‘composite’ ships, that is to say, vessels having + a skeleton, as it were, of iron, with a shell or cover of + timber planking. They have had their day, and have already + gone almost entirely out of vogue. If we go back to the + year 1863, and note the statistics of the composite type of + vessels, we find that there were launched two steamers and + four sailing ships――only six in all. In the following year + there was only one composite steamer launched, and there + were six sailing ships of the same build, the total tonnage + of the seven vessels being 5814 tons, none of them being + over 1000 tons. In the year 1865, however, we find an + extraordinary leap, one composite steamer and 19 composite + sailing ships, of a total of 12,010 tons, being launched + during that year. Of the same build there were three + steamers and 12 sailing vessels launched in the year 1866, + five steamers and 13 sailing vessels in 1867, followed in + 1868 by six steamers (three of which were gunboats) and 18 + sailing vessels, the total tonnage of the 26 sailing vessels + being 17,713 tons. There was a sensible falling off in the + composite tonnage launched in 1869, six steamers and 13 + sailing ships, with a total of 14,395 tons. In the year 1870 + no composite steamers were built and only six sailing ships + of that build, of a total of 6100 tons; and no composite + steamers have been launched during the last five years, + and only two small composite sailing ships, and actually + no composite shipping at all during 1873, 1874, or 1875. It + was certainly rather a strange phase that the shipbuilding + trade passed through during the ten or twelve years ending + with the year 1872, in respect of the adoption of the + composite type of build, more especially for sailing + vessels.”――_Notices of some of the Principal Manufactures + of the West of Scotland_, page 174. + +A considerable number of vessels were built at Newburgh, Tayport, +Arbroath, and Montrose. + +Throughout the eighteenth century there was a growing shipbuilding +trade at Aberdeen, and before the end of that period there were three +or four firms carrying on this department. Early in the present century +a class of larger vessels began to be constructed, and, in 1816, the +_Castle Forbes_, a vessel built for the Indian trade, was launched. In +1817, 20 ships were launched, with a total tonnage of 2770; and in the +following year 22 vessels were built, with a total tonnage of 3300 tons; +from this time onward for about half a century the trade continued to +extend. + +Mr. Alexander Hall, of A. Hall & Sons, introduced the “clipper” type +of vessels, and, in 1830, he built the _Scottish Maid_, a vessel of 142 +tons, which showed the advantages of sharp lines. This vessel was much +admired, and, shortly after, the Aberdeen shipbuilders became famous +for their clipper ships. A large number of the vessels employed in +the Australian emigration trade were built at Aberdeen. In 1854, the +Messrs. A. Hall & Sons launched the _Schomberg_, a vessel specially +constructed for the Australian passenger trade, and she was one of the +finest and largest vessels then afloat.¹ She was 262 feet in length, +45 in breadth, and 30 in depth, and of 2600 tons burthen. Other vessels +of a similar description were built; but the general introduction of +iron shipbuilding has had the effect of checking the prosperity of +shipbuilding in Aberdeen. Although the Aberdeen firms have built iron +steamers of a high class, still the substitution of iron for wood has +produced extremely depressing effects upon the shipbuilding industry, +not only in Aberdeen and all round the coasts of the Moray Firth, but +also in the smaller seats of shipbuilding throughout the country. + + ¹ This vessel was described in the article “Shipbuilding,” in + the ninth edition of the _Encyclopædia Britannica_. + +In 1868, there were six shipbuilding firms in Aberdeen, the yards of +the Halls and the Duthies being the oldest establishments; and there +were then between 1000 and 2000 persons employed in the trade; but +in recent years the hands employed have not exceeded 500 or 600. At +the above date there were considerable shipbuilding establishments at +Peterhead, Banff, Inverness, and other ports on the Moray Firth where +wooden vessels were built. But the introduction of iron steamers in +the London trade, in the coasting and coal-carrying trade, has almost +totally extinguished shipbuilding at these ports, and a similar result +has been produced in other parts of the country. Thus the ultimate +effect of the change from timber shipbuilding to iron shipbuilding has +been to concentrate the building of large vessels on the Clyde; and to +it I will now proceed. + +In a preceding chapter the earliest attempts at steam navigation were +indicated;¹ and, without entering into long details, a brief account of +the introduction and the actual working of the first steam vessels is +full of interest. The first steamboat that actually worked successfully +in this country began to ply, in January, 1812, between Glasgow and +Helensburgh. She was called the _Comet_, and continued to run on the +Clyde till October, 1820, when she was wrecked rounding the Point of +Craignish. The projector and owner of this boat was Henry Bell, a house +carpenter or builder, and from his design she was built by Messrs. +John Wood & Company, Port-Glasgow; and John Robertson, of Glasgow, +constructed and fitted up her engine, which was of three horse-power. +Her length of keel was 40 feet, breadth of beam 10 feet 6 inches, drew +4 feet of water, and was about 25 tons burthen. Another steamboat was +built the same year, and in 1818 there were eighteen of these boats on +the Clyde. The early built steam vessels were all of small dimensions, +but improvements were soon introduced, and the building of steamers +and the construction of suitable and powerful engines were rapidly +developed. + + ¹ By an oversight I neglected to refer to the efforts of + Lord Stanhope, who, in 1790, took out his patent for the + propulsion of ships by steam. “He adopted paddles, placed + under the quarters of the vessel, which were made to open + and shut like the feet of a duck.” He got a flat-bottomed + boat specially constructed for the purpose, and a trial was + made in Greenland Dock, but the boat only attained a speed + of three miles an hour, and his plan was abandoned. + +The tonnage of the steamers gradually increased, and lines of traffic +were established between Glasgow, Greenock, and Liverpool, and between +the Clyde and Belfast. The lines of traffic were soon extended to every +quarter of the globe, the speed of the steamers was increased, and the +regularity with which they performed their voyages was remarkable. The +screw-propeller was invented about 1836, and many improvements were +made in marine engines by the Clyde shipbuilding and engineering firms. +In 1840, Mr. Robert Napier built four steamers for the newly-formed +Cunard Company, and these vessels ranged from 1135 to 1175 tons burthen, +and they had engines of 440 horse-power each. They were designed for +the Transatlantic navigation, and were named the _Britannia_, the +_Acadia_, the _Caledonia_, and the _Columbia_. On the 19th of June, +1840, the _Britannia_ steamed off from Liverpool, and arrived in the +harbour of Boston on the 4th of July, amidst the cheers of the citizens. +Although she was not the first steam vessel that had crossed the +Atlantic, nevertheless her passage and arrival at Boston opened a new +era in the history of commerce. The Cunard Line of steamers soon became +well known throughout the civilised world. + +Among the enterprising shipbuilders of the Clyde at this period may be +mentioned Mr. Robert Napier; Messrs. Steel & Company, ♦Greenock; Messrs. +Wood, of Port Glasgow; and Mr. William Denny, of Dumbarton; but at the +same time a number of engineering firms on the Clyde were directing +special attention to marine engines. + + ♦ “Greennock” replaced with “Greenock” + +In Scotland iron shipbuilding was begun in 1818, when the “Vulcan,” a +passenger boat for the Forth and Clyde Canal Company, was built by Mr. +Robert Wilson, at Faskine, near Airdrie. Before this, some one or two +small iron boats had been built in England. The “_Vulcan_” was designed +by the late Sir John Robinson, of Edinburgh, and she was so compactly +constructed that she plied on the canal for upwards of half a century. +Between the years 1853 and 1865 “inventors have come forward and +patented what they fancied were improvements in the construction of +iron ships, but when the way to prosperity seemed clear before them, +an examination of the old ‘_Vulcan_’ has shown that they had been +forestalled, and consequently the patents became null; two patents +relating to the keels of iron vessels were cancelled when the keel of +the canal boat was examined.”¹ In 1827, the “_Cyclops_,” an iron boat +for canal service, was built. The same year Mr. David Napier built +the “_Aglaia_,” an iron boat, which plied on Loch Eck; and in 1831, +Mr. Neilson, of Oakbank, built the “_Fairy Queen_,” which plied as a +passenger steamer on the Largs route. Messrs. Wingate & Company built +their first iron vessel in 1832. Shortly after, the firm of Messrs. Tod +& Macgregor was formed, and directed special attention to the building +of iron steam vessels; before the year 1840, they had attained a +reputation in this department. The more notable of their iron steamers +built before this date were the _Royal George_, the _Royal Sovereign_, +and the _Princess Royal_; the latter was a steamer of 800 tons burthen, +and was specially remarkable for her swift sailing; but great strides +were afterwards made in this branch of shipbuilding. + + ¹ _Industries of Scotland_, by Bremner, page 65. + +The vessels built continued to increase in size, and the reputation +of the Clyde shipbuilders rose higher. The result was that the great +shipping and steam navigation companies sent many of their orders for +new ships to the builders on the Clyde. The marine engineers of Glasgow +and all along the Clyde exerted themselves to the utmost to improve the +engines and boilers, and to utilise and economise the power of steam; +while persistent and supreme efforts were made to improve the condition +of the river, to deepen and widen it, so that the largest ships might +have sufficient depth of water to float upon it. In no quarter of the +world has there ever been a greater application and development of +mechanical science than that which has taken place on the banks of the +Clyde in the present century. + +In 1852, Mr. John Elder joined Mr. Charles Randolph, who then carried +on a large engineering establishment, and they signalised themselves by +improvements in marine engines. They successfully applied the compound +high and low pressure cylinder engines to marine purposes; and they +afterwards commenced shipbuilding, and founded the Fairfield yard, one +of the largest in Scotland. In the years 1861 to 1865 this firm built +43 vessels, with a total tonnage of 43,500; and in the years 1866 to +1875 they built 134 vessels, with a total tonnage of 222,523. In 1870, +they launched the _Italy_, an iron screw steamer of 4200 tons burthen, +600 horse-power, and 400 feet in length; in 1870 and 1871 they built +two steamers for the coast trade between Aberdeen and London――the _Ban +Righ_ and the _City of London_――which were notable for their speed and +economy of fuel. + +Since the middle of the century a considerable number of warships have +been built on the Clyde; while the machinery of many others, built +elsewhere, has also been supplied from the Clyde. In 1871, there were +six war-vessels built on the Clyde; in 1874, there were four; and in +1875, three. At the middle of the century the total annual tonnage of +the ships launched on the Clyde was about 23,000; in 1859, the total +tonnage of the vessels built was 35, 709; and in 1865, the tonnage +of the vessels was 153,932. The following table shows the number of +vessels built and their tonnage in five successive years:―― + + 1871 Number of vessels 131 Tonnage 196,200 + 1872 Number of vessels 227 Tonnage 224,000 + 1873 Number of vessels 194 Tonnage 261,500 + 1874 Number of vessels 225 Tonnage 266,800 + 1875 Number of vessels 276 Tonnage 228,200 + +In 1880, the total tonnage of vessels built and launched on the Clyde +was 248,656, which shows an increase of over 20,000 tons in five years. + +In 1871, there were upwards of 16,000 persons engaged in shipbuilding +in Scotland, and of this number about 4000 were employed in iron +shipbuilding; the latter number has since largely increased, owing +to the general introduction of iron shipbuilding. Of the total number +upwards of 10,000 were employed on the Clyde, including Dumbarton. In +1891 there were 23,253 hands (exclusive of labourers), of these over +17,000 were employed on the Clyde. + +But the shipbuilding trade often fluctuates. The following table shows +the total tonnage of vessels built and launched on the Clyde in ten +successive years:―― + + Year. Tonnage. Year. Tonnage. + 1881 327,113 1886 172,765 + 1882 282,671 1887 184,794 + 1883 404,383 1888 273,631 + 1884 262,022 1889 336,065 + 1885 192,392 1890 352,124 + +Within the last fifteen years steel has almost superseded iron in +shipbuilding. Important improvements also have been made in the +structure of ships for increasing speed, and securing comfort and +safety. Improved water-tight compartments have been adopted in all +passenger ships; and water-ballast tanks when full cargoes outward +and homeward cannot be obtained. + + + SECTION V. + + _Glass and Earthenware Manufactures._ + +The manufacture of glass was introduced into Scotland early in the +seventeenth century, as noticed in the third volume.¹ But this useful +and indispensable industry was for long hampered by the imposition of +a duty on the manufactured glass, which was not finally repealed until +1845. There are various kinds of glass: (1) The common bottle glass; +(2) the cheap, broad or spread window glass; (3) crown glass or window +glass, formed in discs or large circular plates, and this variety is +peculiar to Britain; (4) flint glass, crystal glass, or glass of lead; +(5) plate or fine mirror glass. But only two of these kinds are made to +any extent in Scotland――flint glass and bottle glass. + + ¹ Mackintosh’s _History of Civilisation in Scotland_, Volume + III., pages 315‒16. + +The principal flint glass manufacture is in Edinburgh, in the +Canongate, and has been long known as the Holyrood Glass Works, which +were commenced by Mr. Ford about the opening of this century. There +are two furnaces in the works, which contain 22 pots; and the furnaces +consist of large cones of brickwork, which are pierced with a series +of openings corresponding to the number of pots in each. In the centre +of each cone a great fire is kindled, and the flames and heat from +it are drawn through flues and brought into contact with the pots, +which are arranged round the interior of the wall. The pots are made +of a particular kind of clay, which can withstand intense heat without +cracking or giving off any matter that would be injurious to the glass. +The pots do not last long, and require to be frequently renewed. The +removing of a broken pot and the insertion of a new one is an extremely +difficult and trying operation; besides the waste of the pots, the +furnace itself requires to be entirely reconstructed at the end of nine +or ten years. + +The pots for making bottle glass are open, and the flames and smoke +come into contact with the “metal;” in the case of flint glass this +arrangement would not suit, as the smoke would spoil the purity of +the glass, and the flint glass pots are made so as to prevent direct +contact between the “metal” and the fire. “The pots are charged every +Saturday morning. Each contains about 18 hundredweight of glass, the +ingredients for which are put in gradually as the fusion proceeds, +from twelve to fifteen hours being required to complete the charging. +Though the ingredients become melted in that time, the ‘metal’ is not +in a fit state for working owing to the presence of air bubbles, which +can be got rid of only by urging the furnaces to its utmost intensity, +and maintaining it there at from thirty to forty hours, the mouths of +the pots being sealed during that time. The glass is ready for working +by an early hour on Monday morning. There are two sets of workmen, who +relieve each other every six hours, and the work goes on constantly +from Monday until Friday. The weekly consumption of coal is about +twenty tons to each furnace. + +“Under the intense heat to which it is subjected, in order to get rid +of the gaseous bubbles, the glass becomes nearly as fluid as water, and +in that state could not be worked. Before the blowers begin operations +the temperature of the pots is lowered until the ‘metal’ assumes the +consistency of treacle. The tools used by the workmen are exceedingly +simple.... Owing to the peculiar nature of the material the formation +of articles in glass depends more upon the skill, the expertness, +and tact of the manipulator than upon the employment of complicated +appliances. The surface of the glass would be spoiled by a free use +of metal tools, and almost the only implements employed are composed +of charred wood. The operations of the glass-blowers are probably the +most wonderful in the whole range of the arts, no manipulation of the +conjurer being more mysterious to one who witnesses them for the first +time.”¹ + + ¹ _Industries of Scotland_, by D. Bremner, pages 378‒379. + +There are upwards of 200 persons employed at the Holyrood Glass Works. +There are six or seven flint glass and eight bottle manufactories in +Scotland. The value of the glass exported in 1861 was £62,140, and in +1867, £106,555. The chief centres of the glass manufacture are Glasgow, +Edinburgh, and Leith; and, in 1871, there were 2020 persons employed in +it, and of this number 88 were females. In 1891 there were 2084 hands +employed in glass manufacture. + +The art of glass engraving is also carried on in Scotland, though only +since a recent date. The firm of Messrs. Millar & Company, of Edinburgh, +has attained distinction since the Exhibition of 1862; and they have +shown some fine and beautiful specimens of this branch of art. + +Glass painting has been revived in Scotland in the present century. +The firm of Messrs. Ballantine, of Edinburgh, has been long well known +for the excellence of its work in this branch of art. About fifty years +ago Mr. Ballantine was selected by the Fine Arts Commission to execute +the windows in the new House of Lords; and he did much to promote the +improvement of glass painting in Scotland. Painted glass is now pretty +extensively used in public buildings, churches, and in some of the +houses of the wealthy class. This art has reached a high degree of +elaboration, and specimens of it may he seen throughout the country +which exhibit fine taste and skill in execution. + +It was shown in the third volume¹ that there were no earthenware works +in Scotland in 1703; and one of the earliest potteries was established +at the Broomielaw, Glasgow, in 1748. Glasgow is still the chief centre +of this manufacture; Edinburgh and Kirkcaldy come next. The largest +Glasgow pottery is that of Messrs. Bell & Company, which covers upwards +of three acres of ground. This firm has devoted much care and attention +to the higher departments of the art, and has produced some fine work. +There is a wide field afforded for the exercise and display of artistic +taste and elaboration in the decoration of porcelain; and both in form +and colouring many of the productions of this firm are very beautiful. +They employ upwards of 800 persons. + + ¹ Page 317. + +In 1871, there were fourteen potteries in Scotland, and there were +about 4000 persons employed in this manufacture. In 1891 there were +4,128 hands employed. + +In 1871, there were 123 manufactories of brick, tiles, clay pipes, +and articles of a similar description, which were spread throughout +the country. The largest work of this kind is at Garnkirk, about +six miles east from Glasgow, on the side of the Caledonian Railway. +At this establishment there is an extensive manufactory of glazed +fireclay sewage and water pipes. Works in terra cotta are also produced +at Garnkirk. There are about 300 men and boys employed, and 200 tons +of clay are used daily at the works. In 1891 there were 5000 persons +employed in connection with this useful industry. + + + SECTION VI. + + _Textile Manufactures._ + +In the preceding volumes the progress of textile manufactures in +Scotland to the end of the seventeenth century was narrated so far as +they had then been introduced, for the manufacture of cotton was not +introduced into this country till well through the eighteenth century. +It will save repetition to present a short account of the inventions of +the eighteenth century in connection with the spinning and weaving of +textile fabrics. + +Before the middle of the eighteenth century the improvement of spinning +and weaving machinery began in England, and long before its close +great progress had been made. In 1738, John Kay, a native of Bury, +in Lancaster, invented the fly-shuttle, which enabled the weaver to +make twice as much cloth as he made before; and his son, Robert Kay, +invented the drop-box, by which the weaver can use any one of three +shuttles, each with a different coloured weft, without the trouble of +taking them from and replacing them in the lathe. The great impediment +to the progress of textile manufactures was the impossibility of +obtaining an ample supply of yarn by the appliances then in use. The +one-thread wheel, although then worked from morning till night in many +thousands of cottages, could not keep up with the weaver’s shuttle +or the demand of the merchant. Genius, therefore, had to remove this +difficulty, and at length a contrivance was invented by which fifty, +a hundred, or a thousand threads could be spun at once by one pair +of hands. As to who was the real originator of this achievement has +been a subject of much controversy, to which I can only allude in the +briefest terms. It seems to be clearly ascertained that John Wyatt, of +Birmingham, was the inventor of the mode of spinning by rollers.¹ The +patent for the invention was taken out in 1738, in the name of one Paul, +with whom Wyatt was in partnership; the name of the latter only appears +as a witness, although there is evidence to show that Wyatt was really +the inventor of the machine. It was tried and produced yarn, but it +does not seem to have been successful for some time, and it yielded no +fruit to Wyatt. Regarding Wyatt’s machine, Mr. Baines says:――“So far +is the one from being a copy of the other, that of Arkwright indicates +great inventive talent even if we suppose he had seen the former +machine; but the mechanical details of the two have so little in common +that I am inclined to think ... that Arkwright had not seen the machine +of Wyatt. It must, however, be admitted that to contrive and adjust the +details of such a machine, though of the greatest practical importance, +is a merit very subordinate to that of him who conceived the great +principle. The latter is the glory of Wyatt. How much Arkwright owed to +his predecessors can only be matter of conjecture; that he thus learned +the principle of spinning by rollers I am convinced.... The latter +unquestionably knew of the attempts to spin cotton by machinery at +Birmingham and Northampton, and of the patent of 1738, which describes +the two pairs of rollers, as he himself declares as much in the case +which he drew up to be presented to Parliament in 1782.” + + ¹ “Having thus proved that the principle of Wyatt’s invention + was the same as that of the spinning frame brought into + use by Arkwright, I must add that the details of the + Birmingham machine were far from being perfect, and that the + machine differed greatly from Arkwright’s in its form and + construction.”――Baines’ _History of the Cotton Manufacture_, + pages 121‒138. + +But whatever may have been the claims or the merits of Arkwright’s +predecessors, it was he who rose from a very humble position and +perfected and successfully introduced the invention of spinning by +rollers. He was for many years engaged in perfecting his method of +spinning cotton, and his sagacity and perseverance were at length +rewarded, for he became exceedingly rich. “Wealth flowed in upon him +with a full stream from his skilfully managed concerns. For several +years he fixed the price of cotton twist, all other spinners conforming +to his prices.... It has been shown that the splendid inventions, which +even to the present day are ascribed to Arkwright by some of the ablest +and best-informed persons in the kingdom, belong in a great part to +other and much less fortunate men.... + +“The most marked traits in the character of Arkwright were his +wonderful ardour, energy, and perseverance. He commonly laboured from +five o’clock in the morning at his multifarious concerns till nine +at night.... Arkwright was a severe economist of time; and that he +might not waste a moment, he generally travelled with four horses +and at a very rapid speed. His concerns in Derbyshire, in Lancaster, +and in Scotland were so extensive and numerous as to show at once his +astonishing power of transacting business and his all-grasping spirit. +In many of these he had partners, but he generally managed in such +a way that whoever lost he himself was a gainer. So unbounded was +his confidence in the success of his machinery and in the national +wealth to be produced by it that he would make light of discussions on +taxation, and say that he would pay the national debt. His speculative +schemes were vast and daring; he contemplated entering into the most +extensive mercantile transactions and buying up all the cotton in the +world in order to make an enormous profit by the monopoly.”¹ + + ¹ Baines’ _History of the Cotton Manufacture_, pages 140, + 193‒196. Arkwright made a considerable sum of money by his + patents. He offered his patented machines for sale by public + advertisement, and gave many permission to use them, on + receiving a certain sum for each spindle; in several cases + he took shares in the mills erected; while he had several + large mills chiefly in his own hands, and from these various + sources he drew a large annual income. + +Thus the fly shuttle was invented by Mr. John Kay in 1738; the same +year Mr. John Wyatt invented a machine for spinning by rollers, +and showed its practicability; Mr. James Hargreaves¹ invented the +spinning-jenny about 1767, which he patented in 1770; and Arkwright, +about the year 1769, invented the spinning-frame, sometimes called +the water-frame, which he patented; and in 1779, Mr. Samuel Crompton +completed his invention of the mule-jenny, which combined the action +of both the preceding machines. But Arkwright introduced other +improvements in carding, drawing, and roving machines. In 1785, the +Rev. Dr. Cartwright invented a power-loom which has been usually +regarded as the forerunner of those subsequently introduced. The +mechanical inventions just enumerated indicate the commencement of a +revolution in the modes of producing textile manufactures; although +most of them were originally intended for the cotton manufacture, the +application of machinery was extended to the whole circle of textile +fabrics. It is needless to say that in the present century, the +machines, the apparatus, and the appliances brought into use in this +department of manufactures have reached an astonishing degree of +perfection. + + ¹ James Hargreaves was a native of Standhill, near Blackburn; + and, shortly after 1770, he entered into partnership with + Mr. Thomas James, a joiner, and they erected a small mill + at Hockley, in which they spun yarn for the hosiers with + the jenny. This spinning business was carried on with fair + success, until the death of Hargreaves in 1778. Although + he did not amass wealth like Arkwright, he was enabled to + live comfortably in the latter years of his life; but many + afterwards made fortunes by means of his invention. + + The stocking-frame was invented by William Lee in the + reign of Queen Elizabeth; but a prejudice against it long + prevailed, and it was not used in Scotland till 1771, when + a stocking frame was set up in the town of Hawick. + +I. I now proceed to indicate the development of the woollen +manufactures in Scotland. The woollen manufacture for many centuries +has been carried on to a greater or less extent in all the counties +of the kingdom; though, of course, in early times, the greater part +of the produce was for home consumption. In the second quarter of the +eighteenth century the manufacture of woollen goods consisted of the +cheaper and coarser kinds, such as cheap serges made at Kilmarnock, +Stirling, Aberdeen, and other places; Galashiels produced kerseys, and +in Hawick and other Border towns blankets were made. At this period +only a small quantity of woollen goods was exported. + +The woollen and hosiery manufactures continued to extend. In 1776, +it was recorded that in Stirling 160 looms, 38 stocking-frames, and +17 carpet-frames were employed; Kilmarnock had 66 looms engaged on +carpets, and 80 on other branches of manufacture; in Montrose there was +a woollen factory in which 70 hands were employed; in Alloa there were +twenty manufacturers, who employed 150 looms and upwards of 400 workers; +in Ayr there were 100 looms and 15 stocking-frames. In Edinburgh and +Leith blanket-making, carpet-weaving, and stocking-knitting on frames +were carried on; and Edinburgh and Leith had wool markets. There were +140 looms in Melrose, chiefly engaged in making woollen cloth; in +Hawick there were 65 looms; in Kelso 40 looms were employed in making +blankets and flannels; and in Peebles 40 looms were engaged in making +coarse woollen goods; in Galashiels, then only a village, there were 30 +looms and three waulk mills. In Haddington a considerable manufacture +of woollen goods was carried on; in Glasgow there was then only one +woollen factory. In Perth, Linlithgow, and other places, woollen +cloth, carpets, and stockings were manufactured. In Aberdeenshire a +considerable trade was carried on in cloth and stocking manufactures; +Peterhead had two woollen factories which turned out goods to the value +of £110 a-week; and the people of Ellon knitted stockings by the hand +to the value of £100 a-month. In Aberdeen there were about 200 looms +engaged on woollen manufactures; and the value of the hosiery goods +produced in the city amounted to £120,000 per annum: this was then the +staple trade of the town. The woollen manufacture was carried on to +some extent in Inverness and Elgin; the latter city produced yarn to +the value of £15,000 annually, which was chiefly sent to the London and +Glasgow markets. + +During the last ten years of the eighteenth century and the first +quarter of this one, a marked progress took place in the woollen +manufacture of Scotland. New machinery and improved carding and +spinning appliances were introduced; and a few years later the +power-loom was successfully brought into operation in this department +of textile manufacture. In Aberdeen machinery was introduced into the +woollen manufactures in 1790, by Mr. Charles Baird, who brought from +England two carding-engines and four spinning-jennies; and he erected +a mill on the river Don, about two miles from Aberdeen. At Galashiels +carding-machines and spinning-jennies were introduced in 1791; and +twelve years after, six new woollen factories had been erected in this +♦enterprising town. In 1814, spinning “mules” were introduced there, +by which one man was enabled to work 500 spindles; and the shearing +also was simplified and perfected in 1819. This manufacturing town has +been long famous for its coloured tweeds and tartans, and other woollen +fabrics. In 1828, the number of looms employed was 175, and in 1838, +265. The population of the town at the latter date was about 2500, ♠and +it has since continued to increase. But hand labour has been superseded +by machines in every department. It has now a population of upwards +of 17,000; and, in 1871, it had 76 sets of carding-engines, and about +70,000 spindles. Carding-engines were introduced into the woollen +manufactures in Hawick about the end of the last century. + + ♦ “enterpising” replaced with “enterprising” + + ♠ “aud” replaced with “and” + +In 1825, the number of persons employed in the various branches of the +woollen manufacture in Scotland was 24,000. In 1831, the power-loom +was introduced into the woollen manufacture, and the rate of +production was much increased. The superfine broadcloths manufactured +in Aberdeenshire began to compete successfully in the London markets +with the productions of the English looms; while the rapidly advancing +prosperity of the nation created an increasing demand for narrow cloths, +tartans, tweeds, flannels, and other kinds of woollen goods. The tweed +and cloth branches continued to advance, new machinery and improved +appliances were from time to time brought into operation; and, step +by step, competition in the markets of the world became keener and +keener, and every nerve was strained to the utmost to produce cheap and +marketable goods. The tweed manufacturers have devoted great attention +to colours and dyeing, and the resources of chemical science have been +called into requisition in this art. + +In 1812, the hosiery manufacture of Scotland had attained a +considerable development, as there were then 1449 stocking-frames in +operation, which were spread over thirty-eight different towns and +villages; and this branch of industry still continued to expand. In +1844, a census of the trade was taken, and it was found that there +were 2605 frames, distributed thus:――In Hawick and its vicinity, 1200; +Dumfries and vicinity, 500; Edinburgh and vicinity, 150; Glasgow and +Kilmarnock, 280; Selkirk and vicinity, 128; Perth, 108; Langholm, 92; +Denholm and vicinity, 87; and Jedburgh and vicinity, 60. In 1871, the +number of stocking-frames in Scotland was about 1650, of which 900 +were in Hawick and 400 in Dumfries, and in both places power-frames +were at work. The goods in the Scotch hosiery branch of trade consist +of stockings of every description, drawers, under-shirts, and other +articles of common use, and what is called fancy goods, such as tweed +hose, shooting-socks, and a variety of goods in bright and variegated +colours. Hawick and Dumfries have been long well-known centres of this +department of the woollen manufacture. + +Carpet-making as a branch of manufacture was begun in Scotland in the +second quarter of the eighteenth century, and in 1735, it had attained +to some success in Kidderminster. The first kind of Scotch carpet was +the two-ply fabric, into which two colours only can be woven, which +renders the range of pattern very limited. It was known under the name +of Kidderminster carpet, and it became popular. + +The manufacture of carpets was established in Kilmarnock in 1777, when +eighty looms were employed. In this enterprising town the manufacture +of carpets continued to extend, and it has long enjoyed a wide +reputation for its products in this branch of industry. In 1825, there +were 800 carpet-weavers in Kilmarnock, each producing about six yards +of carpet a-day, and were paid at the rate of 3½ pence to 4¾ pence +per yard. At this time there were 1200 carpet-weavers in Scotland. +New appliances were devised, and the quality and patterns were greatly +improved. Carpet-manufacture is now carried on in Glasgow, Aberdeen, +Ayr, and Paisley. Various kinds and qualities of carpets have been +produced for many years in Scotland, such as Brussels carpets, Turkish, +Wilton, patent tapestry, and other varieties. In 1891 there were 6000 +hands employed in this branch. + +An extensive manufacture of bonnets has been carried on in Kilmarnock +for upwards of two centuries. The manufacture of this class of goods in +Kilmarnock, Kilmaurs, and Stewarton, which are all near each other, in +1869, was estimated at the gross yearly value of £150, 000, and £48,000 +a year was paid in wages. + +In 1875, the number of woollen factories in Scotland was upwards of +250, and of these 102 were engaged in spinning only, while 40 were +employed in weaving only, and 105 were employed both in spinning and +weaving. + +In 1871, the number of people employed in the woollen and worsted +manufactures in Scotland was 42,217. Of this number 18,403 were males, +of whom 4230 were under twenty years of age; while the large number of +23,815 were females, of whom 9115 were under twenty. In 1891 there were +upwards of 43,000 hands employed in this department of manufacture. + +In Orkney and Shetland, in 1891, 5,370 persons were employed in the +woollen and worsted manufactures, chiefly in making knitted goods, +which have long been well known. + +Touching the several branches of the woollen manufacture, there were +6226 employed in making knitted goods; in making worsted 1448 were +engaged. In the wincey manufacture there were 916 hands employed. +In the carpet and rug branch there were 6684 persons employed; in +the woollen bonnet manufacture there were 3070 persons engaged; but +only 100 persons were returned as engaged in the blanket and flannel +manufacture. + +II. The state of the linen trade in Scotland has been narrated in the +preceding volumes, down to the end of the seventeenth century; and I +quoted the Stamp Act of 1693, which, among other provisions touching +the qualities and the breadth of linen made in Scotland, enacted that +all linen cloth offered for sale should be regularly stamped. Linen +was the staple manufacture of Scotland in the eighteenth century, and +the Union was favourable to its progress. The Board of Manufactures, +established in 1727, endeavoured to promote the manufacture of linen; +and the British Linen Company, incorporated at Edinburgh in 1746, +contributed to extend the linen trade by advancing money to the +manufacturers. This company is now known under the name of the British +Linen Company Bank. + +In 1710, the quantity of linen produced was 1,500,000 yards, and, +in 1720, Scotland exported to England alone £200,000 worth of Scotch +linen. In 1727, the manufacture of linen was carried on more or less +in twenty-five counties; and the quantity produced in each varied from +65 yards in Wigtonshire to 595,821 yards in Forfarshire; Perth, Fife, +and Lanark came next in order. Afterwards linen was made in all the +counties except Peebles, but Forfarshire has kept the lead throughout; +in some of the counties and small towns in the country a considerable +trade was done in linen-making in the eighteenth century, in which it +has long ago been dropped. + +In 1772, there were 252 lint-mills in Scotland, distributed through +the country thus:――In Ross, 3; Caithness, 1; Elgin, 3; Banff, 8; +Aberdeen, 7; Kincardine, 2; Forfar, 31; Lanark, 31; Perth, 73; Renfrew, +3; Linlithgow, 4; Dumbarton, 16; Stirling, 28; Fife, 11; Edinburgh, 1; +Dumfries, 1; and Haddington, 1. About the same time, it was reported +that new kinds of manufactures had been introduced in Paisley, and that +the spinning of silk and the woollen and cotton manufactures had been +extending. + +In Orkney the making of linen yarn from home-grown flax was introduced +in 1747, and the trade gradually spread over most of the islands. +The yarn gained a reputation in southern markets, and from 1750 till +1785 a considerable quantity of yarn was annually exported; but after +that time the trade declined, and it was dropped about the end of the +century. Weaving was introduced at the same time as spinning, but the +greatest quantity produced in any one year did not reach 30,000 yards. +A large hemp factory was established at Inverness in 1765, and for a +time nearly 1000 persons were employed. A company began the manufacture +of linen thread at Inverness in 1780, which carried on a successful +business for a number of years, and gave employment to 10,000 persons +throughout the county, most of whom worked at their own homes. The flax +was imported from the Baltic ports, and the thread was sent to London, +and thence spread over the world. In 1822, the quantity of linen +stamped for sale in Inverness was 318,465 yards; but from that date the +trade declined till it became extinct in the county. In Aberdeenshire +a large number of hands were engaged in the manufacture of linen yarn +and cloth in the eighteenth century. In 1794 a considerable manufacture +of thread was carried on in Peterhead; there were 52 twist mills in +the town. Thread and linen cloth were also manufactured in Huntly, in +Kincardineshire, and at Bervie, where a mill was erected for spinning +linen yarn in 1787.¹ + + ¹ _Statistical Account of Scotland._ + +There was a marked improvement in the quality of linen goods produced +in Scotland, as well as a large increase in the quantity annually +manufactured before the end of the eighteenth century, as the following +table indicates, which is taken from the record formed under the Stamp +Laws: + + Years. Number of Yards. Estimated Value. + 1728 2,183,978 £103,312 9 3 + 1738 4,666,011 185,026 11 9 + 1748 7,353,098 293,864 12 11 + 1758 10,624,435 424,141 10 7 + 1768 11,795,437 599,699 4 2 + 1778 13,264,410¾ 592,023 5 4½ + 1788 20,506,310½ 854,900 16 0¾ + 1798 21,207,059 850,403 9 9 + 1808 19,390,496 1,014,629 18 4 + 1818 31,238,100¼ 1,253,528 8 0½ + 1819 29,334,428¼ 1,157,923 4 11 + 1820 26,259,011¼ 1,038,708 18 5 + 1821 30,473,461¼ 1,232,038 15 4¾ + 1822 36,268,530¼ 1,396,295 19 11½ + +These figures show that the linen manufacture had advanced pretty +steadily for about a century. It has, of course, had to compete with +its rival, cotton, which attacked it in many localities, and especially +in the west of Scotland. The result has been to concentrate the linen +manufacture in a few localities which, from various causes, were +well suited and advantageously placed for the successful prosecution +of this branch of industry, while the introduction of machinery, +the power-loom, and highly improved appliances set into operation in +the large factories, soon rendered it impossible for the small mills +throughout the country to compete in the markets of the world with +them. Hence the disappearance of the linen manufacture in many of the +counties where it was once carried on, and a similar result has taken +place in shipbuilding. + +Dunfermline has long had a wide reputation for linen manufactures. It +is the chief seat of table linen manufacture in Britain. For upwards +of a century the linen manufacturers of Dunfermline have devoted great +attention to this branch, and exerted their utmost skill to perfect it, +and the result was that they attained, and have long held, a leading +position in their special industry. + +The largest work in Dunfermline is the St. Leonard’s Power-Loom Factory, +which is placed on the south side of the town, and is reported to be a +model establishment. In 1869, it had 900 power-looms and 180 hand-looms, +and the firm to which it belonged――Messrs. Beveridge & Company――gave +employment to 1500 persons, the greater portion of whom were females. +The quantity of linen produced by the firm per week averaged 200,000 +square yards, and its value per annum was £360,000. + +At the above date it was calculated that there were in Dunfermline 2670 +power-looms and upwards of 1000 hand-looms, all in operation. There +were over 2100 hands employed, and the total quantity of linen cloth +annually produced was over 30,000,000 square yards――“which, formed +into a web of the uniform width of one yard, would measure the distance +between Great Britain and New Zealand, with a thousand miles or so +to spare.” The value of the linen goods then produced in Dunfermline +nearly reached £2, 000,000 per annum.¹ In 1891 there were 2,375 persons +employed in the linen manufacture, and 229 in the cotton manufacture in +Dunfermline. + + ¹ _Industries of Scotland_, by D. Bremner, pages 242‒246. + +During the present century the linen manufacture has been extensively +carried on in Arbroath, Forfar, Kirkcaldy, Montrose, and Aberdeen; but +Dundee became a centre of the linen trade, and for about twenty years +it had a monopoly of the manufacture of jute. + +The jute trade is quite a recent development. The jute manufacture only +began in 1835, and for some years so little progress was made that, in +1838, only 1136 tons of it were imported into Dundee. From this time +onward the quantity of jute annually imported into Dundee increased +at an enormous rate, in 1853 it rose to 15,400 tons; in 1858, it was +over 30,000 tons, and, by the year 1868, the annual consumption of jute +in Dundee had reached the figure of 60,000 tons. There are many large +flax and jute factories in Dundee, and the jute manufacture has proved +a source of wealth to the city. + +When the jute was first introduced, it was only used for making goods +of a coarse description; but, by improvements in the machinery and +experience in working it, sheetings and many other kinds of goods were +manufactured solely from it. A variety of goods are manufactured from +jute and cotton mixed. In 1867, at some of the large jute works in +Dundee over 4000 hands were employed. At the same date it was recorded +that “the capital invested in the factories in Dundee is stated to be +£2,500,000; in the district of which that town is centre, £2,200,000; +in other parts of Scotland, £1,000,000――total, £5,700,000, to which +has to be added the value of the bleaching-works, calendars, etc., in +the trade, which cannot be put down at less than £1,300,000. It takes +about six months from the purchase of the raw material before the goods +can be manufactured or the proceeds drawn, so the stock-in-trade of +manufacturers and merchants will amount to £5,000,000. It would thus +appear that a capital of £12,000,000 is required for carrying on the +linen trade of Scotland.”¹ + + ¹ _Industries of Scotland_, by D. Bremner, page 269. + +In 1871, there were upwards of 200 flax, linen, and jute factories +in Scotland, and the total number of persons employed in all the +branches of those manufactures was about 91,000. Of this number +upwards of 61,000 were females. The chief centres of the linen and +jute manufactures are the three counties of Forfar, Fife, and Perth; +the manufactures are carried on in the chief towns of these counties, +with Dundee as the metropolis. The manufacture of linen and jute is +carried on in some of the other towns; in Glasgow there were 2000 hands +employed on flax and jute, and in Aberdeen 1800. + +Touching the different branches of the linen and jute manufactures, +in 1862 there were 27 jute factories in Scotland, which had 30,538 +spindles, 554 power-looms, and 5418 hands employed; the greater part +of these were in Dundee. But, in 1875, there were 84 jute factories, +classified thus:――(1) Fifteen were engaged in spinning, and these had +115 carding machines, 18 combing machines, 33,527 spinning spindles, +1080 doubling spindles; (2) nineteen were employed in weaving, and +these had 1384 power-looms; (3) fifty were employed in spinning and +weaving, and these had 747 carding machines, 42 combing machines, +151,892 spinning spindles, 6578 doubling spindles, and 6941 power-looms. +In these jute factories there were then 37,943 persons employed, and +of this number 21,350 were females. + +In making linen thread there were 240 persons engaged, of whom 143 were +females. There were 184 hands employed in the linen lace manufacture; +in making sheeting, ticking, and tape, there were 168 hands employed, +of whom 71 were females. In the jute carpet manufacture 91 persons were +employed. + +III. The manufacture of cotton was not introduced into Scotland till +past the middle of last century. Cotton is not grown in this country, +a circumstance of great moment, as was shown during the late American +War; while wool and flax have been produced at home in smaller or +greater quantities from very early times, although large quantities of +both are annually imported.¹ But the cotton manufacture has attained +a remarkable development in Scotland. An account has already been +given of the mechanical inventions which were made in England; and the +introduction of machinery which followed thereupon was at first almost +entirely applied to the cotton manufacture, and from it transferred +and gradually made suitable to the other departments of textile +manufactures. Although there are many appliances specially suited for +each of the great branches of textile manufacture, the application of +steam-power to the processes of preparing the raw materials, and the +use of the power-loom in spinning and weaving, has greatly increased +production. + + ¹ The cultivation of flax was one of the objects which Lord + Kames endeavoured to promote and extend in Scotland. In + the year 1765, he published a pamphlet on the progress of + “Flax Husbandry in Scotland,” with the patriotic aim of + stimulating his countrymen to continue and redouble their + efforts in this valuable branch of national industry. He + showed that the linen manufacture had made great progress + between 1727 and 1765; and he insists on the expediency of + encouraging and prosecuting the culture of flax at home. At + the date of Kames’ pamphlet the annual value of the foreign + flax imported into Scotland was £110,000 sterling; but the + yearly saving of this large sum is not the only or the chief + benefit to be reaped from raising the commodity on our own + fields. “Experience has shown that the commodity itself, + when of home growth, is of a superior quality to the foreign: + and experience shows also that no crop is more valuable to + the farmer or yields a quicker return for the labour and + cost of cultivation.” Lord Kames’ pamphlet was reprinted in + the _Scots’ Magazine_ for January, 1766.――Tytler’s _Memoirs + of the Life of Lord Kames_, Volume II., pages 60‒62. + +The first cotton mills in Scotland were one erected at Rothesay in 1778, +and another at Penicuik about the same time, which were soon followed +by others. In 1787, there were 19 cotton mills in Scotland, all driven +by water; and they were distributed thus:――4 in Lanarkshire, 4 in +Renfrewshire, 3 in Perthshire, 2 in Midlothian, and 6 in other places. +At that time labour was cheap and hands were easily obtained. The +few simple operations which required to be performed in the factory +were soon learned, while the wages in the factories were higher than +those of agricultural labourers. In a short time, however, when a +superabundance of hands had entered the trade, wages were reduced, and +throughout the history of the factory system in Scotland the wages of +the workers has never been high. + +Before the end of the century the Scotch cotton manufacturers were +producing a variety of goods. The production of muslin began in 1780, +and in Paisley, shortly after, the manufacture of fancy cotton fabrics +began. After the plain muslins came the mulls, nainsooks, ginghams, +pullicates, and other varieties were rapidly turned out. + +The first steam-engine for spinning cotton in Scotland was erected at +Springfield, Glasgow, in January, 1792, by Messrs. Scott, Stevenson +& Company Mr. Robert Miller, of Glasgow, obtained a patent for a +power-loom in 1796; and Mr. John Monteith, of Glasgow, adopted it, and +erected a factory at Pollokshaws with 200 looms; and as the apparatus +was improved in efficiency, its working power soon became great. + +In 1820, there were 2000 power-looms in Scotland; in 1829, there were +10,000; and in 1833, there were upwards of 14,000. At the latter date +there were 134 cotton mills in Scotland, and at this time the cotton +manufacture was centred in Glasgow and the district around it. Out of +the total number of mills in Scotland nearly 100 belonged to Glasgow. +In 1838, there were upwards of 37, 000 hand-loom weavers in the west of +Scotland directly connected with cotton weaving. + +According to a parliamentary return, there were 168 cotton factories in +Scotland in 1850, and of these 94 were in Lanarkshire; in Renfrewshire, +51; in Ayrshire, 4; Dumbartonshire, 4; in Stirlingshire, 4; in +Buteshire, 4; in Perthshire, 3; in Aberdeenshire, 2; and a few in other +places. Thus Lanark and Renfrew had 145 cotton factories, leaving only +23 in all the other cotton manufacturing districts of the kingdom. +These two counties had 1,385,238 spindles and 20,788 power-looms. The +total number of persons in Scotland then employed in this branch of +manufacture was 36,322. + +In 1861, the number of cotton factories had decreased to 163, but the +number of hands had increased and also the quantity of steam-power. +In that year there were 1,915,398 spindles and 30,110 power-looms in +operation, and 41,237 persons were employed. The American War, however, +between 1861 and 1866 seriously disturbed the cotton trade, and many of +those employed in it suffered severely both in England and Scotland, as +this country was largely dependent for the supply of raw material upon +the Southern States. Some of the cotton factories are very large, and +in Glasgow several of them employ from 1500 to nearly 2000 hands. + +In 1871, the number of persons employed in the cotton manufacture was +about 50,000, and of this number over 30,000 were females. In 1891 +the number of hands was about 47,000. The several branches of this +manufacture are the following:――1. Plain cotton goods, of which great +quantities are produced. 2. Lace manufacture, in which 1,621 persons +were employed, of whom 795 were females. 3. In embroidering muslin, +487 hands were engaged. 4. In the branches of calico printing, dyeing, +and bleaching, 10,599 persons were employed, of whom 4,858 were females. +5. The manufacture of thread, which has been greatly developed. + +In 1722 the manufacture of thread was introduced into Paisley; but +it was on a small scale till the early part of this century, when +cotton thread began to be largely manufactured, especially since about +the middle of the century. Paisley is the chief centre of the thread +manufacture. The thread works of Messrs. J. & P. Coats, Limited, +occupy 40 acres of ground, and have been developed with remarkable +skill, energy, and enterprise. All the appliances and machinery used in +manufacturing the thread are of the most efficient description. There +are six large boilers in a row at a short distance from each other, and +the furnaces of these are fed with coal by a self-acting contrivance. +The engine room is grand, with its powerful and beautiful engines, and +the great motive wheel revolving at a surprising velocity. In a large +one storey building the wood for making the spools or pirns is stored. +The spools are manufactured thus:――The wood is sawn into suitable +pieces of about four feet in length, each of these is put through a +number of machines, the first of which rounds the piece of wood, the +second advances it another stage, and so on through the other machines +till the spools are finished and ready for the thread. The raw cotton +requires various preparatory processes, such as cleaning, combing, +etc., then the prepared material is taken to a large mill of five +or six storeys in height. When the steam is turned on, the material +is worked through an elaborate combination of mechanism, the process +of manufacture being advanced successively in each storey till the +finished thread is turned out――wound on the pirns and ready for use. +A vast quantity of thread is produced in the works. The Company gives +employment to over 5,000 hands,――the greater number of whom are girls. +There is a very complete set of fire brigade appliances which can be +instantly put into operation in the event of a fire occurring in the +works. + +Messrs. Clark & Company’s thread works in Paisley are also most +extensive, and occupy 50 acres of ground on the banks of the Cart. +There are several large mills, and ten engines which represent a total +of 6,000 horse power. They employ 500 men and 3,500 girls. In Glasgow +1,100 are employed in the thread manufacture. The total number of hands +engaged in this branch of industry in Scotland exceeds 12,000. + +IV. The manufacture of silk gauze was commenced at Paisley in 1760, +and from that date till about 1785 the silk gauze weaving trade was +exceedingly prosperous in Scotland. At the latter date, in Paisley +and the surrounding villages, 5000 looms were engaged on silk fabrics, +and they produced goods of the annual value of £350,000. Although +this branch has passed through many fluctuations, the manufacture of +silk goods is still carried on in Paisley and Glasgow. In 1871, the +number of persons employed in this industry was 2440, of whom 1256 +were females. In 1875, there were four silk factories in Scotland. In +1891 there were nearly 4000 hands employed in it, mostly females. + +V. There are many mixed textile fabrics produced, such as cotton and +silk, wool and silk, cotton mixed with flax, and cotton with jute, and +so on through all the varieties of fancy and coloured goods, down to +the varied kinds and qualities of the cheap shoddy and mungo. + +VI. Floorcloth is manufactured on a large scale at Kirkcaldy. The +manufacture of this class of goods has recently attained a high degree +of elaboration in Scotland. Thirty years ago, the firm of Messrs. Nairn +had gained a high reputation for their floorcloth. In 1871 about 250 +persons were engaged in this manufacture, while in 1891 the number of +persons employed was 1266. + +In 1871, the entire number of persons employed in textile manufactures +was nearly 200,000; and if we add those dependent upon them, the +total number of persons directly dependent for their support on this +department of factory labour would be about 350,000. In 1891 the number +of hands was 205,550, of whom 133,217 were females. + +The introduction of machinery and the power-loom, it is well known, +entailed great and widespread suffering on the hand-loom weavers and +those dependent upon them; and without dwelling upon this sad side of +the subject, I may notice a few facts and circumstances connected with +it. About the end of the eighteenth century and the early years of this +century, the weavers in the west and south of Scotland were the best +paid class of workers in the country. They had in general the character +of being men of intelligence, and exercised considerable influence +upon the public opinion of the country; many of them were keen and able +politicians, notwithstanding the sneers of some of the Scotch judges +of the period touching their intellectual capacities. They probably +did more to advance political reform than has yet been recognised. But +owing to the introduction of the power-loom, and various circumstances, +from about the year 1816, their wages began and continued to fall; and +before the second quarter of the century had run far they had fallen +very low. When engaged in weaving certain qualities of cloth they could +earn from 30 shillings to 32 shillings a week in 1806; in 1810 they +were making 26 shillings a week; but in 1820 they had fallen to 10 +shillings a week; and in 1830 to 5 shillings 6 pence a week. To relieve +their distress and suffering emigration on a large scale was applied, +and many of them were forced to leave the home of their fathers. + +“At the present day it can only be said that a remnant of the great +wreck continues to ply the ancient calling in the scattered villages +of the west, where in early days the sound of the shuttle was heard +all day long in almost every cottage. According to a rough census, made +in 1872, of the counties of Lanark, Renfrew, and Ayr, there were then +about 10,000 hand-loom weavers either at work in their own houses or +in shops belonging to manufacturers; but they were a steadily declining +remnant. In 1875, working upon Paisley shawls, they could earn from +4 shillings to 5 shillings per day, but at shirting and the common +descriptions of work, which, however, are mostly left to women and +boys, not more than 8 shillings a week could be earned, and that +with the labour of twelve, fourteen, and sometimes even more, hours. +Working practically beyond the range of factory inspectors’ supervision, +the hand-loom weavers not only labour long and irregular hours, but +children of tender years, taken in as apprentices, have to ply the +shuttle for equally hurtful and unconscionable periods.”¹ + + ¹ _Notices of some of the Principal Manufactures of the West + of Scotland_, page 190. The above statement was written in + 1875. + +Thus the industrial revolution was not accomplished without +incidentally causing much suffering; but there are a few other points +which must be noticed before passing from this class of manufactories. +Prior to the year 1834 children of all ages were employed in factories. +But in the beginning of that year an act of parliament came into +operation, which enacted that no person under eighteen years of age +should be permitted to work in the night between half-past eight P.M. +and half-past five A.M. in any factory in which steam or water power +was used, except in lace factories. That no person under eighteen years +of age should be employed more than twelve hours a day, nor more that +sixty-nine in one week. That no child under nine years of age should be +employed in factories, except in silk mills; and after the 1st of March, +1835, none should be employed under twelve years of age; and after the +1st of March, 1836, none under thirteen years of age. There are other +important provisions in the interest of children in this act, such +as those requiring that the younger children should be educated. The +act, however, seems to have been unsatisfactory. Mr. Baines in his +_History of the Cotton Manufacture_ says: “All the inspectors declare +that the clauses requiring the education of the younger children, and +prohibiting those children from being worked more than 48 hours in the +week――eight hours a-day――have only the effect of compelling the masters +to discharge the children between nine and eleven years of age. If this +act should continue in force, all children under twelve years of age +would be discharged in March, 1835, and this would make it impossible +in many cases to carry on the mills, as children above that age could +not be had in sufficient numbers. The inspectors, therefore, state +that the act must be amended in these respects, and there can be no +doubt that this amendment will take place next session. It is found +impossible to compel the education of the children, and the attempt to +do it has only produced hardship to them and their parents, from the +number who have lost their employment. The Commissioners had hoped that +the manufacturers might obtain relays of children, each set working not +more than eight hours a-day, whilst those above thirteen years of age +worked twelve hours. But neither can the children be obtained, nor will +the masters submit to the inconvenience caused by the change of hands.”¹ + + ¹ _History of the Cotton Manufacture_, pages 479‒480. + +By subsequent acts of Parliament the employment of children in +factories has been entirely prohibited, and the hours of labour for +adults has been shortened more than two hours per day in factories. +Concerning the employment of children, the change which the factory +acts have introduced was greatly needed, both on the grounds of +humanity and considerations of physical vigour and health, as well +as moral and mental education; for seventy-eight hours’ labour a-week +for a child under ten years of age is nothing short of actual cruelty. + +The operatives in textile factories were not highly paid for their +labour in Scotland; and, although this is true generally, in the early +stages of the cotton manufacture, and in certain branches, there were +some exceptions. Glasgow may be taken as representing an average of the +highest wages paid to workers in cotton factories. In 1833 the weekly +wages of this class were as follows:――1. Boys under eleven years of age, +1 shillings 11¾ pence; girls under this age, 1 shilling 10½ pence. 2. +Boys from eleven years of age to sixteen, 4 shillings 7 pence; girls of +the same age, 3 shillings 8¾ pence. 3. The wages of men ranged from 18 +shillings to 19 shillings; and those of women about 6 shillings 8 pence, +but some of those who worked on piece-work made high wages. Men at +wheels, containing from 252 to 300 spindles, earned 4 shillings 6 pence +a-day; women engaged as reelers and winders, from 1 shilling 4 pence to +1 shilling 2 pence a-day. Youths and girls from fourteen to seventeen +years of age, employed in the preparing room, or as piercers to the +spinners, earned 1 shilling 4 pence a-day; boys and girls from ten to +fourteen years of age, employed in the same kind of work, made from 10 +pence to 8 pence a-day; children under ten years of age earned from 5 +pence to 4 pence a-day. Youths and girls at wheels of from 120 to 180 +spindles made from 3 shillings to 2 shillings a-day. + +In 1867 the weekly wages of the cotton operatives in Glasgow were +these:――Men, overlookers, 45 shillings; warpers, 22 shillings; +drawers and twisters, 20 shillings; dressers, 33 shillings; sizers, +35 shillings Women, reelers and winders, 9 shillings to 10 shillings +6 pence; warpers, 14 shillings; weavers, taking charge of two or three +looms, 11 shillings; of four looms, 15 shillings 6 pence. Girls, taking +charge of one loom, 6 shillings. So much for textile manufactures. + + + SECTION VII. + + _Paper Manufacture._ + +In a preceding volume an account was given of the attempts made in the +seventeenth century to establish the manufacture of paper in Scotland;¹ +and I will narrate briefly the establishment and development of this +manufacture through the eighteenth century onward to the present time. +The appliances used by the early paper-makers were of the simplest kind +in preparing the pulp and making the paper by the hand. The application +of machinery to this manufacture is of comparatively recent date; and +the process of preparing the rags and the pulp was a very slow one. The +pulping engine was invented about the middle of the eighteenth century, +and its introduction superseded the process of fermenting the rags and +bruising them in a mortar. + + ¹ Mackintosh’s _History of Civilisation in Scotland_, Volume + III., pages 317‒19. + +The paper-making machine was invented about the end of the last century, +and is one of the most ingenious contrivances employed in the arts. It +has been brought to surprising perfection in the present century. Very +complete paper-making machines have been made, in Edinburgh, by Mr. +George Bertram, Sciennes, and Messrs. James Bertram & Son, Leith Walk. +A machine, exhibited by Mr. George Bertram at the Exhibition of 1862 +was much admired, as the most perfect paper-making machine which had, +up to that time, been produced. + +The chief centres of the paper manufacture are in the counties of +Edinburgh, Lanark, and Aberdeen. In 1709 Mr. Anderson built a paper +mill at Valleyfield, Penicuik, which is still in operation; and by +gradual extensions it has become one of the largest in the county of +Edinburgh. But the manufacture for a long time made little progress. In +1763 there were three paper mills in the vicinity of Edinburgh, and the +quantity of paper then produced was 6400 reams a-year. In 1773 there +were twelve paper mills in this district, and the annual production +had risen to 100,000 reams. At this time a considerable quantity of +printing paper was exported to London; but in the early stages of +paper-making in Scotland the business was not very remunerative. + +The Messrs. Alexander Cowan & Sons are amongst the oldest paper +manufacturers in Scotland. They have three mills at Penicuik, in the +county of Edinburgh, which are near each other, and worked as one +establishment. The Valleyfield Mill, which is the central and the +largest one, was begun, as already observed, by Mr. Anderson in 1709, +and in 1779 Mr. Charles Cowan bought this mill. But in the years 1810 +to 1814 it was used by the Government as a place of confinement for +French prisoners of war. In 1803 this firm purchased a corn mill, +which was converted into a paper mill, and it is now known as the Bank +Mill; in 1815 they also bought a paper mill belonging to Mr. Nimmo of +Edinburgh, in the same neighbourhood, which was called the Low Mill. +Before the year 1815, the number of hands employed by the firm was +about thirty, who worked by the hand process, and produced from two to +three tons of paper a-week. Shortly after the close of the French war, +they repurchased the Valleyfield Mill from the Government, fitted it +up anew with the most improved appliances, and restarted it in 1821. +The operations of the firm have been carried on with marked energy and +judgment; and besides their three mills, they have an establishment at +Musselburgh, in which the esparto used is reduced to pulp, and another +one at Leith, in which the rags are sorted and cut. + +The water-wheels and steam-engines employed in these mills are equal to +about 200 horse-power. In 1870 they had five machines in operation, and +were producing from 2000 to 3000 tons of paper annually, all of which +were of the finer kinds of writing and printing papers. + +In 1870, about 600 persons were employed in the various departments +of the works, and upwards of £1200 a-month was paid in wages, at the +following rates:――Mechanics, 25 shillings a-week; millworkers, men +and lads, 18 shillings to 19 shillings; women, from 8 shillings to 10 +shillings. The mills were then under the Factory Acts. But in 1841, the +following rules were enacted by the heads of the firm:――“1. No child +under thirteen years of age shall be employed. 2. No young persons +shall be employed before they are able to read, write, and figure, and, +in the case of girls, to sew. 3. Wives shall not be employed, as it is +considered that they should be keepers at home, for the sake of their +husbands and children.” + +The most extensive manufacturers of writing paper in Scotland, and +indeed in the world, are the Messrs. Alexander Pirie & Sons, Aberdeen. +This great establishment was begun on a small scale about the middle +of the eighteenth century; and the works have been gradually extended, +chiefly in the present century. The works at Stoneywood now cover +upwards of sixteen acres of ground; and the locality where they +stand――the south bank of the river Don――is well adapted for this +department of manufacture, as there is a plentiful supply of water, +a prime requisite in the process of paper-making. + +In these works there are in all six paper machines of great width; and +these, along with the necessary washing and beating engines, as well as +all the machinery required for the finishing processes, are driven by +water and steam power combined, about 2000 horse-power being constantly +required. Here, and in all the works of the firm, the best machinery, +the most efficient appliances, and the most refined chemical processes, +are brought into full operation. In many instances the proprietors +have been the inventors of the most efficient appliances themselves. In +short, this large manufactory has been developed with great judgment, +energy, and surpassing skill; hence its success and world-wide +reputation. + +Some idea may be formed of the rapid development of these works from a +comparison of the quantity of raw material used annually at different +periods. In 1848, the quantity of rags used was from 600 to 700 tons +yearly, but at that date the mills were improved, and the premises +extended. So in 1859, the raw material annually used had reached 2500 +tons; while in 1879, it had risen to 6000 tons annually. At the present +time, upwards of 8000 tons of raw material is used annually; and the +quantity of paper produced exceeds 6000 tons, or over 750,000 reams per +annum. + +Besides the extensive works at Stoneywood, the firm since 1857 have +had mills at Woodside, in which the rags are sorted, classified, and +then stored, and sent to Stoneywood works when required for the boiling +process. Upwards of 200 persons are employed in the rag establishment +at Woodside. + +At the Union Works in Aberdeen, which the firm have long devoted to the +manufacture of envelopes, there are over 700 hands employed. The rate +of production reaches to about 13,000,000 envelopes per week, or over +2,000,000 a-day. + +In consequence of the introduction, especially in recent years, of +labour-saving machinery, although the output of the works has been +nearly doubled, the amount of hand labour has somewhat decreased. The +combined works of the firm still constantly employ upwards of 2500 +hands. + +The firm produces a great variety of fine writing papers, and also +the best classes of printing papers. Besides these leading lines of +high-class papers, they make many specialities. Their mills produce +the widest range of qualities, from the hardest and best qualities of +account book paper to the softest and most absorbent blotting papers. +They also make various kinds of card-board, enamelled cards and papers. +In a word, the papers of the firm are known and valued throughout the +world. + +There are other four paper mills in Aberdeenshire. The Muggiemoss Paper +Mills, belonging to Messrs. Davidson & Company, which were established +in 1796. These works have also been developed from a small beginning; +and the firm, aided by its managers, have originated and adopted +many improvements in the appliances. At these works various kinds of +wrapping papers and paper bags are produced; and they also manufacture +a special kind of roofing felt. The firm employs from 500 to 600 hands. + +The Culter Paper Works stand on the banks of Culter Burn, in the valley +of the Dee. In 1750 Bartholomew Smith erected a mill and commenced the +manufacture of paper. He was succeeded by Richard Smith and Lewis Smith. +For a long time the works were on a small scale, only six men were +employed toward the end of the last century. In 1820 the works were +acquired by Alexander Irvine, and carried on under the title of Irvine +& Company till 1837, when the mills were purchased by Messrs. Arbuthnot +& M‘Combie. In 1840, the machinery was driven by two large water wheels; +and sixty hands were employed at the works. The papers then produced in +the works were browns, cartridges, and all kinds of wrapping papers. In +1856 the Messrs. Pirie of Stoneywood purchased the mills; but, in 1865 +they sold them to the Culter Mills Paper Company. The production was +then about 15 tons of paper per week. Since then the works have been +greatly extended, new machinery and improved appliances requisite for +the various processes of the manufactures have been introduced; the +weekly produce of paper is now over 60 tons, or 3, 220 tons per annum. +The motive power for the machinery is mainly supplied by steam engines, +but also partly by water, which make a total of over 1000 horse power, +There are two paper-making machines, each 72 inches wide, a number of +cutting, burnishing, super-calendering, and folding machines, etc. The +electric light is fitted into the principal rooms. The works are built +of granite, and occupy a large space of ground. The railway siding +runs into and through the mill, round the building, through the grass +sheds and dust house, passing close to the steam boilers, and thus +coal can be tipped from the trucks. The manufactures produced in the +works consist of various styles of the finest writing papers, excellent +printing papers, and a variety of other classes of papers. The products +of the company have attained a high reputation in the markets of the +world. About four hundred hands are employed in the works. + +The Inverurie Paper mills were begun about sixty years ago by Mr. +Tait, and are now carried on by his sons. They produce various kinds +of printing papers, and a considerable quantity of paper-hangings. + +Gordon’s Mills, Aberdeen, were commenced in 1888, and were recently +acquired by the Donside Paper Company. In these works various qualities +of printing papers are produced. + +In 1870, there were fifty-seven paper mills in Scotland, of which +twenty-two were in the county of Edinburgh, nine in Lanarkshire, and +the rest distributed over eleven counties. There were then eighty +paper-making machines employed in Scotland, and about 10, 000 persons +directly engaged in the manufacture. In 1888 there were sixty paper +mills in Scotland, worked by fifty-six firms; and the number of +paper-making machines employed had increased to 101. In 1891 there +were 11, 879 hands employed in the manufacture; while the number of +paper-making machines had also increased. + +In the development of paper manufacture, much difficulty has been +experienced in finding the requisite raw material in sufficient +quantity, and great ingenuity has been exerted in efforts to find +suitable materials and substances to meet the requirements of +manufacturers. Although many fibres, such as esparto grass, bamboo, +jute, wood, sugar-cane, etc., have been successfully treated so as to +suit for papers of an inferior description, nothing has as yet been +discovered to supersede the use of linen and cotton rags for making +the finer qualities of writing paper. + +The manufacture of paper-hangings only commenced in Scotland at a +comparatively recent period, and was conducted on a small scale. In +1870, there were six firms engaged in it, but only one of them had a +large business; at that date there were about 500 persons employed in +this branch of paper manufacture, but since then it has been further +developed. + +About 1857, Messrs. Wylie & Lochhead, a firm in Glasgow, began +paper-staining on a small scale, and limited themselves to block +printing; but after the abolition of the paper duty in 1861, they built +a large factory at Whiteinch, and introduced cylinder printing machines. +About 300 persons were employed, and 80,000 pieces of paper-hangings +were produced every week. The more costly papers are produced by the +block printing, and the cheaper varieties by the machines. + +This firm have devoted special attention to the production of +paper-hangings of the highest class, and they have carried the art of +making gold, stamped, bronzed, and flocked papers to a high degree of +perfection. The designing of paper-hangings affords ample scope for +the exercise of artistic skill, and a large staff of designers and +engravers are employed by Messrs. Wylie & Lochhead.¹ + + ¹ _Industries of Scotland_, by D. Bremner. + + + SECTION VIII. + + _Printing, and Bookbinding._ + +In the preceding volumes, the introduction and progress of printing in +Scotland was noticed;¹ and some notice of its modern development seems +requisite. The quantity of printing executed in Scotland prior to the +eighteenth century was not large, and consisted for the most part of +ballads, poetry, pamphlets, sermons, and a few other works. The first +work printed in Glasgow was the protestation of the General Assembly +of the Church of Scotland, and of the nobility, burghs, ministers, and +commons, “subscribers of the Covenant, lately renewed, made in the High +Kirk, and at the Market Cross of Glasgow, the 28th of November, 1638. +Printed at Glasgow, by George Anderson, in the year of grace 1638.”² +But Glasgow was among the first places which attained a reputation for +printing in Scotland. The two brothers, Robert and Andrew Foulis, were +cultured and accomplished men. Both were educated in the University +of Glasgow; and in 1742, Robert commenced business as a printer +and bookseller in Glasgow. In 1743, he was appointed printer to the +University, and was accommodated with premises within the College +buildings. Andrew joined the business; and they printed a series of +classical books in a style far superior to any before executed in +Scotland. They were not only the foremost printers of their day, but +they also did much to promote the culture of painting and art. + + ¹ Mackintosh’s _History of Civilisation in Scotland_, Volume + II., pages 299‒303; Volume III., page 363. + + ² Macgregor’s _History of Glasgow_, page 211. + +In 1780, there were twenty-seven printing offices in Edinburgh. +Although stereotyping was invented early in the eighteenth century, +by William Ged, a goldsmith in Edinburgh, and practised by him in +1730, it was long before this art was brought into use in printing +establishments. In the present century the process has been brought to +great perfection, and has for many years been universally practised. +In short, it may be truly said that the great development of the +modern newspaper press, and the incessantly increasing necessity for +expeditious work, has tended greatly to the invention of new machinery, +and the improvement of the whole apparatus and appliances now in +operation in large printing establishments. + +It was in connection with newspapers that the printing machines were +first actually worked, and steam power applied to printing. After +a long series of trials and experiments, and the exercise of much +ingenuity, the printing machines were brought to a high degree of +efficiency. They began to be used in Britain in the first quarter of +this century, and were perfected by degrees. The _London Times_ was +first printed by a machine on the 28th of November, 1814. There are now +various kinds of machines used for printing newspapers from stereotyped +plates placed on revolving cylinders, which can print many thousands +of copies per hour. The “Victory” printing machine, used in many large +newspaper establishments, is an admirably perfect piece of mechanism. +This machine, on being set in motion, feeds itself from a large roll of +paper, and throws off the printed copies at a surprisingly rapid rate, +neatly folded and ready to be despatched. + +The stereotyping process itself has been much improved and perfected +during the past forty years. Indeed, it has become so indispensable +that the daily newspapers circulated throughout the country could +not be produced without its aid. In short, there has been a complete +revolution in the modes of printing within the past hundred years. + +In all the large printing establishments in Scotland machinery and +steam-power are employed. Many kinds of printing machines are now used, +each specially adapted for different kinds and classes of work. In +some establishments all kinds of printing is executed; others limit +themselves chiefly to special lines, such as book-printing; while +some carry on both printing and lithography, most of the book-printing +firms execute stereotyping. Edinburgh is the chief centre of the +book-printing trade in Scotland, though this branch is carried on more +or less in all the chief towns of the country. + +A large quantity of excellent printing is annually executed in Scotland. +In illustrated works ample scope is afforded for the display of taste +and artistic skill, and good specimens of this branch of work have been +produced in this country. + +According to the census of 1871, there were 5609 printers in Scotland. +But including all the branches of business directly connected with the +printing trade, there were upwards of 16,000 persons employed. In 1891, +12,329 persons were so employed. + +In the bookbinding trade machines are used for performing a great +number of operations. Many attempts have been made to supersede +hand-labour in folding by machines, and in the common kinds of work +such machines are used. In every large bookbinding establishment the +division of labour is carried out to the minutest particular: for +instance, the case-makers are divided into six or eight sections, each +performing a special part of the work, and before a book is bound it +passes through eighteen or twenty different hands. + +This department of work also affords considerable scope for the +exercise of taste and skill in selecting the various colours of +cloth, forming devices for the boards, and details of ornamental work. +The styles of binding are endless, and many beautiful specimens are +produced in Scotland. In 1871, there were 3113 persons employed in +this branch of industry, of whom 1820 were females. In 1891, there were +4,405 hands employed in it, of whom 2,888 were females. + + + SECTION IX. + + _Leather, India-Rubber, and Shoe Manufactures._ + +In a preceding volume the tanning of leather was noticed, and the +shoemaking trade was frequently mentioned;¹ but the manufactures in +india-rubber are a more modern development, nevertheless, it seems +requisite to give some account of them. + + ¹ Mackintosh’s _History of Civilisation in Scotland_, Volume + I., pages 241, 400, Volume II., page 293; Volume III., pages + 287, 305. + +The manufacture of leather was long subjected to a duty, which was +finally repealed in 1830. In the latter half of the last century +there was a considerable leather trade in Scotland; and until about +twenty-five years ago the manufacture of leather was increasing, +but since the trade has not been so prosperous. The best and most +durable kinds of boot and shoe leather were not at any time produced +in Scotland; the quality of this class of Scotch leather is inferior +to both the English and the French. In 1871, there were about 120 +tanneries; and at this time there were 2739 persons employed in +connection with the leather manufacture in Scotland. In 1891, about +3000 hands were employed in it. + +Within a period of forty years the boot and shoe making trade has +undergone a complete revolution; before 1859, boots and shoes were +made by the hand, and with few exceptions they were all sewed. But +since then machinery has been largely applied to the manufacture of +boots and shoes, and sewing by the hand has been almost superseded by +riveting machines and sewing machines. One result of the application +of machinery has been the establishment of large manufactories of boots +and shoes. One of these in Glasgow, in 1870, employed 2000 hands; and +in other large towns many shoe factories have been started within the +last twenty-five years. The articles produced in these factories are +much inferior, both in quality of material and in workmanship, to those +which were formerly made by the hand; but the factory article has the +recommendation of cheapness, and this is what the majority of dealers +and customers are always in quest of. + +Gutta-percha in its raw state is a substance extracted from certain +trees which grow in Asia, and the manufacture of it in this country is +of recent date. From about 1858 onward, it was largely used in making +boots and shoes in Scotland: the soles were of gutta-percha and the +uppers of leather. It has been applied to many other purposes; and +as a non-conductor of electricity it has become an invaluable aid in +constructing the submarine telegraph. + +In 1871, the number of persons employed in making boots and shoes +was 37,587, and of this number 13,426 were females, but 12,207 of the +latter were shoemakers’ wives who worked at the trade. + +The manufactures in india-rubber are of comparatively recent origin, +and up till about 1820, it was only used for rubbing out pencil +marks. The raw material of caoutchouc, or india-rubber, is a resinous +substance, which exudes by incisions from trees that grow in Brazil, +in Cayenne, and Quito; and it was first brought to Europe (France) +about the year 1734. The first notice of it in Britain occurs in a +publication of Dr. Priestley’s in 1770. In 1819, Mr. Hancock began +his experiments on india-rubber, and the following year he obtained a +patent for india-rubber braces, garters, bands, etc. He continued his +operations, and before 1847, he had obtained fourteen patents for his +special india-rubber goods. + +In 1820, Mr. Macintosh, of Glasgow, began to make experiments with +india-rubber; and in 1823, he established a work in Glasgow for +waterproof articles. In 1824, he took out a patent for waterproofing +cloth, which was afterwards distinguished by his name. This cloth was +made by cementing two folds together by the solution, and coats made +of it soon became well known. He formed a partnership in Manchester, +and commenced to manufacture waterproof goods on a large scale, and the +firm became widely known. Mr. Hancock had worked some of his inventions +in connection with Mr. Macintosh, and finally entered the firm, which +then assumed the title of Messrs. Hancock & Macintosh. + +After the manufacture of useful india-rubber goods was demonstrated +by the efforts, talents, and enterprise of the two gentlemen mentioned +above, there was a wild rush of attempts at india-rubber manufactures. +“Mechanicians hailed the rubber as a sort of missing link in their code +of materials for machine making; and such was the rage for introducing +it, that it was frequently found in most unsuitable positions.” It +is now used in connection with many machines; indeed, the purposes +to which it is applied, as well as the different kinds of goods and +articles manufactured from it, are exceedingly numerous and varied, and +a complete detail of them would be out of the question――only a few can +be mentioned. + +Boots and shoes of all sizes have long been manufactured from +india-rubber. One of the earliest specimens of this class of goods +was known under the name of “goloshes,” which were worn as overshoes, +and were in great vogue thirty years ago. About that time there was an +india-rubber manufactory in Edinburgh which could turn out 7000 pairs +of boots and shoes a-day, or over 2,000, 000 pairs a-year.¹ Coats, +leggings, cushions, bags, and so on were at the same period produced +in endless variety. A little later, combs, jewellery, and a long series +of miscellaneous articles were produced from india-rubber. + + ¹ In recent years this class of boots and shoes have fallen + out of fashion. + +The vulcanite and black jet jewellery was popular twenty years ago, and +immense quantities of it were produced. At present a large business is +done in india-rubber and vulcanised goods in Scotland. + + + SECTION X. + + _Sugar Refining, Brewing, and Distilling._ + +I. Sugar works were established in Scotland in 1667.¹ In 1715, the +sugar-refining trade was carried on in Glasgow and Leith; and at +this date it was put under the English excise laws. Before the end +of the eighteenth century Greenock had become the chief seat of +the sugar-refining trade in Scotland. The first sugar refinery in +Greenock was commenced in 1765, by a company of West Indian merchants; +this refinery was in operation in 1870. The second refinery in the +town was begun in 1787; it started with two pans, but the number was +subsequently increased. The third sugar refinery was built in 1800; the +fourth was erected in 1809; the fifth in 1812; and the sixth in 1826. +The sugar refining trade continued to increase in Greenock, and more +refineries were erected. In 1869, there were fourteen sugar refineries +in this enterprising town; and two of the largest of these turned out +about 14,000 tons of sugar a week. + + ¹ Mackintosh’s _History of Civilisation_, Volume III., page + 330. + +In 1869, there were twenty sugar refineries in Scotland, eighteen of +which were on the Clyde and two at Leith. It thus appears that nearly +all the sugar refining in Scotland was centred on the Clyde. A large +amount of shipping was employed in the sugar trade. In 1868, 416 +vessels arrived in the Clyde, of about 140,000 tons, and 400 of these +discharged their cargoes at Greenock. The raw sugar imported into the +Clyde in 1858 was 56,769 tons, and 15,000 tons of molasses; in 1861, +the raw sugar imported was 88,694 tons, and molasses 18,229 tons; +and in 1867, the sugar was 178,000 tons, and 2900 tons of molasses. +But, since the duty on sugar was abolished, the annual consumption has +increased; a larger quantity of it is used in making preserved fruits +of every kind. + +In the sugar-refining process very heavy machinery and costly +appliances are required, such as blowing-up machinery, filtering +apparatus, vacuum pans and vacuum pumps, heaters and stirring apparatus, +charcoal kilns, centrifugals, and the like. But the machinery and +apparatus which are used in sugar-making in the countries where the +sugar-cane itself grows are of a much heavier description; indeed the +weight, size, and power of the machinery, pans and batteries, engines +and varied appliances, in operation in the sugar mills are very +great. In Glasgow there are a number of iron-founding and engineering +firms who devote special attention to the production of sugar-making +machinery, and very large consignments are annually exported to the +sugar plantations. It has been calculated that in the years 1872 to +1876 the machinery of this kind exported direct from the Clyde to +the British Colonies and other sugar-growing countries was valued at +upwards of £400,000 per annum. + +In 1871, there were about 1000 persons employed as sugar refiners in +Scotland. In 1891 there were 1187 sugar refiners. + +II.――In the preceding volumes I have shown that brewing was from an +early period a staple branch of the domestic economy of the nation, and +noticed many of the regulations, both national and local, relating to +the making and sale of malt, ale, and whisky; so any lengthy detail is +superfluous. It is well known that the increased tax on malt imposed by +the Government in the eighteenth century, was with difficulty enforced +even among the licensed brewers and malt sellers, and that smuggling +and illicit distilling prevailed to a large extent until the first +quarter of this century. + +At the beginning of the eighteenth century considerable quantities +of ale and beer were exported to the Continent; and from then onward +the export trade has continued to extend. In the last century brewers +were comparatively more numerous than now, and the concentration of +production in certain localities, and in large establishments, which +is a characteristic of the period, also took place in the brewing and +distilling trade. In 1835, there were 640 licensed brewers of beer in +Scotland; but in 1863, there were only 225; and in 1866, 217. In 1836, +the brewers consumed 1,137,176 bushels of malt; in 1863, 1,780,919 +bushels; and in 1866, 2,499,019 bushels. The exports of ale and beer +in 1863 amounted to 47,415 barrels, the declared value of which was +£172,140; in 1866, the quantity exported was 61,723 barrels, valued +at £230,109. Amongst the places to which this beer was sent were +――Queensland, New South Wales, East Indies, West Indies, North America, +and other quarters of the globe. + +Recently, various kinds of cheap beverages have been brought into use, +such as aerated waters, of which very large quantities are consumed. + +III.――Concerning whisky, the Government of Scotland began to legislate +about its use and sale in the sixteenth century; and our Governments +have continued to legislate upon it as they began――on inconsistent and +often unjust lines, which may be partly accounted for on the ground +that for centuries it has been made a source of an enormous revenue. +This, however, is not the place to discuss the drink traffic laws, and +I proceed to other sides of the subject. + +In 1708, 50,844 gallons of spirits were produced in Scotland; and +in 1756, there were 433,811 gallons; but at this time the duty was +increased, which caused a fall off in the production. Shortly after a +demand for Scotch spirits arose in England, and large quantities were +sent across the border. An import duty of 2 shillings 6 pence a gallon +was imposed in England, which was quickly followed by a system of +smuggling; and it was recorded that in 1787 upwards of 300,000 gallons +of whisky was conveyed across the border without the cognisance of +the Excise. A new mode of charging the duty on spirits was tried in +1786――a license duty calculated upon the capacity of the stills; but +the distillers soon altered the form of the stills, and increased the +rate of production. When the Government discovered this, the amount of +the license was raised year by year till, in 1798, it amounted to £64 +16 shillings 4 pence per gallon of still capacity in the Lowlands, and +to £3 per gallon in the Highlands. The mode of charging the duty was +again changed, and from the beginning of the year 1799 a duty of 4 +shillings 10¼ pence was put on each gallon of spirits produced for home +consumption. At this time there were 87 licensed distillers in Scotland; +but they did not approve of the change, and many of them gave up +business, so the annual amount of the duty fell off for a year or two. +In 1802, however, the Government reduced the duty to 3 shillings 10½ +pence per gallon; and in 1803, there were 88 distillers who paid a duty +of £2,022,409. The next year the duty was raised, and the number of +distillers decreased till, in 1813, there was only 24. At this time the +duty per gallon was 9 shillings 4¼ pence. In 1823, the duty was lowered +to 2 shillings 4¾ pence per gallon; and then the number of distillers +greatly increased, and the revenue rose accordingly. In 1833, the +rate of duty was 3 shillings 4 pence a gallon, and there were then 243 +distillers, who paid duty to the amount of £5,988,556. + +In 1840, the duty was 3 shillings 8 pence, the number of distillers 205, +and the quantity of whisky produced this year was 9, 032,353 gallons. +The same year, the quantity of spirits charged with duty as consumed +in Scotland was 6,007,631 gallons. In 1855, the quantity of whisky +produced was 11,283,636 gallons. In 1867, there were 111 distillers in +Scotland, and the quantity of whisky produced was 10, 813,996 gallons. +The same year the quantity of spirits charged with duty as consumed in +Scotland was 4,983,009 gallons. + +In 1871, the number of persons employed as brewers, maltmen, and +distillers in Scotland was 2869――a very small number of hands compared +with the enormous overturn of capital, plant and stock, employed in the +business. In 1891 the number of persons employed was 4343. + +Concerning distilling apparatus, it may be of interest to state that, +in 1862, Mr. George Russell, of Glasgow, patented an apparatus for +distilling fresh water on board ship at sea. This apparatus and others +recently constructed have been very effective in producing fresh water +at sea, which during long voyages is exceedingly useful. + + + SECTION XI. + + _Miscellaneous Manufactures._ + +The manufacture of soap was commenced in Scotland about the middle +of the seventeenth century, and it has been carried on in Glasgow and +other towns for upwards of two centuries; but great improvements have +been made in the processes of this manufacture since the later part of +the last century. It was shown in a preceding chapter of this volume, +that the science of chemistry was ably taught by Cullen and Black, in +Glasgow and Edinburgh, from the middle of the last century onward; and +the results of this soon began to appear in the improvement of those +useful arts and manufactures in which the application of efficient +apparatus and appliances to the varied processes so much depends on +a thorough knowledge of chemical science. Not only have the processes +of the then existing arts and industries been greatly improved, but +new arts and manufactures have been created, and numerous varieties of +articles and goods have been manufactured in millions, tens of millions, +and thousands of millions, from substances, the very names of which +were unknown in Britain a hundred years ago, such as india-rubber and +gutta-percha. The whole class of what may be termed the chemical arts +have been advanced amazingly in the present century. + +I.――The alkali works at St. Rollox, in Glasgow, belonging to Messrs. +Tennant & Company, were begun about the end of the last century; and +at first they only occupied about three acres of ground, but they have +been rapidly extended. In 1875, the works covered fifty acres, and +eighty acres more were occupied with deposits, etc.; and 1200 men were +employed in the establishment. The original leaden chambers were 6 to +8 feet square. The present chambers are 80 to 200 feet long, 20 feet +wide, and 21 feet high, with a total capacity of about 1,500,000 cubic +feet. The sulphuric acid for sale is rectified in glass retorts, but +for the most part in two platinum stills, which are about 3 feet in +diameter, and worth £2300 each, and rectify 13 tons per day. The plant, +including the branch works of the Company at Hebburn, Newcastle, can +produce 20,000 tons of bleaching powder, besides all the collateral +and subsidiary products. The total raw material consumed annually at +St. Rollox, amounts to about 80, 000 tons. In addition to the regular +manufactures, there are numerous other operations carried on in the +works. Among these there are gas and brick making, and iron casting, +the foundry being able of casting 300 tons a-week. Employment is +also given to coopers, joiners, cart and waggon wrights, blacksmiths, +tinsmiths, plumbers, engineers, and other mechanics. For the different +operations 110,000 tons of coal are consumed per annum, and the +numerous furnaces are in connection with 22 chimneys, ranging from 60 +to 455½ feet high. The chief chimney, both from its magnitude and from +its elevated position, is seen for many miles round Glasgow. + +The products of the works are soda-ash, soda-crystals, caustic soda, +sulphuric and hydrochloric acids, bleaching powder, soap, recovered +sulphur, and recovered carbonate and peroxide of manganese.¹ In 1891, +there were 2,674 persons engaged in alkali manufacture, of whom 429 +were females. + + ¹ _Notices of some of the Principal Manufactures of the West + of Scotland_, pages 222‒224. + +There are several soap-works in Glasgow which produce the common +kinds of soap, and also a variety of fancy soaps and blue-mottled +soap. At the works of Kinning Park, Glasgow, special soaps are made +for calico-printers, Turkey-red dyers, tweed and woollen finishers, +scourers, bleachers, dyers, and for many other purposes. There are +soap-works in other towns throughout the country. Soap is largely +manufactured in Aberdeen, in which there are two soap-works. The works +of Messrs. Ogston & Sons are extensive, and produce a large quantity +of soap. + +In 1871, the number of persons employed in the manufacture of soap in +Scotland was 434, of whom 32 were females. Down to 1833, a duty was +charged on hard soap. In 1891 there were about 600 employed in this +manufacture. + +II.――There are extensive alum-works in Glasgow, and in the +neighbourhood of Paisley. Near both of these places there is found in +connection with the coal a black slaty rock or shale which contains +bituminous matter and iron pyrites spread through it; and this shale is +largely used in the manufacture of alum. Alum itself is largely used in +calico-printing and dyeing, in the tanning of leather, in the finishing +of paper, and for many other purposes. + +III.――The manufacture of mineral oils was started in Scotland in 1851, +by the late Dr. Young, of Durris, who, in company with Mr. Meldrum +and Mr. Binney, erected paraffin oil works near Bathgate. Afterwards +a number of mineral oil works were started. Dr. Young formed a new +company under the title of Young’s Paraffin Light and Mineral Oil +Company, which is still carried on. In 1871, there were about 3000 +persons employed in the Scotch mineral oil works. In recent years +the mineral oil trade has been in a depressed state, and in 1891, the +number of hands employed in it were 2,474. + +IV.――The preparation of artificial manures is carried on to a +considerable extent in Scotland; and also the manufacture of several +kinds of food for animals. + +V.――The manufacture of combs is carried on to a considerable extent. +Aberdeen is the chief seat of this industry, in which there are two +comb works. + +In 1830 Mr. John Stewart and Mr. Joseph Rowell commenced to manufacture +combs in Mealmarket Lane, Aberdeen, under the name of Stewart, Rowell +& Company. Both men had excellent business abilities, and their united +efforts led to signal success. In 1835 the firm removed to larger +premises in Hutcheon Street, where the works were admirably managed, +and the business developed with rare commercial tact, energy, and +enterprise. This firm by the introduction of machinery succeeded in +producing an unprecedented quantity of goods at prices which soon +commanded the markets of the world. From time to time the works have +been extended, and now occupy a large space of ground. Many different +appliances and machines are used in preparing the materials, and in the +various operations of making and finishing the numerous varieties of +goods produced. These operations all proceed on a systematic method, +and evince a fine combination of mechanism. + +The goods manufactured in the works consist of every variety of combs, +of which great quantities are produced; and a number of other useful +and fancy articles. The firm employs about 850 hands. John Stewart +died on the 25th of January, 1887, and was succeeded by his eldest son, +David, the present head of the firm, and ex-Lord Provost of Aberdeen. + +In 1871, the number of persons employed in the manufacture of combs in +Scotland was 1061, of whom 199 were females. In 1891 there were 1150 +hands employed in this industry. + +Concerning the important industry of the fisheries, in 1871 there were +26,267 fishermen and 1029 fisherwomen in Scotland. In 1891 there were +over 30,000 persons employed in fishing. + +In conclusion, the rise and progress of the coal and iron mining +were narrated; the erection of ironworks and the development of +iron manufactures were explained. An account was then given of the +improvement of the means of communication. The progress of shipping +and shipbuilding was indicated; the introduction of steam vessels, the +change from wood to iron and steel shipbuilding, were explained. The +manufacture of glass and the erection of earthenware works were noticed. +The development of the several branches of textile manufactures were +treated at length. The erection of paper works and the development +of paper manufactures were described; and the progress of printing +through the introduction of steam-power, machinery, and stereotyping +was explained. The leather trade, and the introduction of machinery +in boot and shoe making were noticed; the origin and development of +several new manufactures were observed. Sugar-refining, brewing, and +distilling were treated; and various chemical manufactures were briefly +touched on. + + + + + CHAPTER XLIX. + + _Architecture, and Monumental Art._ + + + SECTION I. + + _Architecture._ + +THE aim of this chapter is similar to several of the preceding ones: +it is not a detailed history of architecture, but an effort to indicate +briefly the changes which have taken place in the structure, and the +external aspect of the chief cities of Scotland within a comparatively +recent period. It will, in the first place, touch on the various +kinds of stones used in building; in the second, a few brief notices +of Scottish architects will be presented; and third, touch on the +reconstruction of the chief cities and their present aspect. + +At the outset it may be observed that, in the strata of rocks which +exist in Britain, a pretty wide range of different kinds of stone are +found. The quarries, both of England and Scotland, afford in abundance +the well-known generic varieties of――(1) sandstone or freestone; +(2) limestone; (3) granite. Marble of various colours is also found +in Britain, although less common than the other classes of stones. +In Scotland, marble is found in Tiree, Iona, Skye, Blairgowrie, and +several other places. The early buildings and houses in this country +were built of freestone, limestone, and other kinds of stones; granite +was little used for building purposes till a recent period.¹ + + ¹ The granite districts of England are in Cornwall and + Devonshire, the Channel Islands, Mount Sorel, and in some + other places. The Devon and Cornwall granite is of several + varieties; at Dartmoor it has a greyish hue. + + “But harder granite must be sought for than Devonshire or + Cornwall produces, where the construction is of importance; + for the masses in these counties are mostly in a condition + of rapid disintegration and decay, which seems chiefly + attributable to their containing a large portion of ♦potash. + The Naval Hospital of Plymouth is built of granite whose + parts appear to have been well selected. It was erected + seventy years ago, and, except in the columns of the + colonnades, does not exhibit symptoms of decay. In these, on + their more exposed sides, the disintegration of the felspar + has commenced, and lichens have already attached their roots + to some parts of the surfaces.”――Gwilt’s _Encyclopædia of + Architecture_, page 479. + + The chief varieties of Scotch granite are those of Craignair + and Creetown, in Kirkcudbrightshire, those of Aberdeenshire, + the Isle of Mull, and other kinds. + + ♦ “potass” replaced with “potash” + +There is little information of the architects or builders of any branch +of Scotch architecture before the eighteenth century; although in the +national records the names of certain persons occasionally occur with +the title of master of works, and master mason. Colin Campbell attained +distinction as an architect. He designed Mereworth House, in Kent; +Wanstead House, in Essex, built in 1715, which was much admired; and +many other mansions. In 1725 he was appointed architect to the Prince +of Wales; and in the following year he was appointed Surveyor of Works +at Greenwich Hospital. He edited the first three volumes of _Vitruvius +Britannica_, which appeared in 1713‒25, and contained a considerable +number of his own designs. He died in 1734. + +William Adam, of Marybury, was born at Kinross in 1689. He succeeded +Sir William Bruce as Surveyor of the King’s works in Scotland. He +carried out many important works, consisting of public buildings, +bridges, and mansions. He collected and published his designs, with +those of other contemporaries, under the title of _Vitruvius Scoticus_. +He died in 1748. His son, Robert Adam, was born in 1728, and educated +at the University of Edinburgh. He became a distinguished architect. +His younger brother, James, was also an architect, and the two became +associated in business. They designed and carried out a considerable +number of great works――including the “Adelphi” in London, and many +other buildings and mansions in England and Scotland. They published +_The Works in Architecture of R. & J. Adams_, which contained among +the plates, views of Sion House, Caen Wood, Luton Park House, and the +Register House in Edinburgh. Robert died in 1792; and James died on the +17th of October 1794. + +James Craig was born in Edinburgh, and attained some distinction as +an architect. In 1767 he sent in a plan of the new streets and squares +intended for the city of Edinburgh, which the Town Council with +acclamation selected from other competitive plans. He died in 1795. + +James Gibbs, born in Aberdeen, in 1674, attained distinction in this +branch of art. He was educated at the Grammar School, and Marischal +College, where he took the degree of M.A. He had a fair knowledge of +mathematics, and resolved to carry it into the study of architecture. + +In 1694, he went to Holland. His progress in the art seems to have +been rapid, as his talents attracted the attention of the Earl of Mar +when he visited that country in 1700. This was the Earl who raised +the standard of rebellion in 1715; and I am glad to state that he +favoured Gibbs with his countenance, assisted him with money, gave +him recommendatory letters, and advised him to travel into Italy――to +improve his taste and expand his views, by a study of the grand +edifices of this ancient country. When, through the effects of the +rebellion, the fortunes of the Erskines fell very low, Gibbs remembered +the man who had aided him in his early struggles, and bequeathed a +thousand pounds, all his plate, and an estate of £280 a-year to the +only son of his first benefactor. + +In 1700 Gibbs proceeded to Rome, and studied several years under +Garralia, a sculptor and architect of some note. He carefully examined +the chief buildings in Italy, ancient and modern, took notes of +them for his future guidance, and made sketches of such edifices +as he thought excelled in form, or such parts of them as struck +his imagination, and laid them down to scale. Thus, after studying +and working for ten years in Rome, he deemed himself prepared for +commencing business as an architect, and appeared in London in 1710. +Mar was then in the ministry, and favoured by the Queen, and as much +disposed as ever to befriend Gibbs. Shortly after this an act was +passed in parliament which directed that fifty new churches should +be erected in London. Mar introduced Gibbs to the Commissioners under +the act, and he soon obtained employment. The first building which he +completed was at King’s College, Cambridge; but it has been severely +criticised for its small portico, and for the many little parts in its +construction. + +The first building which he erected in London was of such a character +as could not fail to produce a strong impression in his favour. “The +portico of St. Martin’s Church, for utility, compact beauty, and +perfect unity of construction, is yet unsurpassed in the metropolis; +and though in other respects the exterior is not so excellent, being +deficient in light and shade, and the steeple inclines to be heavy――yet +on the whole it forms a noble work.... The interior of the church is a +perfect picture of architectural beauty and neatness of accommodation. +All the parts are nicely distributed, and nothing can be added, and +nothing can be taken away. It is complete in itself, and refuses the +admission of any other ornament.... The chief charm of the structure, +nevertheless, lies in the portico.... The columns are of the Corinthian +order. It was finished in 1726.”¹ + + ¹ _Lives of British Architects_, by Allan Cunningham, page 290. + +His next work, the Church of St. Mary’s, in the Strand, was not so +successful an effort; it fails to produce an impression of simplicity +or real beauty. He also built the ♦Radcliffe Library of Oxford. “The +interior of the library is admired by men of science for the skill +with which the arrangements are made, and for the art displayed in the +construction of the cupola.” + + ♦ “Ratcliffe” replaced with “Radcliffe” + +He erected the great quadrangle of King’s College, the Royal Library, +and the Senate House at Cambridge, and presented the plan of the Church +of St. Nicholas to his native city. After a long painful illness from +stone, he died in London in 1754. + +In 1728 he published his designs in one volume, from which he realised +nearly two thousand pounds from the sale of the book, and of the plates +after the impression was disposed of. He bequeathed to the ♦Radcliffe +Library five hundred valuable volumes, chiefly on subjects connected +with the arts; over one hundred of them were upon architecture, and +included the best works on the subject then extant. His finished works +and his unemployed designs show that he had an accurate and complete +knowledge of all the principles of his art; and that he was a man +who felt what was good, perceived what was majestic, and skillfully +used his ♠mathematical knowledge in giving strength and beauty to +architecture. + + ♦ “Ratcliffe” replaced with “Radcliffe” + + ♠ “mathemetical” replaced with “mathematical” + +Robert Mylne was born in Edinburgh on the 4th of January, 1734. He was +descended from an old Scottish family represented by a long succession +of master masons and architects. He began his career under his father, +who carried on a building business. Subsequently he travelled abroad, +and resided four years in Rome, studying classic architecture; and +he gained two medals in the Academy of St. Luke. After returning home +he was engaged on many large mansions and public works in England, +including the Blackfriars Bridge in London, and ♦Inveraray Castle, the +chief seat of the Argyle family in Scotland. He died in 1811. + + ♦ “Inverary” replaced with “Inveraray” + +The preceding brief notices are simply to be understood as a +preliminary indication of the important functions of the architect +in the evolution of civilisation. For in reality the health and the +comfort of the community in a large measure depends upon the knowledge +and skill of the architects; they also have it in their power to do +much to improve the taste of the community; and they have contributed, +in conjunction with other agencies, to improve the sanitary condition +of the centres of population in a considerable degree during the past +hundred years. Let us place ourselves in imagination in Edinburgh, +Glasgow, or the other seats of population in the middle of the last +century, and we shall then more easily realise the vast changes and +improvements which have been effected in the dwellings and surroundings +of all classes of the community. + +Edinburgh was from an early period a walled town. One result of this +was that so long as the necessity for maintaining the walls intact +continued, when the population increased, instead of the town being +extended outwards it was extended upwards. This was carried to an +extreme in Edinburgh, as some of the houses were raised to the height +of twelve storeys. In the middle of the eighteenth century the crowded +state of the city was excessive; the streets were narrow, many of +them mere footpaths and closes. The space from the Castle Hill to the +Netherbow Port was occupied with one dense mass of houses, and most +of them six and eight stories. The area within the original wall was +extended immediately after the battle of Flodden, when a new wall was +erected which enclosed the houses that had been built outside of the +old wall. In 1624 it was again partly extended to include Heriot’s +Hospital and the Charity Workhouse. But the valley and marshy ground +which ran along the northern side of the city was long an obstacle +to extension in that direction. Necessity, however, prevailed, and at +last the famous “North Loch,” the scene of so many touching historic +incidents, was conquered. + +The idea of erecting a bridge across the North Loch had occurred to +several persons long before it was actually executed.¹ But in 1769 the +bridge across the Loch was completed, the marshy hollow filled, and +Princes Street and the rest of the New Town were subsequently erected. +The New Town is formed on a simple and uniform plan, which consists of +two distinct and parallel sections: the first one lies between Princes +Street and Queen Street, in which the chief central line is George +Street; and these parallel lines of streets are intersected at regular +intervals by good broad streets. The second section lies between +Heriot Row and Fettes Row, in which the chief central line is Great +King Street. Between the two sections there lies a large space of +ornamental garden ground, and the varied surroundings of the New Town +are admirable. + + ¹ It is said that Sir William Bruce of Kinross drew a plan of + a bridge across the North Loch. The Earl of Mar, the patron + of Gibbs, after his exile, prepared a plan for the extension + of Edinburgh, both to the south and the north, and it also + embraced a bridge of three arches over the North Loch; and + claims to having suggested this bridge have been advanced by + others. + +The city has extended in other directions; but the Old Town has only +been gradually opened up, and the last great scheme of improvement for +opening up the narrow streets and removing the wretched dwellings in +the alleys and closes was inaugurated by the late Dr. Chambers during +his provostship of the city, which began in 1865. Under this scheme +a considerable number of old and dilapidated houses were demolished, +and a vast improvement effected. At the present time little of the +real Old Town remains; of course the Canongate still exists, but it was +originally a separate burgh and corporation by itself, and continued so +till a recent period.¹ Since the middle of this century, the sanitary +condition of Edinburgh has been greatly improved. A better system of +sewerage, and a more adequate supply of water has been introduced into +the city. + + ¹ Mackintosh’s _History of Civilisation_, Volume III., page + 289. + +In truth, it may be said that Edinburgh as it now stands has been +almost entirely reconstructed and built since 1770. Taken as a whole, +the capital of Scotland is a beautiful city. The far greater part of it +is built of freestone, but of several kinds. The Old Town was built of +reddish sandstone, obtained in the neighbourhood; but the newer parts +of the city have been mainly built of stones taken from the quarries of +Craigleith, Redhall, Ravelston, Binnie, Humbie, and Hailes, which lies +on the west side of the city, and yields several varieties of pretty +hard freestone. + +Touching the architecture of the city in general, there are many fine +streets, both in what is called the New Town and in other parts of +the city. George Street, looking at its width and length, is one of +the best streets in Edinburgh; Princes Street and Queen Street, though +very fine, are only terraces. There are a number of fine squares +and crescents. But the street architecture in general has not much +embellishment: there is a lack of window dressings, of cornices, and +other mouldings. There are, however, many architectural objects in +Edinburgh of great beauty and interest; the highly elaborated and +beautiful spire of Scott’s Monument; the classic and national monuments +on the Calton Hill; the public buildings; and the memorable remains of +the Old Castle upon the rock. + +The chief city of the west, Glasgow, owing to its rapid progress and +development in commerce, manufactures, and shipbuilding, was long +seriously troubled with the evils associated with a crowded population. +Efforts were from time to time made to remedy this, but it proved a +difficult matter to overcome. Certain parts of the city always became +more and more crowded. In 1793, the corporation of Glasgow obtained an +Act of Parliament to rebuild the Tron Church, and to remove the Tron +steeple and the adjoining building, which projected into the Trongate. +By this act they were also empowered to purchase the bowling green in +Candleriggs, to erect the Tron Church there; to open a street through +the Ravenshaw grounds to Buchanan Street; to purchase the grounds of +Meadowflat; to make and extend several other streets; and to erect a +bridge across the Clyde at the foot of Saltmarket. In 1806, an Act of +Parliament was obtained for carrying Clyde Street eastward across the +Stockwell to the Green; to form a new street running southward from +the bottom of Queen Street to the river; and a street running northward +from George Street to Duke Street, and terminating at Weaver Street. In +1813, an Act of Parliament was passed for the “regulation of chimneys, +steam engines, and other works within the city and suburbs of Glasgow.” +In 1818, the city first began to be lighted by gas. + +In 1820, the corporation were empowered by an Act of Parliament to +make a street of thirty-five feet in breadth, running eastward from +Stockwell to King Street, thence eastward across the Saltmarket to the +Molendinar Burn, and to causeway and pave it; a street seventy feet +wide from Great Hamilton Street running eastward on the north side of +St. Andrew Square onwards to the Cross; and another sixty feet wide, +beginning at the west end of the Barrack wall, and running westward +on the north side of the Gallowgate onward to the Cross. After 1825, +several streets were extended and widened; still the old parts of +the city remained in a crowded state, and vast numbers of people were +huddled together in courts. In 1846, the Glasgow Municipal and Police +Extension Act was passed in Parliament, which superseded the former +Police Board, and the extension clause included the towns of Gorbals, +Calton, Bridgeton, and Anderston. + +Yet at the middle of this century the old localities of Glasgow were in +a deplorable state of crowding; and in the beginning of the year 1852, +the following statement was made by a high authority. “The overcrowding +of the inhabitants of this city within excessively limited bounds, the +overpeopling of numerous localities, the defective sewerage, and the +still more defective supply of water, are too well known. We need no +evidence as to the existence of these things――they are before us, and +may be seen by everyone. Who can think of these miserable places, the +abodes and nurseries of filth and diseases and of crime, the plague +spots to which strangers point to our shame.... But these alone will +never suffice to meet this tremendous evil. We have now work before +us, to cure and prevent; for it must not be forgotten that the evils +so justly complained of are not confined to the older portions of the +town. The overcrowding of houses, and comprising large numbers of human +beings together, almost without light or air, are going on all around +us; and the remedies required are therefore for prevention as well as +for cure. + +“Under the strongest conviction that if these evils be fearlessly met, +if wise and wholesome provisions be made, if ample powers be given +to enforce them, the sanitary condition of the city will be vastly +improved, and the moral standing of the classes elevated, we proceed +to treat of these remedial measures; and that we may present them in +a regular form, we have divided the subject into the three following +sections:――(1) The width of streets, height of buildings, and opening +up of thoroughfares; (2) Drainage; (3) Supply of water.” The report +goes on to show that in these primary and important points Glasgow +was then very defective; and it contains many wise, useful suggestions +and proposals. They insist on wide streets, and that the height of the +buildings should be regulated by the width of the street. After showing +that the drainage, especially of the narrow wynds, lanes, and closes, +were alarmingly defective, they proceed to state the leading principles +which ought to govern an efficient system of drainage for the city of +Glasgow. They next dealt with the water supply of the city, which was +then mainly taken from the Clyde, and had become defective both in +quality and quantity.¹ + + ¹ Report by Architects of Glasgow, printed in the _Transactions + of the Architectural Institute of Scotland_, Volume II., + pages 42‒63. + +A scheme for new waterworks was projected, and, in 1855, it was +resolved to bring the water from Loch Katrine, to supply fifty million +gallons a-day. The works were completed in 1859, and on the 14th of +October the water was turned on by Her Majesty the Queen; Glasgow was +jubilant, and cannons rent the air from the Castles of Edinburgh and +Stirling in honour of the event. + +The municipal authorities of Glasgow, and many of the leading citizens, +had long been considering as to the best means of remedying the +insanitary condition of the city, arising from over-crowded houses, +narrow streets, wynds, and closes; and an Improvement Act was applied +for, which was ultimately passed by Parliament in 1866. The municipal +authorities under the provisions of the Act were appointed trustees, +and they were empowered to construct thirty-nine new streets, and to +widen or alter other twelve, in all fifty-one streets. They were also +empowered to borrow any sum not exceeding £1,250,000, and to levy +a special tax during the continuance of the Act, which was limited +to fifteen years. The trustees, with the Lord Provost at their head, +at once proceeded to carry out the purposes of the Act: and before +many years elapsed, the older portions of the city began to assume a +brighter aspect; many of the narrow alleys and closes with their dens +were demolished, while comfortable houses and open spaces have taken +their place, and the death-rate has been reduced. Thus by the new +supply of water, and the operations under the Improvement Act, a great +change has been effected in the sanitary condition of Glasgow. + +It appears that the greater part of Glasgow has been reconstructed and +built within a period of little more than a hundred years. Touching +the appearance and the architectural features of this great city, only +a few general remarks can be made. The greater part of Glasgow, and +the suburbs or burghs which have arisen in its vicinity, are built +of freestone. As a whole, the streets of Glasgow are regular and well +planned to meet the ends of business and traffic, which are the prime +objects of the leading streets in all commercial cities. Many of the +streets are broad and long, often running in parallel lines, and at +regular intervals intersected by other streets running right and left. +The architectural characteristics of the streets in the business parts +of the city are pretty varied, although in general not remarkably +striking; yet the long lines of buildings on the right and left of +every street distinctly fulfil the requirement of the principle of +utility. + +In the suburbs, on every side, and especially in the Hillhead and +Kelvinside districts, the dwelling-houses exhibit distinct and +beautiful styles of architecture. Indeed, in the Kelvinside district +there are terraces and crescents of exquisite beauty. For instance, to +name one out of many, Grosvenor Terrace, for chasteness of design and +execution is unrivalled in Scotland; its beauty is perfect and complete +of its kind. + +What has been said touching the reconstruction of Edinburgh and Glasgow, +is applicable in a large measure to the other chief towns of Scotland. +In short, there are a number of considerable towns with from ten to +twenty thousand of a population which were mere villages at the end of +the last century. There are, however, certain towns in Fife, such as +St. Andrews, and a few others, which still retain many of the features +that characterised them a century or two ago. + +The greater part of Dundee has been formed and built in the present +century. Indeed, the population of Dundee has increased so rapidly that +this was not a matter of choice but of necessity. This enterprising +city was supplied with water on the system of gravitation about the +middle of the century. + +The reconstruction of Aberdeen was begun about the end of the last +century; and since almost the whole city has been rebuilt. Union Street +and most of the principal streets have been formed in the present +century; and very little of the Aberdeen of even the eighteenth century +now remains. Like other towns, it has extended rapidly, and occupies +six times as much space as it did at the opening of this century. The +leading streets of the city are broad, and the colour of the stones +lends a certain degree of attraction to the lines of houses, which +conveys an impression of strength and utility. In general, the street +architecture is not loaded with embellishment or much variety of style; +but the principles of simplicity and symmetry are well exhibited. + +In this section I have touched briefly on a variety of subjects +directly or indirectly connected with architecture: all of which have a +most important bearing upon great centres of population, with reference +to houses of every description, and the sanitary conditions of health. +Even up to the middle of this century the defective ventilation +and sewerage of nearly every town in the kingdom was notorious. The +overcrowding arose from various causes, but chiefly from the rapid +increase of the manufacturing population, and the migration of people +from the country ♦districts into the towns. It has been shown in the +preceding pages that the greater part of the chief cities of Scotland +have been reconstructed and built in the later part of the last and +the present centuries; and sanitary arrangements in the construction +of buildings and dwelling houses has been more carefully studied, and +a marked improvement in sanitation has been effected; yet, much remains +to be done in this department. + + ♦ “disticts” replaced with “districts” + +Beauty in architecture is a leading aim of the art, but it is not the +prime end of it. The first consideration concerning every building +intended for human habitation is light, ventilation, and sanitary +arrangements; these constitute the primary end of the art. Although, +of course, in public buildings, churches, schools, and mansions, the +aim to attain beauty often is the chief object of the architect; and +rightly so, if the other ends are not neglected. + + + SECTION II. + + _Monumental Art, Granite-Cutting and Polishing._ + +In the first volume an account of the early sculptured pillar stones +and monuments found in Scotland was given; and it was observed that +one class of monuments are of undressed granite and whinstone, with +♦peculiar symbols incised on one side. In the middle of the present +century there were upwards of seventy of these rough incised pillars +in the district to the north of the Forth; they are not found at all on +the south side of the Forth, and the greater part of them were in the +district between the Dee and the Spey. These monuments are believed to +belong to a period prior to the introduction of Christianity. They were +followed by a class of sandstone monuments more or less dressed, and on +which the peculiar symbols are figured, along with crosses of various +designs and degrees of elaboration. Some of this class are believed to +belong to the eighth century. + + ♦ “pecular” replaced with “peculiar” + +The crosses on the west coast of Scotland, in the islands, and in +Argyllshire, are several centuries later than those of the east coast. +They are characterised by a graceful form of foliage, and a higher +development of the knot and scroll work in great richness and variety. +It is well known that the troubles and struggles which ensued after +the Reformation in Scotland were unfavourable to art of every kind; and +although grave-stones and monuments continued to be erected, the art +and workmanship associated with them rather declined than advanced for +a century or two. But about the middle of the last century this art +began to revive, and continued to advance. + +Many gravestones and monuments throughout the country are made +of freestone. It is easily cut and dressed, and very suitable for +elaborate ornamentation. + +Regular granite quarrying began about the middle of the eighteenth +century, and the modes of working it gradually became better understood. +Before the end of the century machinery was used in quarrying granite +in Aberdeenshire; and in the present century the modes of working the +quarries, and the appliances employed, have been greatly improved. +At present the quantity of granite quarried annually in Aberdeenshire +is upwards of 200,000 tons. The principal quarries are these:――(1) +Rubislaw quarry, worked by a Company; (2) Cairncry quarries, worked +by Mr. James Leith; (3) the Kemnay quarries, leased by Mr. John Fyfe, +which are very large, and out of which great quantities of granite are +annually sent to all parts of the country and to the foreign markets; +on an average, the Kemnay quarries produce over 55,000 tons of granite +per annum. The other quarries of note are those of Sclattie, Cairngall, +etc.; and the Stirlinghill quarries in the neighbourhood of Peterhead, +which yields the well-known variety of red granite. About eleven +years ago a new red quarry was opened at Hill of Correnie, near +Tillyfourie, on the estate of Cluny, which is worked by Mr. Fyfe, and +a considerable number of men are employed in it. There are several +other quarries on this hill. The stones taken from these quarries are +used for a variety of purposes, especially in works where strength and +durability are required; such as harbours, embankments, bridges, great +public buildings, houses, pillars, ♦monuments of every description +――sarcophagus, tombs, crosses, gravestones, urns, etc.; ornaments and +jewellery; kerb, causeway, and pavement stones. + + ♦ “momuments” replaced with “monuments” + +There are extensive granite quarries in Kirkcudbrightshire. The +quarries of Craignair, in the parish of Kirkmabreck, were long worked +by the Messrs. Newall; and other quarries in the same locality have +been worked for many years. A large quantity of the granite taken +from some of these quarries has been used for building docks. About +thirty-two years ago the branch of cutting and polishing granite was +introduced in this locality by the Messrs. Newall. At Dalbeattie, in +Dumfriesshire, granite cutting and polishing, and monumental work is +carried on. In the island of Mull, red granite quarries are worked, and +some of the stones are dressed and polished in the island; but a large +quantity of the Mull granite is still exported from the quarries in +the rough state to other parts of the country, where it is worked into +monuments. + +Aberdeen, however, is the chief seat of the granite trade, and of +the special branch of cutting and polishing all varieties of granite +monuments,――in which I include every work and stone intended by the +living to commemorate the departed, or to mark their last resting-place. + +Until the present century, the only tools used in dressing granite +in this country were small picks; in fact, before this little granite +dressing, as now understood, had been executed in Britain. About 1824, +Mr. Alexander Macdonald commenced to dress granite in King Street, +Aberdeen; and being a man of remarkable energy, his trade soon extended. +In 1830, he removed his works to the foot of Constitution Street, +where he developed the granite dressing and monumental works, which +have become widely known. Mr. Macdonald died in March, 1860, and was +succeeded by his son, Alexander; and under the title of Messrs. A. +Macdonald & Field, the works were carried on for many years, and their +reputation still farther extended. But in 1884, Mr. Macdonald died; +and the works have since passed into the hands of a limited liability +company, under the title of A. Macdonald & Company. These works are the +largest in Aberdeen, and for a number of years they were the only works +of the kind in the city. This establishment has for many years executed +work and monuments which have been sent to all quarters of the globe. +The firm had for long a showyard in London; and several experienced +workmen were specially engaged in going from place to place in Britain, +Ireland, and the Continent, to superintend the erection of monuments +executed at the works in Aberdeen. + +Besides monuments of every description, dressed and polished granite +stones for buildings, exterior columns, pilasters, pillars, plain +shafts for Gothic windows, string courses, trusses, and balustrades, +were produced in these works. A considerable number of statues in +granite have been produced in this establishment, of which may be +mentioned the statue of the Duke of Gordon, the statue of Sir Charles +Napier, at Portsmouth, and others. The firm employs about 500 hands. + +The monumental granite trade has been rapidly developed in Aberdeen. +In 1855, there were only seven granite stone cutting and polishing +works in the city; in 1862, there were ten; in 1876, there were thirty; +in 1882, there were fifty-five; in 1887, there were upwards of sixty; +and in 1895, there were seventy-seven. The number of hands, however +employed, has not increased in the same proportion as the increase of +the yards. The number of men employed in this branch in 1886 was about +2000; and the number of hands employed in the quarries was about 1100. + +Machinery and steam power has been gradually introduced, and is +largely employed in all the principal works. The large massive blocks +of granite are laid down in the yards in the rough state as they come +from the quarries. For various purposes the stones have to be sawed; +and granite is cut into slabs of any thickness or thinness that may be +required. The saws are made of iron plates, and the stones are placed +under the machines; the saws, according to the old process, operated +on the stones by means of quartz sand and water; but by this process +it required a long time to cut through a stone. Recently, an American +invented what is called “Chilled Iron,” which in appearance resembles +mustard seed; and this substance, along with oil, is now applied +instead of the sand and water, and the stones are sawed through in +a comparatively short time. There are a number of saws in one frame, +which may be employed at once on one block. + +An apparatus is used for dressing round pillars, which works very well. +There are also machines for dressing other forms of granite stones, +but they have not proved very successful. The greater part of this +work is executed by the hand, thus:――(1) The blocks are rough-hewed +and shaped into the prescribed form, which is executed by hand-picks +with handles; (2) the surfaces are then reduced to a regular form by +steel punches and chisels; ♦(3) they are next fine-axed or dressed, +which is performed by various kinds of tools; (4) the last process +is the polishing, which is now nearly all done by machinery; indeed, +the polishing machinery has been brought to a stage of remarkable +efficiency. + + ♦ omitted item number “(3)” inserted + +In granite, joints can be so closely made that when the various pieces +which form a column or an elaborate monument are fitted up they are +hardly perceptible. Granite monuments do not readily lend themselves +to elaborate devices or ornamentation; still, many efforts have been +made to extend the range of design and execution in this direction. +Knotted and scroll work has recently been executed on a number of +granite monuments produced in Aberdeen. Every effort should be made to +extend the range of designs――there being too much sameness in granite +monuments. A little more variety would produce a wonderful effect, and +with the appliances now in operation this might be easily attained. + +The lettering of the granite monuments is almost an art in itself, and +this branch is executed with surprising taste and precision. + +A few of the other granite works may be mentioned. Messrs. J. Wright & +Son, John Street, have a large establishment, excellent machinery, and +turn out a great quantity of work. Mr. J. Hutcheon, King Street Road, +commenced in 1869, and has developed an admirable establishment, in +which the best machinery and appliances are brought into operation, and +a considerable number of hands employed. Mr. William Boddie, St. Clair +Street and King Street, began about twenty-three years ago, and has +recently produced some fine and elaborate specimens of monumental work. +Messrs. Garden & Company, King Street, employ a number of hands, and +turn out excellent work.¹ + + ¹ Amongst the other works may be noticed: Mr. William Keith’s + works, King Street; J. Petrie & Company, Wellington Road; + Mr. J. Hunter, King Street; Mr. Alexander Milne, St. Clair + Street; Messrs. M‘Intosh & Rae, Hutcheon Street West; Mr. + Robert Gibb, King Street Road; Mr. William Edwards, King + Street; Mr. James Taggart, Great Western Road; Mr. Arthur + Taylor, Jute Street; and Mr. Robert Simpson, Constitution + Street. + +A large quantity of granite in the form of monuments, and other +finished stones, is exported annually; the average value of these +articles exported in recent years to America and the British colonies +was upwards of £50,000 per annum. This was written is 1887, since, +the value of the granite exported from Aberdeen has increased. For the +twelve months ending on the 30th of September, 1894, the declared value +of the polished granite exported from Aberdeen to the United States of +America was £63, 938. + + + + + CHAPTER L. + + _Fine Art, Music, and Painting._ + + + SECTION I. + + _Music._ + +IN the preceding volumes frequent references were made to the national +music, the music of schools, and teaching of music; and in this section +a concise account of the progress of music and Scottish musicians in +the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries will be presented. + +The earliest collection of genuine Scottish melodies are those in the +Skene manuscript, which belong to the early part of the seventeenth +century. A translation of the manuscript was executed by George F. +Graham, edited by William Dauney,¹ who added a dissertation on Scottish +music, and published in 1838. The manuscript contains one hundred +and fifteen airs, of these eighty-five were published, eleven were +found to be duplicates, and the rest rejected as unintelligible or +uninteresting. In the collection there are forty-five Scottish tunes, +of which twenty-five were previously unknown. + + ¹ William Dauney was born in Aberdeen in 1800. He finished his + education at the University of Edinburgh, and was called to + the Scottish Bar in 1823. He found the Skene manuscript in + the Advocates’ Library, Edinburgh, and, as indicated above, + he devoted much attention and labour to it. In 1839 he left + Scotland for Demerara, where he became Solicitor General for + British Guiana. He died at Demerara in July, 1843. + +The Celtic people had music from a very early period. In the last and +present centuries many collections of Highland tunes, laments, marches, +pibrochs, reels, and strathspeys have been published. + +1. Until recently the dance music of Scotland mostly consisted of reels +and strathspeys. The reel is probably of Celtic origin, and possibly +indigenous. It was usually danced by two couples, and the figures +differed slightly according to the locality; the dancers stand face +to face, and when reeling describe a series of figures of eight. The +music consists of eight bar phrases, generally in common time, but +occasionally in 6‒4. The strathspey style of dance music derives its +name from the valley of the Spey, where it appears to have been first +practised. The word does not occur in connection with music till the +last century, but earlier than this there were tunes suited to the +strathspey style of dancing. The reel is a gliding dance, but the +strathspey abounds in quick motions which brings every muscle into play. + +The sword dance, and Highland fling are well-known styles of dancing. +The first is performed thus:――Two swords are placed cross-wise, +which gives four equal spaces between the points and the handles; +the performer then begins to dance over the blade ends of the sword, +and dances over each of the four parts in succession; he next dances +heel and toe over the centre of the cross formed by the swords, and +closes by dancing in quick time over all the spaces between the swords. +In this dance the evolutions are very numerous, as they must all be +performed without touching the swords; when properly and gracefully +executed, it is a fine and beautiful ♦athletic exercise. The Highland +fling, of which there are many varieties, is danced to the music of the +strathspeys.¹ + + ♦ “atheletic” replaced with “athletic” + + ¹ In a dissertation prefixed to “A collection of Highland + vocal airs, a few of the most lively reels, and some + specimens of bagpipe music,” published by the Rev. Patrick + Macdonald in 1781, Dr. Young says that――“at one time the + music of the reels and strathspeys over all Scotland was + played by the bagpipes, but at a later period Neil Gow + and his sons did much to promote the use of the violin in + playing Scottish dance music.... The Gow family, with the + famous Neil at their head, all showed great originality + in their tunes; ‘Caller Herrin’, by his son Nathaniel, has + deservedly taken its place among our local melodies since + Lady Nairne wrote her excellent words for it. But it is + to be regretted that by changing the characteristic names + of many of our old dance tunes, giving them the titles of + the leaders of fashion of the day, they have created much + uncertainty as to the age, and even the composition, of the + tunes themselves.” + + Dancing has always been popular in Scotland, and I will + adduce an instance in the person of a Scottish clergyman, + a well-known and influential man in his time:――“I was very + fond of dancing, in which I was a great proficient, having + been taught at two different periods in the country, though + the manners were then so strict that I was not allowed to + exercise my talent at penny-weddings or any balls but those + of the dancing-school. Even this would have been denied me, + as it was to Robertson and Witherspoon and other clergymen’s + sons at that time, had it not been for the persuasion of + those aunts of mine, who had been bred in England, and for + some papers in the _Spectator_ which were pointed out to my + father, which seemed to convince him that dancing would make + me a more accomplished preacher if ever I had the honour to + mount the pulpit. My mother, too, who generally was right, + used her sway in this article of education. But I had not + the means of using this talent, of which I was not a little + vain, till luckily I was introduced to Madame Violante, an + Italian stage-dancer, who kept a much frequented school for + young ladies, but admitted no boys above eight years of age, + so that she wished very much for senior lads to dance with + her grown-up misses weekly at her practisings. I became a + favourite of this dancing-mistress, and attended her very + faithfully with two or three of my companions, and had my + choice of partners on all occasions, insomuch that I became + a great proficient in this branch at little or no expense.” + ――_Autobiography of the Rev. Dr. Alexander Carlyle, Minister + of Inveresk_, pages 47‒8, 1860. He was a minister from 1750 + to 1805. + +The period from the Revolution of 1688 till past the middle of the +eighteenth century was a stirring one in music and song; yet much of +the music was not really new, for the writers of the songs, or those +who selected the tunes, usually adapted melodies which the people +knew and could sing; thus many of the old favourite airs got new names, +while others have been preserved by Jacobite verses, though their +earlier names are lost. The song on the Battle of Killiecrankie has the +honour of having a Latin translation. It is sung to a stirring Gaelic +bagpipe tune, which is doubtless older than the song. This tune seems +to have quickly spread, for it was found in a Northumbrian manuscript +of 1694, under the name of the Irish Gillicranky. + +It has been alleged that Neil Gow transformed some of our vocal +melodies into dance tunes. “But the most that can be charged against +him is that he altered the old names of many tunes, calling them after +his patrons and patronesses, thus often rendering it doubtful whether +a tune was his own composition or belonging to an earlier time.” + +Scotland has no great musicians and composers like those of Italy, +Germany, and France. Yet Scottish music is national, and within +a limited circle has its own characteristics. This has been long +recognised on the Continent. Its distinctive features mainly consist +in the charming tunes associated with the national songs, bagpipe +music, and violin playing. We have had notable vocalists, many eminent +pipers, excellent violin players, and numerous performers on other +instruments. It has been admitted that in the development of bagpipe +music the Scots are pre-eminent. In the development of the opera, +♦oratorio, and orchestra, the Scottish composers have not attained +a very high position. + + ♦ “oratario” replaced with “oratorio” + +II. A brief account of noted Scottish musicians of the period is all +that I can attempt. Adam Craig was born in 1667. He was an excellent +violin player, a teacher, and composer. In 1730 he published a +Collection of Scots Tunes. He died at Edinburgh on the 3rd of September +1741. + +William Macgibbon was born in 1695, and was a noted violinist and +composer. He published Six Sonatas for the German Flutes; and between +1740 and 1755 he compiled and edited three Collections of Scots Tunes, +of which three editions were issued. He died at Edinburgh on the 5th +of October 1756, and was interred in the Greyfriars Churchyard. + +Robert Bremner was born about 1713. He acted for some time as a teacher +of singing, but in 1748 he became a music seller in Edinburgh. He was +the author of a number of works. His _Rudiments of Music_ was published +in 1756, and reached a third edition in 1763; his _Collection of Reels +and Country Dances_ appeared in 1761. He also published _Thoughts on +the Performance of Concert Music_, and other works. He died on the 12th +of May 1789. + +John Riddell (of Glengarnock, Ayrshire,) was born on the 2nd of +September 1718, and was a composer and compiler of music. He composed +a number of strathspeys and reels, and several other pieces. Burns +adapted Riddell’s tune, “Finlayston House,” to his fine song, “Fate +gave the word, the arrow sped,” for insertion in Johnson’s _Musical +Museum_. In 1776 he published two books of reels, etc. Some of his +reels were popular, such as “The Merry Lads of Ayr.” + +Francis Peacock was born in 1723, and was a dancing master in Aberdeen. +In 1776 he published _Fifty Favourite Scotch Airs for a Violin, German +Flute, and Violincello_; in 1805 he issued _Sketches relative to the +History and Theory, but more especially to the Practice of Dancing, +as a necessary accomplishment to the Youth of both Sexes_. He died in +Aberdeen on the 26th of June 1807, at the advanced age of eighty-four. +He bequeathed a sum of money to the charitable institutions of Aberdeen. + +Daniel Dow was born in 1732, a native of Perthshire. He was a popular +teacher of music, and an excellent composer of strathspeys and reels. +He was the author of _Twenty Minuets and Sixteen Reels_, which appeared +in 1775; and also of _Ancient Scots Music for the Violin_. Many of +his tunes were highly esteemed, such as “Athole House,” “Monymusk,” +“The Brig o’ Perth,” “The Duchess of Gordon,” and others. From 1765 +he resided in Edinburgh, where he died on the 20th of January 1783. + +John Holden was born about 1733. He was the author of a remarkable +_Essay towards a Rational System of Music_, published at Glasgow +in 1770, which reached a third edition in 1807. He also issued a +_Collection of Church Music_ in 1766. + +Neil Gow was born at Inver, Dunkeld, on the 22nd of March 1727. He +began to play the violin when a boy, and was mainly self-taught; he +received a few lessons from John Cameron, a violin player and teacher +of music. He soon became distinguished as a violin player, especially +of strathspeys and reels. He was exceedingly popular; for many years +his service was in great request at fashionable assemblies and balls, +and he was ably assisted on the violincello by his brother Donald. In +short, Neil became a national favourite. As a performer on the violin +of Scottish dance music he has perhaps never been excelled by any of +his countrymen. In a notice which appeared in the _Scots Magazine_ in +1809, by one who knew Neil, and had often heard his stirring strains, +describes his style thus:――“His bow-hand as a suitable instrument of +his genius was uncommonly powerful, and when the note produced by the +up-bow was often feeble and indistinct in other hands, it was struck +in his playing with a strength and certainty which never failed to +surprise and delight skilful hearers.... We may add, the effect of +the sudden shout with which he frequently accompanied his playing in +the quick tunes, and which seemed instantly to electrify the dancers, +inspiring them with new life and energy, and rousing the spirits of the +most inanimate.” + +He composed seventy tunes, chiefly reels and strathspeys, many of which +are much admired. He died at Inver on the 1st of March, 1809, in the +eightieth year of his age. His fame still lives in the national mind, +and is commemorated in the popular song:―― + + “Ye a’ hae heard o’ famous Neil, + The man that played the fiddle weel.” + +He had four sons, all of whom were violinists, and composed music. +William was a good violin player, and composed a few strathspeys and +reels. He died in 1791. Andrew wrote some good reels and strathspeys. +He died in 1803. John composed a considerable number of tunes, mostly +strathspeys and reels. He died in London on the 22nd of November 1826. +Nathaniel, the youngest son, was born at Inver on the 28th of May +1766, and was the most distinguished of the family. He studied under +his father and Robert Mackintosh, and subsequently under Alexander +M‘Glashan. He composed one hundred and thirty tunes, embracing +strathspeys, reels, jigs, and other pieces. He edited and published +nineteen _Collections_, including his own compositions and arrangements, +and those of his father and his brothers. He was a musician of great +abilities and remarkable industry. He died at Edinburgh on the 19th of +January 1831. + +Alexander M‘Glashan was born in Edinburgh in 1740. He was a violin +player, composer, and teacher of music. In 1778 he published several +collections of strathspeys and airs. He gave many concerts; and was a +good teacher. He died at Edinburgh in 1797. + +Robert Mackintosh was born in 1745. He was a noted violinist and +teacher, and a composer of dance music. In 1793 he issued a work +in four books, the first consisting of minuets, airs, gavottes, and +reels; the second containing sixty-eight new reels, strathspeys, and +quick steps, etc.; the third embracing sixty-eight new reels, and +forty old reels for the violin and piano; and the fourth comprised new +strathspeys and reels, and some old reels for the piano. Many of his +strathspeys and other tunes were greatly admired. As a performer on the +violin he was very highly esteemed. He died at London in 1807. His son +Abraham, born on the 18th of June 1769, also attained distinction as a +composer of reels and strathspeys. + +William Marshall was born in Fochabers on the 27th of December 1748. He +was engaged as house steward and butler to the Duke of Gordon till 1790, +and subsequently he acted as factor to the Duke till 1817. He was a +famous violin player, and an able and assiduous composer. Two hundred +and eighty-seven of his tunes has been published, in three collections, +the first of which appeared in 1793, containing thirty-six tunes; the +second in 1822, embracing one hundred and seventy tunes; and the third +in 1847. Many of his strathspeys and reels were very spirited and +highly popular, such as his strathspeys――“Craigellachie Bridge,” “The +Marquis of Huntly,” “Forglen House,” and many others. He contributed +much to advance violin music in Scotland. He died on the 29th of May +1833, in his seventy-fifth year. + +Robert Petrie was born in Kirkmichael, Perthshire, in 1767. He was +a violin player, a composer, and teacher of music. He published four +collections of dance music. He played at many concerts and balls; and +some of his strathspeys and airs were popular. He died in 1830. + +Captain Simon Fraser (of Ardachie), was born in 1773. He was a violin +player and composer of music. He edited a large and interesting +collection of Gaelic airs published in 1816, many of which were +traditionally associated with Prince Charles, and also embraced a +number of Fraser’s own compositions. This work was republished in 1884. +He rescued from oblivion many fine native airs, and it is said that a +number of the tunes in the collection were composed by his grandfather. +He died in 1852. + +John Gunn was born in Edinburgh in 1765. He was a player and teacher +of the violincello and flute, and the author of the following +works:――_Forty Scottish Airs arranged for the flute, violin, and +violincello_; _The Theory and Practice of Fingering the violincello, +with a Dissertation on Stringed Instruments_; _The Art of Playing +the German Flute, on New Principles_; in 1807 his work entitled, +_An Historical Inquiry respecting the Performance on the Harp in the +Highlands of Scotland from the earliest times until it was discontinued +about the year 1754_, was published. He died in 1824. His wife, Annie +Young, was an accomplished player on the piano and teacher of music. +She published _An Introduction to Music_, illustrated by musical games, +with accompanying apparatus familiarly and popularly explained, of +which a second edition appeared in 1820, and a third in 1827. She died +at Edinburgh on the 25th of February 1826. + +James Davie was born in 1783, and attained distinction as a flute +player, composer, and teacher of music. He resided at Aberdeen and +played in the orchestra of the theatre. His works consist of――_A +Collection of Psalmody_; _An Introduction to the Art of Singing_; _The +Vocal Harmonist_; and the _Caledonian Repository_, a collection of +strathspeys, reels, etc., which extends to six books, and is a valuable +and interesting work. He died at Aberdeen on the 19th of November 1857. + +George Hogarth was born at Carfral Mill, Lauderdale, 1783, and was +educated for the law. He studied music, and became a musicographer and +musical critic. He married a daughter of George Thomson, the friend +and correspondent of Burns. In 1830 he became a contributor to the +_Harmonicon_; and in 1834 he settled in London, and was appointed +musical critic of the _Morning Chronicle_. From 1846 to 1866 he was +musical critic of the _Daily News_. In 1835 he issued a volume under +the title of _Musical History, Biography, and Criticism_, which was +enlarged and republished in 1838, in two volumes. The same year, his +_Memoirs of the Musical Drama_, in two volumes, appeared. His style of +criticism was considerate and candid. His musical compositions consist +of a few glees and songs. He died in London on the 12th of February +1870, at the advanced age of eighty-seven. + +George F. Graham was born in Edinburgh on the 28th of December, 1789, +and educated at the High School and University of Edinburgh. He studied +music, and became a musicographer, critic, and composer. In 1815 he +acted as joint-secretary with George Hogarth of the Edinburgh Musical +Festival, and the following year he issued an account of the Festival, +to which he added some observations on music. He sojourned some time +in Italy to extend his knowledge of music. He edited _Wood’s Songs +of Scotland_, issued in 1848‒49, and republished in 1887. He wrote +the article “Music” for the seventh edition of the _Encyclopædia +Britannica_, which was republished separately in 1838, with the +addition of “An Essay on the Theory and Practice of Composition.” +He also wrote the article “Organ” for the eighth edition of the +_Encyclopædia Britannica_. He contributed a number of articles to +musical and literary journals which tended to improve the public taste. +He composed a few vocal tunes which were much admired. He died at +Edinburgh on the 12th of March, 1867. + +Finlay Dun was born in Aberdeen on the 24th of February, 1795. He was +an able teacher of music, and a vocal composer. In 1829 he issued _A +Collection of Solfeggios for Daily Vocal Exercise_, which was well +received. In conjunction with John Thomson he edited _Paterson’s Vocal +Melodies of Scotland_, which were begun in 1837. He also issued in 1848 +a Gaelic collection, entitled _Orain na’h Albain_. He died at Edinburgh +on the 28th of November, 1853. + +John Sinclair was born in Edinburgh in 1790. He was a celebrated singer +and a vocal composer. His voice was very melodious and sweet. As a +composer he is remembered by his songs, “The Bonnie Breast Knots,” “The +Mountain Maid,” and others. He died at Margate on the 23rd of September, +1857. + +John Templeton was born at Riccarton, Kilmarnock, on 30th of July, 1802. +He was a famous tenor singer. His voice was rich and melodious, and of +pretty wide compass. From 1833 to 1836 he sang with the renowned Madame +Malibran, who preferred him to any other tenor singer. In 1846 he +commenced his first tour as a public performer, and was very successful +in this country and in America. He retired from public life in 1852, +and died in the vicinity of London on the 2nd July, 1886. He had four +brothers, all remarkable for their vocal gifts. + +Isabella M. Scott was born in Edinburgh in 1786. She was a vocal singer +and composer. In 1818 she married the well-known artist, Patrick Gibson. +She composed the music to Lord Byron’s fine song, “Lochnagar,” and a +number of Psalm tunes. She died at Edinburgh on the 28th of November, +1838. + +Mary Anne Paton was born in Edinburgh in 1802. She was a celebrated +and highly gifted singer. Her voice was powerful, sweet, and very +expressive. In 1826 Weber first visited London, bringing with him his +opera, “Oberon,” which was specially written for the English stage, +and was produced at Covent Garden under his own eye. On this historic +occasion Mary A. Paton sang her part in a style which delighted the +heart of the composer, and enraptured the crowded audience. In 1824 +she married Lord William Pitt Lennox, from whom she obtained a divorce +in 1831. Subsequently she married Joseph Wood, a vocalist. In 1834‒36 +she visited the United States of America, and sang in London in 1837 +and 1844. She retired in 1845, and resided abroad with her husband from +1854 till 1863. She died at Wakefield on the 28th of July, 1864. + +David Kennedy was born in Perth on the 15th of April, 1825. He was +a famous singer, and a very popular concert-giver. With his highly +gifted family, he travelled over many parts of the globe in his +musical tours, and everywhere was well received. In America, Australia, +New Zealand, and elsewhere, they attracted large and enthusiastic +audiences. His eldest son David was born in 1849. He was an excellent +tenor singer, and wrote an account of their musical tours. He died at +Pietermaritzburg on the 5th of December, 1885. James was born in 1856, +and was a fine baritone singer. His daughter Helen was a good soprano +singer. Marjory was a sweet and expressive contralto singer. His two +younger daughters, Kate and Lizzie, were both charming singers. It is +very sad to relate that three of those gifted singers, James, Kate, and +Lizzie perished in the fire which consumed the Opera House of Nice on +the 23rd of March, 1881. David himself, the head of the family, died at +Ontario, Canada, on the 12th of October, 1886. But his son, Robert, an +able tenor singer, has been giving concerts alone since 1892. + +Alexander Mackenzie was born in Montrose in 1819. He was an excellent +violinist. From 1846 he was leader at the Theatre Royal, Edinburgh. He +issued _The Dance Music of Scotland_; and composed a few airs for songs. +He died at Edinburgh on the 2nd of October, 1857. + +Angus Mackay was born in 1813. He was piper to Her Majesty the Queen. +In 1838 he published a _Collection of Sixty Pibrochs_, which are very +highly esteemed. He was accidentally drowned in the river Nith on the +21st of March, 1859. + +Alexander M‘Donald, a native of Badenoch, was a famous piper and +composer. For a number of years he was piper to the late Earl of Fife. +He gained a valuable gold medal at one of the competitions. He was one +of the best pipers in Scotland. He died at Aberlour House, Banffshire, +in 1884. + +William Ross was born in 1815, a native of Ross-shire. In 1839 he +joined the 42nd Regiment, and continued in the service till 1854, +when upon the recommendation of the late Cluny Macpherson, he was +appointed piper to Her Majesty the Queen. In 1876 he published a large +_Collection of Pipe Music_, embracing forty-one piobaireachds and four +hundred and thirty-seven marches, strathspeys, and reels, which was +prefaced by an admirable essay on The Bagpipe and its Music, composed +by the late Dr. Norman Macleod. The work was dedicated to the Queen, +and a second edition was issued in 1885. Ross died in August 1891. + +James S. Robertson (of Edradynate, Perthshire), was born on the 15th +of March, 1823. He was educated for the legal profession, and in 1846 +he was admitted a member of the Society of Writers to the Signet. When +young he became a warm admirer of Highland music. He was instructed by +Duncan M‘Kercher, John M‘Alpine, and other musicians. He took an active +part in instituting the Edinburgh Highland Reel and Strathspey Society +in 1881, of which he was President. He edited _The Athole Collection of +Reels, Strathspeys, etc._, which appeared in 1884, in two volumes, one +of the largest collections ever published in Scotland. + +William R. Broomfield was born in Inveraray on the 14th of October, +1826. He was a writer on music, and a composer. He edited and arranged +a _Collection of National Songs_ in four-part harmony, which was +published in 1848‒52. His very useful _Manual of Harmony_ appeared in +1857; and _The Principles of Ancient and Modern Music_ was published in +1863. He also composed a number of psalm tunes. He was a very quiet and +unassuming man. He died in Aberdeen on the 17th of October, 1888, where +in 1889 a monument was erected to his memory with one of his popular +tunes――“St. Kilda” carved upon it. + +James Walker was born in Aberdeen on the 6th of July, 1827, a son of +the late William Walker, merchant. He received a liberal education, +and always took a keen interest in music and art. In many ways he +endeavoured to diffuse a higher taste for music. His work entitled +_Just Intonation in Song and Speech_ was printed at Aberdeen in +1876 for private circulation, a valuable and instructive volume. He +had formed a valuable collection of musical books and manuscripts, +comprising five hundred volumes, which he presented to the Public +Free Library of Aberdeen. Personally, he was a quiet, genial, and +kind-hearted man. He died in Aberdeen on the 29th of January, 1895. + +III. In psalmody and church music there has been a remarkable progress +during the period under review. John M‘Lachlan was born in Glasgow in +1740. In 1776 he published _The Precentor, with a Collection of Psalm +Tunes_, which reached a sixth edition in 1799. In 1779 he issued an +_Easy Introduction to Church Music_, which was republished in 1782. He +died at Glasgow in 1791. + +John Sievewright was born in 1771, he was a teacher of music, and +published a _Collection of Church Tunes and Anthems_. He died at Old +Meldrum, Aberdeenshire, in 1846. Neil Dougall was born in Greenock on +the 9th of December, 1776. He was a teacher of music, and a composer +of psalmody. He composed nearly one hundred psalm and hymn tunes, +and anthems. He died on the 1st of October, 1862. James Farquharson +was born in 1789. He was a composer and teacher of music; and in 1824 +he published a _Collection of Sacred Music_, which contained a few +original tunes. Charles Hutcheson was born in 1792. In 1832 he issued +a volume entitled _Christian Vespers_, containing tunes in three and +four parts, and an _Introductory Essay on Church Music_. Some of his +tunes are fine. He died in Glasgow on the 20th of January, 1860. + +Robert A. Smith was born on the 16th of November, 1780. He was +originally a weaver, but assiduously studied music, and attained +distinction as a singer, teacher, compiler, and composer. In 1807 +he was appointed precentor at the Abbey Church of Paisley; and in +1823 choirmaster at St. George’s Parish Church, Edinburgh. He was +gifted with a sweet voice, a fine sense of melody, and a pretty clear +knowledge of harmony. He was very industrious, and his works are +numerous. In 1810 he issued _Devotional Music, Original and Selected_; +in 1819 his _Anthems in Four Vocal Parts_; in 1820 _Sacred Harmony_, +for the use of St. George’s Church, Edinburgh: and other three of +his _Collections of Psalmody_ appeared in 1825, 1828, and 1829. He +also composed a considerable number of single pieces: and edited +the _Scottish Minstrel_, in six volumes, published in 1821‒24, which +contained some of his own songs; and the _Irish Minstrel_ issued in +1825. He died in Edinburgh on the 3rd of January, 1829. In a notice of +his death, George Hogarth in the _Edinburgh Courant_ wrote:――“Smith was +a musician of sterling talent. His merits have been long recognised.... +His compositions partake of the character of his mind: they are tender +and generally tinged with melancholy, simple and unpretending, and +always graceful and unaffectedly elegant.... He had the admirable good +sense to know how far he could safely penetrate into the depths of +counterpoint and modulation without losing his way, and accordingly his +music is entirely free from that scientific pedantry which forms the +prevailing vice of the modern English school.” + +William Smith was born in 1803. He was a musician of ability and +refined taste. His _People’s Tune Book_ was published in 1844, a work +of much merit. He died at Newtyle on the 31st of August, 1878. + +Thomas L. Hately was born at Greenlaw, Berwickshire, on the 26th of +September, 1815. In 1844 he was appointed precentor to the Free Church +Assembly. He edited a collection of tunes entitled _The Free Church +Psalmody_, which appeared in 1845; and _Scottish Psalmody_, issued +in 1852. He also published _Historical Lectures on Psalmody_, with +illustrations; and contributed a number of articles on music to various +journals. He died at Edinburgh on the 22nd of March, 1867. + +John Campbell was born in Paisley on the 2nd of February, 1807. He +was a teacher of music and composer. In 1847 he published _The Sacred +Psaltery_, comprising about fifty tunes, mostly original, and his +anthem, “Rejoice in the Lord.” He also edited a _Collection of Anthems, +Choruses, and Sanctuses_. He died in Glasgow on the 7th of October, +1860. + +In the present century Hymn Books have been introduced in the +Presbyterian Churches of Scotland. Much improvement has been effected +in the rendering of church music by the organisation and special +training of choirs; and the introduction of organs. The question +whether organs should be used in the service of Presbyterian +and Congregational Churches, has been practically settled in the +affirmative. + +A Chair of Music was instituted in the University of Edinburgh in 1839, +and was endowed by General Reid. He was born at Straloch, Perthshire, +on the 13th February, 1720, and was himself an amateur musician. He +published a _Set of Minuets and Marches_, containing the famous air, +“In the Garb of Old Gaul,” and _Six Solos for a German Flute or Violin_. +He died in London on the 6th of February, 1807. An annual concert is +given on the 13th of February――the General’s birthday――when one of his +tunes must be performed. John Thomson was the first Professor of the +new Chair. He was born at Sprouston on the 28th of October, 1805. He +conducted the first Reid Concert, given in Edinburgh on the 13th of +February, 1841. He composed three operas and a number of other pieces. +He died in Edinburgh on the 6th of May, 1841. + +William Ewing was born in Partick, Glasgow, on the 20th of May, 1788. +He was an enthusiastic collector of music, and in the course of his +long life had accumulated a valuable library of musical and other works. +He bequeathed the larger portion of his musical library to Anderson’s +College, Glasgow, with a sum of £1000 for maintaining it; the remainder +was left to the University of Glasgow. In 1866 he founded a Lectureship +on Music in connection with Anderson’s College. He died in Glasgow on +the 12th of May, 1874, at the advanced age of eighty-six. + +During the last sixty years many musical associations, societies, and +choral unions have been instituted to promote the culture of music, and +diffuse a higher appreciation of it among the people. Music touches the +soul and heart of humanity more effectively than any other art. Let us +hope that in the future it will be taught even more universally than in +the past. + + + SECTION II. + + _Painting._ + +Such fragments of art as have been preserved from early times onward +were noticed in preceding volumes, and it was observed that Jamesone +was the first Scottish painter who attained a reputation. During the +eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, however, the conditions favourable +to the culture of art had arisen, mental philosophy was ably taught, +a taste for literature diffused, science advanced, manufactures and +commerce rapidly developed, and the wealth of the nation immensely +increased. This march forward was followed by art at some distance +in the rearward. I shall, therefore, present a brief account of the +progress of painting and the diffusion of taste in Scotland. + +William Aikman was born in 1682, near Arbroath. He studied law for some +time, but his bent for painting led him to change his aim. He went to +Italy, where he studied three years. When he returned to Scotland he +painted portraits, in which he excelled, and also tried his hand in +historic painting. He died in 1731 in London. + +Allan Ramsay, the painter, was a son of the distinguished Allan Ramsay, +the poet, and was born in Edinburgh in 1713. It is said that he began +to sketch at the age of twelve, and when in his twenty-third year he +went to Rome, where he studied for three years. On returning home he +painted the portrait of his father, and those of President Forbes and +Archibald Campbell, Duke of Argyll. + +Afterwards he removed to London, and soon found friends and patrons. +The Earl of Bridgewater patronised him, and Lord Bute introduced him +to the Prince of Wales, whose portrait he painted in full length. +But the portrait which brought Ramsay almost immediately into notice +was a whole-length one of Bute himself. It was a well-executed work. +His admiration of the style of the great Italian masters brought down +upon him the wrath of Hogarth and the satire of ♦Churchill; the former +attempted to pun him under the name of “Ram’s-eye,” and also satirised +him in “The Battle of the Pictures,” impressed with the image and cross +of St. Andrew, while the latter coupled him and his father in these +disparaging lines:―― + + “Thence came the Ramsays, men of worthy note, + Of whom one paints as well’s the other wrote!”¹ + +Ramsay cared little for the satire of either the painter or the poet, +and his father’s fame could well take care of itself. + + ♦ “Churchhill” replaced with “Churchill” + + ¹ “The feuds which in those days distracted the united + commonwealth of letters and art may be traced in many a + bitter verse, satiric print, and sarcastic memorandum.” + ――Cunningham’s _Lives of British Painters_, Volume V., + page 37. + +In spite of opposition, Ramsay prospered exceedingly in his profession. +His skill in art, learning, and good sense, obtained for him ample +employment. His pencil was called into requisition for ceilings and +walls, as well as portraits; and he employed several workmen, who +furnished bodies while he painted the heads. He passed a second time +to Rome and stayed several months, and also visited Edinburgh. When +his father died, in 1757, he settled a pension on his unmarried sister, +Janet Ramsay, who lived till 1804. In short, before Ramsay became a +favourite with the King, he had accumulated an independent fortune +amounting to about £40,000. + +After George III. ascended the throne, court favour smiled freely +upon Ramsay. In 1767 he was appointed portrait-painter to the court, +which brought him a great increase of work, and he had to engage five +assistants. There was such a strong desire to have portraits by him, +that he was glad to employ any one to aid in advancing his pictures; +but he always painted the head with his own hands. As the king often +presented portraits of himself and the queen to his ambassadors and +governors of colonies, Ramsay had a busy time manufacturing these royal +effigies.¹ + + ¹ “It often happened that the king desired the painter to + convey his easel and canvas to the royal dining-room, that + he might observe his progress and have the pleasure of his + conversation. The painter, a bold, spirited, well-informed + man, perfectly conversant with the state of the various + kingdoms of Europe, spoke freely, and without disguise; and + he was the only person about the court, save the domestics, + who could speak German; the queen, more especially, found it + an agreeable variety to chat with him in her native language. + Ramsay, in short, was a great favourite. When the king had + finished his usual allowance of boiled mutton and turnips, + he would rise and say, ‘Now, Ramsay, sit down in my place + and take your dinner.’ This partiality produced, of course, + abundance of enemies; but they could do him no harm――for + he was not dependent upon royal favour; and the extent of + his fortune was, at least, as well known, and as sincerely + envied, as either his accomplishments or his courtly success. + He had many high friends: Lord Bute, the Duke of Newcastle, + Lord Bath, Lord Chesterfield, and the Duke of Richmond, in + particular, were frequently at his house, and that more, it + was said, on matters connected with politics than painting. + Ramsay loved and enjoyed this, for politics were his delight; + he wrote with great vigour and facility, and dipped his + pen freely in the public controversies of those times. + He was known to be the author of many ingenious pieces on + history, politics, and criticism, signed ‘Investigator,’ + and since collected in a volume.... He corresponded, too, + with Voltaire and Rousseau; both of whom he had visited + when abroad; and his letters are said to have been elegant + and witty. Ramsay, in short, led the life of an elegant, + accomplished man of the world, and public favourite; the + companion of the first of his day, and the admitted ornament + of the highest societies.”――Cunningham’s _Lives of British + Painters_, Volume V., pages 39‒40. + +When he was intently engaged on the first portrait of Queen Charlotte, +all the crown jewels and regalia were sent to him; and he said that +such a mass of jewels and gold deserved a guard, and accordingly +sentinels were posted, day and night, around his house. He resided on +the west side of Harley Street, and his studio consisted of a set of +coachmen’s rooms and haylofts gutted, and formed into one long gallery. + +Unfortunately, he sustained a serious accident, which dislocated his +right arm in so severe a way that he never fully recovered from its +effects. Feeling his constitution shaken, and finding himself disabled, +he left his work in Reniagle’s hands――one of his own pupils, and went +to Italy, where he resided for several years. But he never regained his +strength, and died in August, 1784. + +In his own art, “his execution was neat, careful, and finished; but +the freedom of his pencilling never reached the character of boldness: +the placid and the contemplative were his element, energy he never even +attempted; and his colouring seldom deserted the regions of the pale +and the grey.”¹ + + ¹ _Lives of British Painters_, by Cunningham, Volume V., + pages 44. + +Alexander Runciman was born in Edinburgh in 1736, a son of an architect; +and it was reported that he began to make drawings at an early age. +When fourteen years of age, he was placed in the studio of John and +Robert Norris, the former of whom was a landscape painter of some note +in his time. He applied himself earnestly to the art, and in 1755 he +commenced on his own account as a landscape painter. He did not succeed, +however, in this branch; although many praised his paintings and +sketches, yet few purchased any of them; nevertheless, he worked hard, +and hoped that his hour of fame would come. In 1766, he went to Rome +with the object of improving his powers by a study of the great works +in the ancient city. He remained in Rome for five years, and practised +his hand and eye in drawing from the antique, copying the works of +the great masters, and studying the historic paintings in the Italian +galleries. + +At this time, as indicated in preceding chapters, the national spirit +was rapidly recovering from the effects of the Rising of 1746, and +resuming its energy in every direction; thus associations for the +promotion of the fine arts began to be formed, and, in 1760, an academy +was established in Edinburgh. While in 1753 Robert and Andrew Foulis, +of Glasgow, had established in that city an academy of fine arts, +in which engraving, modelling, and drawing were taught; and in which +specimens of antique art were collected, and aspiring youths invited +to come there and study free of all expense. Of course, an institution +of this kind could hardly continue long; but for a time its influence +was attractive and exceedingly beneficial. + +When Runciman returned from Rome in 1771, he was solicited to become +the head of the new academy in Edinburgh, at a salary of £120 per +annum. He accepted the post, and commenced his task as a teacher. + +He was very fond of historic painting, and submitted the design of a +grand national work to Sir John Clerk, namely, to embellish the hall +at Penicuik with a series of paintings from Ossian. Sir John at once +agreed to this. But, when it became publicly known that Penicuik was to +be adorned with a series of paintings from Ossian’s poems, and that the +hall was to be called Ossian’s hall, the mirth and scorn of those who +disbelieved in the authenticity of the poems was loud and unbounded. +But the artist worked on, although it involved much bodily pain, as he +had to lie upon his back while engaged on the ceiling of the hall, and +his health began to fail; yet, he bravely pushed on and finished this +great and romantic undertaking. + +The work consists of twelve principal paintings, representing some of +the finest passages in the poems; and at the time of its execution it +was hailed as an original and national work. Although it was defective +in several essential points, still it was entitled to be ranked with +compositions of the epic order. He produced various other paintings, +but the above was his greatest effort. For years his health had been +failing; and on the 21st of October, 1785, he dropped down at the door +of his lodgings, and expired, in the forty-ninth year of his age. + +Touching his merits as an artist, there are different opinions. He +sometimes violated the recognised rules of art in drawing and in other +particulars; nevertheless, most of his efforts bear traces of real +artistic genius. Brown, his pupil and friend, an able artist himself, +says:――“His fancy was fertile; his discernment of character keen; +his taste truly elegant; and his conceptions always great. Though his +genius seems to be best suited to the grand and serious, yet many of +his works amply prove that he could move with equal success in the +less elevated line of the gay and the pleasing. His chief excellence +was in composition, the noblest part of the art, in which it is +doubtful whether he had any living superior. With regard to the truth, +the harmony, the richness, and the gravity of colouring――that style, +in short, which is the peculiar characteristic of the ancient Venetian, +and the direct contrast of the modern English school, he was unrivalled. +His works, it must be granted, like all those of the present time, were +far from being perfect.” + +David Allan was born in Alloa, on 13th of February, 1744. He received +the rudiments of education in the parish school, and early manifested +a bent for drawing; so it was resolved to send him to the new academy +of Glasgow, and in February, 1755, he was apprenticed to Robert Foulis, +to learn the art of drawing, painting, and engraving. He applied +himself diligently to his work, and made good progress. He always spoke +gratefully of the kindness of Robert and Andrew Foulis; and after his +own reputation had risen, and their fortunes from speculation in art +had sunk, he did all that he could to assist them. + +In 1764, he left the academy of Glasgow and returned to his father’s +house. It was then agreed among his friends that he should be sent +to Rome to prosecute the study of art; accordingly, in the summer of +1764, he started, with hope glowing in his breast, and various letters +of credit and introduction. He resided in Rome eleven years. When +receiving instruction, he first gained a silver medal for skill in +drawing; and next the gold medal of the academy of St. Luke, for the +best historic composition; he was the second Scotsman found worthy of +such an honour, Gavin Hamilton being the first. + +The picture which gained him this prize is one of much merit, and +excels everything else in the same style which Allan ever produced. +The subject of the picture is the old dream of the “Origin of painting, +or the Corinthian maid drawing the shadow of her lover.” Of this +small picture it has been said: “There is a happy elegance and serene +grace about the group which have seldom been surpassed, and I have +heard Wilkie praise it as one of the best told stories that colour +and canvas ever united to relate.”¹ While in Rome he produced several +other pictures, and made four humourous sketches of Rome during the +Saturnalia of the Carnival. But the paintings of the rustic manners of +his own native land are the best of his many efforts. + + ¹ _Lives of British Painters_, by Cunningham, Volume VI., + page 27. + +Having returned home, he settled in Edinburgh. In 1786 he was +appointed to the mastership of the Academy in Edinburgh, in succession +to Runciman. He held this position for ten years, and found leisure to +plan and execute a work which he had contemplated in early life. This +was an edition of Allan Ramsay’s _Gentle Shepherd_, illustrated with +landscapes and groups of characters copied from the scenes where the +drama was laid. With this object he visited the district and every hill, +dale, stream, and cottage, which could be admitted into the landscape +of the poem. He copied whatever appeared suitable, admitted freely +the faces of the old men and women into his sketches, and used them +afterwards in his finished drawings. His finished drawings numbered +twelve, but they are of unequal merit. Those in which age is depicted +have most merit. Although he was not in all his delineations quite +successful in catching the scenes of the poem, yet in his cottage +scenes he has seldom been surpassed. + +Touching the designs, and the way in which the plates were prepared +for the work, he says:――“I have engraved them in the manner called +_ognatmenta_――a late invention which has been brought to great +perfection by Mr. Paul Smedly. A painter finds his advantage in this +method, in which the pencil may be associated with the graver. It +will be easily seen that I am not a master in the mechanical part of +this art, but my chief intention was not to offer smooth and expensive +engraving, but expressive characters and designs. How far I have +succeeded it does not become me to say.” He was right; the engraving +is rough, quite unlike the smooth work produced now, still it is full +of nature, which compensates for many defects. The poem associated with +its illustrations was beautifully printed, and appeared in 1788; it +was one of the first works of the kind produced in Scotland, and it +rendered Allan popular. + +His mind teemed with varied subjects――historic and domestic――but his +homely subjects are the most interesting. The more important of these +were “The Highland Dance” and “The Scotch Wedding,” that is, the “Penny +Wedding.” The wedding is full of joy, quiet humour, and boisterous glee; +it was engraved and exhibited over Scotland, and few who saw it could +resist laughter. Such subjects, in whatever form presented, were for +long dear to the peasantry. + +Burns had just commenced his career when Allan’s rustic pictures +began to attract public attention, and the poet was amongst the first +to perceive the characteristic merit of these pictures. When Burns +was writing his fine lyrics, the idea occurred to Mr. Thomson, the +proprietor of the work for which they were designed, that the hand +of Allan might be employed to illustrate some of the best scenes in +Scottish song. Accordingly, about twelve illustrative scenes were +produced, some of which embodied the images, serious and comic, +of Burns, and were exceedingly rich and expressive. Mr. Thomson +says――“Allan has just sketched a charming design for ‘Maggie Lauder.’ +She is dancing with such spirit as to electrify the piper, who seems +to be almost dancing too, while he is playing with the most exquisite +glee.” The sketch “John Anderson my Jo” is also very good. These +and others of Allan’s designs were submitted to Burns. As the work +of illustration proceeded, Burns found opportunities of commending +the designs of the painter. He says in one of his letters――“‘Woo’d +and married an’ a’’ is admirable; the grouping is beyond praise. The +expression of the figures, conformable to the story of the ballad, is +absolutely faultless perfection.”¹ + + ¹ Cunningham says:――“Allan’s merits as a painter are of a + limited nature; he neither excelled in fine drawing nor in + harmonious colouring, and grace and grandeur were beyond his + reach. He painted portraits which were chiefly remarkable + for a strong homely resemblance; he painted landscapes, but + these wanted light and air; and he attempted the historical, + but save in one instance, ‘The Corinthian Maid,’ all + his efforts in that way were failures. His genius lay in + expression, especially in grave humour and open drollery.... + He is among the painters what Allan Ramsay is among poets + ――a fellow of infinite humour, and excelling in all manner + of rustic drollery, but deficient in fine sensibility of + conception, and little acquainted with lofty emotion or + high imagination.”――_Lives of British Painters_, Volume VI., + page 48. + +The reputation which Allan attained from these works soothed his +declining years, for his physical strength was never great, and in +his later years he was afflicted with dropsy and asthma, and he died +in August, 1796, in the fifty-third year of his age. + +A number of other painters of this period may be briefly mentioned. +Gavin Hamilton was a native of Lanarkshire, and attained some +distinction. He resided in Rome, and executed pictures which were +exact and graceful, but rather cold; he died in 1797. John Donaldson +was born in Edinburgh in 1737, and was a distinguished miniature +portrait-painter. In 1765 and again in 1768 he gained the prizes +given by the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, etc., for the +best pictures in enamel. He painted a portrait of Hume, which greatly +pleased the renowned philosopher, who said: “It is the best likeness +that has been done for me.” Some of his etchings were also admired; he +died in 1801. John Brown was born in Edinburgh in 1752. He was notable +for pencil-drawings, and some of his small portraits were meritorious; +he died in 1787. Archibald Skirving was a native of Haddington, and +born in 1749. He studied for some time in Italy, and mainly devoted his +attention to the study of portraits in crayon; he died in 1819. John +Bogle was born in Glasgow. He excelled in painting miniature portraits, +and loved to paint the heads of ladies, which he executed finely and +gracefully; he died in 1804. Alexander Nasmyth was born in Edinburgh +on the 9th of September, 1758. He was among the first Scotsmen who +attracted some notice in landscape paintings. He studied two years +in Italy, devoting his attention to the old masters, and practising +landscape-sketching. On returning to Edinburgh he recommenced +portrait-painting, in which he was very successful. He painted the +well-known portrait of Burns, which has been often engraved. From 1793 +he mainly directed his attention to landscape and scene-painting, in +which he attained considerable success; he died in 1840. Personally he +was highly esteemed by a wide circle of friends. + +Sir Henry Raeburn was born on the 1st of March, 1756, at Stockbridge, +Edinburgh, the son of a manufacturer, but he lost both his parents when +only six years of age. He had the good fortune, however, to be placed +in Heriot’s School, where he was well educated. At the age of fifteen +he was apprenticed to a goldsmith in Edinburgh, and he soon began to +draw caricatures of his companions in the shop. At length he tried +his hand in painting miniature portraits. The goldsmith, his master, +was a mild and considerate man, and he praised these youthful efforts, +took him to see Martin’s pictures――an artist who produced portraits in +St. James Square――which greatly encouraged Raeburn. Indeed, his master +indulged him to the utmost limit, and the youth usually painted two +portraits a week, which brought him a considerable sum of money. At +last he made an arrangement with the goldsmith to have all his time +to himself by paying a certain sum of money for the remainder of his +apprenticeship. + +His mind was developing, and he soon formed a higher conception of art, +and aspired to produce more important works than miniature portraits. +He erected a small studio, began to try his hand on oil-portraits, +and succeeded better than he expected. His chief difficulties were the +preparation of the colours, putting them on the palette, and applying +them in accordance with the rules of art as taught in the academies. He +had all this to find out himself, which doubtless contributed to the +development of his peculiar genius. + +He became known in Edinburgh, and commissions for his portraits +increased. In his twenty-second year he married a lady who brought +him a considerable fortune, and it was recorded that his profession +was yielding him an income more than equal to his wants; thus he was +regarded as a man whom genius and fortune had united to raise. + +But he was well aware that he had still much to learn in his art, and +resolved to improve himself by a study of the best models. Accordingly, +accompanied by his wife, he proceeded to Rome, where he studied and +worked for two years. He returned to Scotland in 1787, and soon had +his hands full of work. He was then in his thirty-first year, in good +health and high spirits, with a gallery worthy of being seen by people +of taste and rank, and to crown all, he was blessed with children and +domestic happiness. Thus he was in the very best circumstances for +producing quality and quantity of work. + +For many years he usually had three or four sitters a-day, and to these +he gave an hour and a-half each. He rarely kept a sitter more than two +hours, unless the person happened to be gifted with uncommon talents, +which was frequently the case; then he was in his element, and never +failed to detain the party till the arrival of a new sitter indicated +that he must be gone. For a head size he commonly required four or five +sittings; but his power of mind and his faculty of discernment were +such that the first sitting rarely came to an end without his having +fairly grasped the character and disposition of the individual. He +never drew his heads or any part of the body with chalk, but at once +began with the brush. “The forehead, chin, nose, and mouth, were his +first touches. He always painted standing, and never used a stick for +resting his hand on; for such was his accuracy of eye and steadiness of +nerve that he could introduce the most delicate touches, or the utmost +mechanical regularity of line, without aid, or any other contrivance +than fair off-hand dexterity.” + +The following detail of his mode of working is from one who knew him in +his early days, and sat to him after he had risen to fame:――“He spoke +a few words to me in his usual brief and kindly way, evidently to put +me into an agreeable mood; and then, having placed me in a chair on +a platform at the end of his painting room, in the posture required, +he set up his easel, beside me, with the canvas ready to receive the +colour. When he saw that all was right, he took his palette and his +brush, retreated back step by step, with his face towards me, till he +was nigh the other end of the room; he stood and studied a minute more, +then came up to the canvas, and, without looking at me, worked upon it +with colour for some time. Having done this, he retreated in the same +manner, studied my looks at that distance for about another minute, +then came hastily up to the canvas and painted a few minutes more. I +have sat to other artists; their way was different――they made a careful +outline in chalk, measured it with compasses, placed the canvas close +to me, and looked me almost without ceasing in the face, proceeded +to fill up the outline with colour. They succeeded best in the minute +detail――Raeburn best in the general result of the expression; they +obtained by means of a multitude of little touches, what he found by +broader masses; they gave more of the man, he gave most of the mind.”¹ + + ¹ _Lives of British Painters_, by Cunningham, Volume VI., + pages 217‒221. + +Raeburn lived at a period which gave birth to many eminent Scotsmen, +and he painted portraits of a considerable number of them, a few of +which may be mentioned. He executed a full-length picture of Sir Walter +Scott, in which the resemblance to the great novelist is admirably +reproduced. His portrait of Dugald Stewart is much admired for its +striking likeness of the expression of the original; and also that +of Professor Playfair. It would be easy to form a long list, but +it is unnecessary; and I only add that most of the eminent names in +literature, science, law, and politics, in or connected with Edinburgh, +were amongst the sitters of this highly-gifted artist. + +In the later years of his career honours flowed upon him. He was +elected a member of the Royal Academy of London in 1815; afterwards he +was chosen a member of the Imperial Academy of France; in 1817, he was +elected an honorary member of the Academy of the Fine Arts of New York; +and he was also admitted a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, +which indicates a recognition of his well-known accomplishments outside +of his own profession. + +When George IV. visited Edinburgh in 1822, Raeburn received the honour +of knighthood; and it is recorded that “in the opinion of all who +loved the arts, the honour of knighthood had never been more worthily +bestowed.” Soon after, his brother artists honoured him with a public +dinner in Edinburgh; and in replying to their expression of love and +esteem, he modestly said that “he was glad of their approbation, and +had tried to merit it; for he had never indulged in a mean or selfish +spirit towards any brother artist, nor had at any time withheld the +praise which was due to them when their works happened to be mentioned.” + +In the summer of 1823, in the midst of his work, he was suddenly +attacked with a general decline of his strength; and after a week’s +illness, he died on the 8th of July, in the sixty-eighth year of his +age. In every respect he was a noble specimen of genius and humanity. +He was candid and modest, ever ready to lend a helping hand to merit +and genius in art. Throughout his life he quietly discharged all the +duties of a good citizen. In the words of one who knew him well――“His +varied knowledge, his agreeable manners, his numerous anecdotes, and +his general conversation, at once easy and unaffected, with now and +then a touch of humourous gaiety, made him a delightful companion; +he told a Scotch story with almost unrivalled effect; and did the +honours of a handsome house and elegant table with all the grace of a +high-bred gentleman.... First and last among all the children of art, +no one was ever more widely respected than Sir Henry Raeburn, and his +tall, handsome figure, and fine, open, manly countenance will not be +forgotten for many a day in the place which knew him.” + +As a portrait painter, his merits are of the highest order. His +analytic grasp, imaginative and reproductive faculties have never been +surpassed by any Scottish artist. He aimed at elevation of style, and +brought out the mental qualities of his sitters; and by the unrivalled +powers of his own mind, he rose above the mere mechanical rules of +art and operated in the mental region. He thought that the distant +view which he took presented nature in its grandest expression, and he +seized the mental qualities and caught the ruling passion of the face +by reproducing the general result. + +Andrew Robertson was born in Aberdeen in 1778, and has been sometimes +called the father of the improved style of miniature painting in this +country. He appeared in London in 1800, and his talents soon gained him +patronage. West, the President of the Royal Academy, assisted him, and +recommended him to George III., and in a short time he found himself +amply employed. He might have attained a higher position in art if he +had devoted himself exclusively to his profession; but he was a lover +of music, and occasionally played second violin to the famous Salaman. +His disposition was exceedingly benevolent, and he engaged in many +movements of a public character. He took an active part in establishing +the Scottish Asylum in London, and also in founding the Artists’ +General Benevolent Institution. His own acts of public and private +benevolence were numberless, and he died universally respected and +beloved in 1846. + +Sir David Wilkie, an eminent Scotch painter, was born at the manse of +Cults, Fifeshire, on the 18th of November, 1785, a son of the minister +of the parish.¹ He early resolved to become a painter, and in the end +of the year 1799 he entered the Trustees’ Academy of Edinburgh. He +applied his mind and attention intently to his work, and under the +inspiring influence of Mr. Graham, who was the head of the Academy, +he made rapid progress in his studies. Amongst his schoolfellows may +be mentioned William Allan, John Burnet, Alexander Fraser, and David +Thomson, all of whom subsequently attained distinction in various +branches of painting. In 1804 Wilkie left the Trustees’ Academy, with +the good wishes of all who knew him, and returned to his father’s manse +of Cults. At this time the influence of David Allan became apparent in +Wilkie’s early efforts――in his picture of “Pitlessie Fair.” He produced +a number of miniature portraits, and other pictures and sketches. But +he began to think Fife too limited a field, and resolved to go to +London. + + ¹ Allan Cunningham, in his work entitled, _The Life of Sir + David Wilkie, with his Journal, Tours, and Critical Remarks + on Works of Art, and a Selection from his Correspondence_, + has so fully treated Sir David and his works, that lengthy + details are unnecessary. Those who desire fuller information + of this eminent artist, will find an ample store of it in + Cunningham’s three interesting volumes. + +In his nineteenth year, on the 20th of May, 1805, he sailed from Leith +for London. He entered the Royal Academy as a probationer, and studied +earnestly, and on a wider variety of specimens of art than had before +been accessible to him. His application was intense and concentrated, +hence his rapid and remarkable success, for genius mainly consists in +the power of concentrated and prolonged attention. He studied both the +theory and practice of his profession. In 1806 he produced his picture +“The Village Politicians,” and soon received commissions from noblemen +and gentlemen of taste. At this time Wilkie became acquainted with +his countryman, Andrew Wilson, a distinguished landscape painter, just +returned from Italy. They met at the request of Mr. Cunningham “for +the first time, one morning, at William Thomson’s. There were present, +besides Wilkie, young Hadyn, William Howel, David Maclagan, and a +Mr. Callender, all seemingly very intimate, and I was told that it +was their practice to meet in this way at one another’s lodgings +to converse about art. To be admitted into such a society was very +agreeable to me.” + +Wilkie began to exhibit his pictures at the Royal Academy of London +in 1806; in that year his “Blind Fiddler” and “Village Politicians” +were exhibited, and he continued to exhibit his pictures regularly. +He was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1809, and a Royal +Academician in 1811. He travelled on the Continent, and visited the +art galleries of France, Holland, and Rome; made memoranda, and wrote +journals of whatever he deemed most worthy of attention in relation to +art. He produced many pictures, and his reputation continued to rise. +In the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1829 eight pictures from his hand +appeared upon the walls. In June, 1836, he received the honour of +knighthood; he bore all his honours with meek serenity. + +In August, 1840, he started for a tour in the East. He proceeded by +the Hague, Cologne, Munich, and Constantinople, and thence to Smyrna, +Beyrout, Joppa, and Jerusalem. The state of his health was precarious +before he went away, and on the homeward passage it became worse. +On the 1st of June, 1841, on board the _Oriental_ steamship, not far +from Malta, he expired. The authorities would not allow his body to +be landed, and in consequence it was committed to the deep. Thus died +Sir David Wilkie in the fifty-fifth year of his age. The tidings were +received with deep regret throughout the country, for he was a popular +favourite, as his works spoke to all classes of the people, and all +degrees of taste. + +As an artist and painter he was fertile, vigorous, and varied. +Considering his comparatively short life, the number and the variety +of his works are truly marvellous. But it could scarcely be expected +that all, or even most of his pictures, would be stamped with the +characteristics of the highest art. Accordingly, his paintings are +of extremely various degrees of merit; even his warm friend and +biographer recognises this. Still, after all fair deductions, Wilkie’s +leading pictures form a collection which amply attest his powers of +original conception, imaginative range, realistic faculty, and skill in +execution. That he might have attained even greater perfection if his +life had been longer spared is very probable, for he had been moving in +a new style, which was not fully developed when he was suddenly cut off. + +Mr. John Burnet, an eminent engraver and painter, was born near +Edinburgh in 1781. He was placed under Robert Scott, a landscape +engraver in Edinburgh, where he learned the practical part of +engraving and etching; and, at the same time, he attended the Trustees’ +Academy, where he was a school-fellow of Wilkie. Touching this part +of his career, he says:――“I have often thought that my following the +profession of an engraver and painter at the same time cramped the +greater extension of either, as both are of sufficient difficulty +to require the undivided attention to arrive at a high degree of +excellence. With regard to myself, my arrangements precluded my having +the palette so often on my thumb as is absolutely necessary to acquire +a good style of colouring, independent of manual dexterity.” + +Burnet was more inclined to engrave figure subjects than landscapes. He +formed his style upon some points from the book illustrations of James +Heath, an English engraver; but he chiefly followed Cornelius Visscher. +Burnet went to London, full of hope and confidence, and found himself +in his element. His first engravings were for Cook’s Novelties; but +he longed for some larger work to exercise his talents, and asked the +engraving of the “Jew’s Harp,” which he got. This was the first of +Wilkie’s pictures which was engraved――the first of a long series of +prints after his esteemed works; the engraving of it brought other work +to Burnet. + +In 1813, Burnet visited Paris, and remained five months, intently +engaged in copying and studying from the magnificent collection in +the Louvre, at that time gathered from all quarters of Europe. It was +chiefly the materials which he then formed that led him to produce +his _Practical Hints on Painting_, and his other literary essays +relating to the fine arts. His chief work in painting is “The Greenwich +Pensioners,” which was intended as a companion picture to Wilkie’s +“Chelsea Pensioners.” + +His younger brother, James, born in 1788, at Musselburgh, attained +distinction in a special branch of painting. His method was to go +into the fields, and note down in his sketch-book bits of beautiful +landscape, cattle, and rustic figures, engaged in their avocations; and +these he afterwards embodied in composition, and produced “Cattle going +out in the Morning,” “Cattle returning home in a Shower,” “Crossing the +Brook,” “Breaking the Ice,” and other fine pictures. But his life was +short; he died in the twenty-eighth year of his age, regretted by all +who knew him and could appreciate his excellence. + +Andrew Wilson was born in Edinburgh in 1780. He studied in Italy, as +already indicated; he was distinguished in landscape painting, and +for his extensive knowledge of foreign paintings. He was professor of +drawing in the College of Sandhurst, which he resigned in 1818 on being +appointed master of the Trustees’ Academy in Edinburgh. His pictures +are characterised by elegant and correct drawing, classic forms, +beautiful arrangement, and graceful handling, and especially his fine +rendering of the pearly tints of daylight and the golden splendour of +sunset are much admired. He died in 1848. + +In the early part of this century Andrew Donaldson held a distinguished +place amongst Scottish landscape and water-colour painters. Of his +early days little is known; it is reported that he was born at Comber, +near Belfast, and was taken to Glasgow in his childhood, where he +resided till his death, which happened in 1846. Although in his youth +he was not specially trained to art, yet from an early stage of his +life his natural bent seems to have led him to devote his time to +it. His early drawings mostly represent some of the more quaint and +picturesque scenes in Glasgow and its immediate vicinity. Afterwards +he extended the field of his operations to many parts of Britain and +Ireland, which afforded him new scenes. The result of these excursions +appeared in a series of drawings which he published, marked by a keen +appreciation of the beauties of nature, and executed in a style at +once original and charming. His style was characterised by fineness +and softness of execution, clearness of colour, and striking breadth +of effect. As a teacher he was also long and favourably known to the +community of Glasgow. + +Sir William Allan was born in Edinburgh in 1782; and was originally +trained as a coach-painter. But he afterwards studied for several years +at the Trustees’ Academy, and subsequently he proceeded to London, took +the painter Opie for his model, and produced a picture called “A Gipsy +Boy and Ass,” which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1805. Having, +however, failed in his hope of success in London, he started for St. +Petersburg, and through the influence of Sir Alexander Crichton, then +physician to the Imperial Family, he obtained some patronage as a +portrait-painter. He visited the interior of Russia Tartary, and Turkey, +where he collected materials for several original and characteristic +works illustrative of the scenery and customs of Eastern Europe, which +he subsequently produced. In 1809, he sent a picture to the Royal +Academy called “Russian Peasants keeping their Holiday,” but it did +not attract much attention; and he sent no pictures to the Academy +exhibition for the next six years. He returned to London in 1814, and +the following year exhibited his picture of “The Circassian Captives,” +now or lately in the possession of the Earl of Wemyss. This was +followed by a painting of “A Circassian Chief selling to a Turkish +Pasha Captives of a neighbouring Tribe taken in war,” and by others +of a similar character representing scenes which he had seen in his +travels. These paintings, however, did not sell at the time; and he +was so much disappointed that he talked of retiring to the wilds of +Circassia, and bid adieu to the land of his birth. He soon after tried +a different class of subjects, such as his “Press Gang,” “The Parting +of Prince Charles Stuart and Flora Macdonald at Portree;” still he +failed to gain much public recognition, till the appearance of his +picture representing the murder of Archbishop Sharp on Magus Moor, +which was engraved and published, and had a run of success. + +He then resolved to devote himself entirely to Scottish historic +subjects. He produced a picture of “John Knox admonishing Mary Queen of +Scots” on the day that her intention to marry Darnley was proclaimed. +This was followed by other pictures of Scottish historic characters, +including “The Regent Murray shot by Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh,” +which was purchased by the Earl of Bedford for 800 guineas. In 1835, +he attained the rank of a Royal Academician; and, in 1842, he was +president of the Royal Scottish Academy. In 1843, he exhibited at the +Royal Academy Exhibition a picture of the battle of Waterloo, which was +purchased by the Duke of Wellington. + +Sir William died at Edinburgh, in his painting room, in February, +1850, while engaged on a large unfinished picture of the battle of +Bannockburn.¹ As a painter, his merits mainly consisted in his dramatic +powers of telling a story on canvas, and skill in composition; in +colouring he was deficient. + + ¹ The battle of Bannockburn is a grand subject for a historic + picture. But a subject which would demand from the artist + a rare grasp of analytic power, and the imaginative and + realistic faculties, combined with skill in arrangement and + composition. The details no less than the conception of such + a picture would require much thought and study to develop + and execute it in a thoroughly complete form. + +David Roberts was born at Stockbridge, Edinburgh, in 1796. He was +originally a house-painter in Edinburgh; and in his twentieth year +showed his talent for pictorial art in the form of stage scene painting, +which he executed for a company of travelling players. He worked +several years as scene painter for the stage in Edinburgh, Glasgow, +and London. He repeatedly visited France; and, in 1832, he went to +Spain, and thence passed to Morocco. The fruit of the latter journey +was a series of drawings, published in lithography in 1837, under +the title of “Picturesque Sketches in Spain.” At the same time he was +engaged in making finished drawings for various publications. In 1838 +and 1839, he travelled in Egypt and Syria; and the results of this +tour were lithographed and published in the well-known work entitled, +“Roberts’ Sketches in the Holy Land, Syria, and Egypt.” Between +1849 and 1855, he made several visits to Belgium, France, and Italy. +Mr. Roberts, in 1858, was presented with the freedom of the city of +Edinburgh, “in testimony of the appreciation of his high artistic +talents, and of the lustre which his works have shed on his native +city.” It has been said of him:――“His name will justly occupy a +foremost place in the British school of architectural and landscape +painting. His mastery of effect and breadth of treatment in interiors +was very great, though it must be admitted that they sometimes savoured +of the trick of stage decoration, to which, during so many years, his +hand had been applied. His paintings in oil numbered about two hundred +and sixty, those in water-colours, not including sketches innumerable, +amounted to five times that number. A collection of seventy-three +oil paintings and sketches, and eight hundred water-colour drawings +and sketches, which were found in his studio after his death, were +exhibited during some months (1865) at the Architectural Gallery +in Conduit Street, and afterwards sold at Christie’s and Manson’s, +producing, collectively, upwards of sixteen thousand pounds.... Mr. +Roberts, throughout his life, kept copious journals, in which he +included pen sketches of all his pictures as they left his studio, +the date of their exhibition, name of their purchasers, and the price +which he received for them.” He continued to work to the last; and died +suddenly in November, 1864. + +William Bonnar, a distinguished portrait painter, was born in Edinburgh +in 1800. He produced a large number of fine pictures, some of which +have been engraved and widely circulated. He died in 1853. + +Thomas Duncan was born in 1807, at Kinclaven, Perthshire, and educated +at Perth. He early manifested an inclination for drawing such objects +as struck his fancy; but his parents ignored this, and placed him +in the office of a writer, with whom he completed the period of his +engagement. At last his father consented to let him follow his own +taste; and he proceeded to Edinburgh and placed himself under Sir +William Allan, then the head of the Scottish Academy. Duncan’s talent +speedily developed, and soon outstripped all his competitors in the +most difficult department――the drawing of the human figure. + +His first picture that attracted public attention was the “Milkmaid,” +and shortly after he exhibited “Old Mortality” and “The Braw Wooer.” +The exact drawing, fine feeling, and masterly execution of those +early works gave high promise of future excellence. From this time his +improvement was remarkable, insomuch as to secure to him the position +of professor of colour in the Edinburgh Academy, and subsequently the +chair of drawing in this school. In 1840 he sent to the Royal Academy +of England his fine work, “Prince Charles Edward and the Highlanders +entering Edinburgh after the battle of Prestonpans.” The following year +he exhibited a touching picture from the ballad of Auld Robin Gray, +called “The Waefu’ Heart,” the next year “Deer Stalking,” and in 1843 +“Charles Edward asleep after the battle of Culloden, protected by Flora +Macdonald.” He was elected an associate of the Royal Academy in 1843. +He died in May, 1845, at the early age of thirty-eight. Had his life +been prolonged, he would have attained a high position in historic +painting. As a colourist he had few superiors. + +William Simson was born at Dundee in 1800, and received his education +in art at the Trustees’ Academy in Edinburgh. In the early part of +his career, his works consisted mostly of small coast scenes, sketched +on the shores of Leith and Fife. But, in 1829, he executed a large +picture entitled, “The Twelfth of August;” the next year, “Highland +Deer Stalkers,” and “Sportsmen Regaling.” After this, for some years +he was engaged in portrait painting. In 1835, he visited Italy, where +he remained three years. He returned in 1838, settled in London, and +at the opening of the Royal Academy, in Trafalgar Square, exhibited two +pictures. Amongst the long list of his works may be mentioned, “Mary +Queen of Scots and her retinue returning from the chase to the Castle +of Stirling,” exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1841; “The murder of +the two Princes in the Tower,” exhibited at the British Institution in +1842; and “The arrest of William Tell,” which contains many figures. +His works are characterised by imaginative power and excellent +colouring; some of his portraits are very fine. He died in London in +1847. + +Sir John W. Gordon was born in Edinburgh in 1788, and studied art +at the Trustees’ Academy, under Mr. Graham,¹ for four years. His +aspiration ran towards historic painting, and he worked in this line +for some time; but finding that it would not pay, turned his attention +to portrait painting. On the death of Sir William Allan, in 1850, +Gordon was elected to succeed him as president of the Royal Scottish +Academy. In short, at this time he was considered one of the foremost +living portrait painters in Scotland. He produced many portraits, some +of them of well-known public men. He died at Edinburgh in 1864. + + ¹ Graham is reported to have been a warm-hearted and kindly + man, and it is evident that he was a very successful teacher + of art; from the large number of his pupils who attained + distinction, he seems to have had the faculty of arousing + the enthusiasm of his scholars. He left some specimens of + his own paintings in his “Death of General Fraser,” and + the “Death of David Rizzio.” Graham was a North countryman, + and was originally a coach-painter; nevertheless, by his + teaching he gave a greater impulse to the culture of art in + Scotland than any man of his time. + + Another name deserves to be mentioned: James S. Stewart + was born in Edinburgh in 1791, studied under Graham at + the Trustees’ Academy; and he became one of the most + distinguished engravers of his time. He died at the Cape + of Good Hope in May, 1863. + +William Dyce was born at Aberdeen in 1806; his father was a physician, +and a fellow of the Royal Society. He was educated at Marischal College, +and graduated M.A. at the age of sixteen. He afterwards studied art in +the Edinburgh Academy; and before he was twenty, visited London, and +became a probationer in the Royal Academy; but being dissatisfied with +the method of instruction, he did not enter as a student. He proceeded +to Rome, and studied from works of the Roman and Tuscan schools. In +1826, he returned to Scotland; but the following year he again visited +Rome, and studied early Christian art. On returning home in 1830, +he settled in Edinburgh, where he resided eight years. But having +failed to obtain sufficient encouragement in historic painting, he +had recourse to portraiture. He sometimes exhibited pictures at the +Royal Scottish Academy, of which he was elected an associate in 1835. + +In 1837, he published a pamphlet on the _Management of Schools of +Design_, recently established by the Government, and in which he +proposed a scheme for the improvement of the Trustees’ Academy in +Edinburgh. It presented a statement of perhaps the most complete scheme +of art education then known in this country, which made him known to +the Government. He was appointed superintendent and secretary to that +branch of the Board of Trade which had charge of the new schools. +Commissioned by the Government, he instituted a careful examination of +the Continental systems of art instruction, and his report, with some +modifications, was adopted as a text-book for several years. In 1842, +he was appointed inspector of the provincial schools, but he resigned +this office in 1845. He lectured on the theory of the fine arts in +King’s College, London; he is also the author of many essays on art +and allied subjects. + +His paintings are pretty numerous, and some of them are highly finished +and greatly esteemed. He also executed decorative work in churches, +and in some of the royal palaces. As an artist, his designs were well +conceived, the attitude of his figures graceful, and the expression apt +and pathetic. He died in 1864, in the fifty-eighth year of his age. + +Sir George Harvey was born at St. Ninian’s, near Stirling, in 1806. He +was first apprenticed to a bookseller in Stirling, but he devoted his +leisure hours to art. At the age of eighteen, he entered the Trustees’ +Academy in Edinburgh, where he studied two years. He was imbued +with Puritan sentiments, and has done ample justice to that side of +the national character, by depicting the earnestness and energy of +the Covenanters. He produced his “Covenanting Preachers” in 1830; +“Covenanters’ Communion,” 1840; “Sabbath Evening,” 1841; and his +“Battle of Drumclog,” 1836, in which he represented, with remarkable +effect, the aspects of a hand-to-hand struggle. In a different style +his “Highland Funeral” appeared in 1844; and his “First Reading of the +Bible in the Crypt of St. Paul’s” in 1846, which among his many other +successful pictures has been engraved. He was elected President of the +Royal Scottish Academy in 1864. He died on the 22nd of January 1876. + +Robert S. Lauder was born near Edinburgh in 1803, and early manifested +a taste for art. He entered the Trustees’ Academy in the year 1818, +and prosecuted his studies for four years. After this, he went to +London, and for three years practised drawing in the British Museum, +and embraced every opportunity of improving his taste and knowledge. +He returned to Edinburgh in 1826, and was elected an associate of the +Royal Institution. In 1833, he visited the Continent, and remained +abroad five years, the greater part of which he spent in Italy. He +studied intently at Rome, Florence, Venice, and Bologna, returning in +1838, and afterwards residing in London till 1849. + +In 1849, he exhibited his “Bride of Lammermoor” in the Royal Academy; +and subsequently exhibited other pictures which were readily purchased. +The leading characteristics of his pictures which at once attract the +eye, are his rich and tasteful colour, and admirable management of +light and shade. He died on the 22nd of April 1869. + +David Scott was born in Edinburgh in 1806. His father was a landscape +engraver, and he learned the rudiments of his art from the prints, +scraps, and sketches, lying in all corners of the house. While very +young, he engraved illustrations for various works; and soon after +turned his attention to painting. In 1832, he proceeded through France +to Italy, where he visited every city in any way remarkable for its +art collections. He stayed in Rome about a year, painted a number of +small pictures, and one large picture entitled, “Family Discord――the +Household God destroyed.” He returned home in the spring of 1834, and +the next year he was elected a member of the Royal Scottish Academy. +The following are a few of his works:――“Nimrod the Mighty Hunter;” +“Wallace defending Scotland;” “Mary Queen of Scots receiving her +death warrant;” “Jane Shore found dead in the street;” “Merry Wives of +Windsor, played before Queen Elizabeth;” “Christ in the Garden;” “Peter +the Hermit addressing the Crusaders.” Many of his other large pictures +and also his small ones are representations and illustrations of very +interesting subjects. + +He also aspired to literary distinction. He is the author of a series +of papers on the characteristics of the great masters of painting, +which were published in _Blackwood’s Magazine_ in 1840. He also wrote +a few pieces of verse and several tales. He died in the month of March, +1849. + +Horatio MacCulloch was born in Glasgow in 1806, where he received his +first instruction in painting from Mr. Knox, a landscape painter of +some reputation. He was a diligent student of nature, as seen in the +scenery on the banks of the Clyde, the Kelvin, the Cart, and the wilder +regions of the Western Highlands. He afterwards removed to Edinburgh, +and exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy in 1829 “A View of the +Clyde.” His pictures readily obtained purchasers, and he was elected +an associate of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1834, and a full member +in 1838. He has long been recognised in Scotland as one of the leading +painters of local scenery of his time. He died in 1867. + +Alexander Johnston was born in Edinburgh in 1815; and studied art in +the Trustees’ Academy. He afterwards went to London, and studied under +Hilton in the Royal Academy. He began pretty early to exhibit his +pictures, and gradually attained a good position. In 1842 he exhibited +at the British Museum his “Braw Wooers” and “The landing of Jeanie +Deans at Roseneath,” and “The Covenanters’ Marriage” at the Royal +Academy. These were followed by other pictures handling Scottish +subjects. In 1846 his “Prince Charles’ introduction to Flora Macdonald +after the battle of Culloden” appeared; the following year “The burial +of Charles I. in St. George’s Chapel,” and “The abdication of Mary +Queen of Scots” in 1855. His pictures are numerous, and mostly of a +historic description. + +Alexander Backley was born in Glasgow in 1816; and began his career in +art when ten years of age by cutting out figures upon paper. In 1831 +he commenced to study in the Trustees’ Academy, and ten years later +he studied a short time at the Royal Academy in London. He attained +distinction as a portrait-painter, especially in portraiture of +ladies and children. His principal oil-paintings are the “Opening of +Parliament” and “The Ragged School.” + +Sir Daniel Macnee was born in 1806 in the parish of Fintry, +Stirlingshire, but when an infant his father died, and, with his mother, +he removed to Glasgow. At the age of twelve he was sent to learn +drawing under John Knox, with whom he studied four years. Subsequently +he was engaged by Dr. James Brown to execute large anatomical drawings +for illustrating popular lectures. In 1824 he began to study at the +Trustees’ Academy at Edinburgh in the evenings; and two years later +he exhibited chalk portraits in Edinburgh. He returned to Glasgow in +1830, and painted portraits and subjects of simple peasant life. He +ultimately resolved to limit his efforts to portrait-painting; and he +soon attained success. Many of his portraits were exhibited in Glasgow +and Edinburgh. In 1876 he was elected President of the Royal Scottish +Academy, and the following year he received the honour of knighthood. +He then removed to Edinburgh, and continued to work assiduously. He +painted rapidly, and frequently finished a head size in three sittings +of about two hours each. His portraits are very numerous, and widely +distributed in Scotland. He executed many portraits of ladies, some of +which are remarkably good. The University of Glasgow conferred on him +the honorary degree of LL.D. After a short illness, he died on the 17th +of January, 1882. + +John Phillip was born in Aberdeen on the 22nd of May, 1817, the son of +humble parents. With very few external advantages he early manifested +a genius for art, and at the age of fifteen produced pictures. Two +years later he worked his way to London for the purpose of seeing the +exhibition of the Royal Academy, and after a brief stay there, which +intensified his enthusiasm for art, he returned home. He continued to +work in Aberdeen till 1837, when Lord Panmure lent him patronage, and +he proceeded to London, and became a student in the school of the Royal +Academy. In 1839 he again returned to Aberdeen, and painted portraits +under local patronage, of which a number are still in the city. He +removed to London in 1841, and regularly exhibited his pictures until +1851, when, owing to a severe illness, he visited Spain, where he +stayed till 1856. + +The influence of the new surroundings upon his active and plastic +mind soon appeared in his works, and he painted a number of pictures +illustrative of life and manners, of rare excellence. The first of +these, entitled, “A visit to the Gipsy quarters,” and the “Perlade +Triana,” were exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1853, and at once +elicited admiration. These were followed by other paintings of great +merit and value. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy +in 1857, and a full Academician in 1859. Subsequently he exhibited +two or three pictures annually at the Royal Academy in London, which +readily found purchasers. In 1859 he executed for the Queen a picture +representing the marriage of the Princess Royal with Prince Frederick +William; which was engraved. He painted a successful picture of the +House of Commons, which was also engraved. + +His style is distinguished by remarkable intelligence and vigour, +distinct conception, and fine perception of character. His flesh is +admirable in modelling and for the healthy hue which it presents, while +his colouring is rich, pure, and harmonious. He died in 1867, in his +fiftieth year. + +Personally, he was a man of high character and generous sentiments. It +has been said that “he never put such high prices on his works as they +might fairly have commanded,” and it is evident that since his death +the rise of the price of some of his pictures has been very great. A +few instances may be given:――in 1860 his picture “Scotch Baptism” was +sold at £288 15 shillings, in 1874 it was sold again at £1,755; in 1860 +“Prison Window” was sold for £315, and in 1875 it brought £3,255; and +in 1882 his picture, “A Church Porch,” was sold for over £4,000. These +prices are very significant. + +Robert T. Ross was born in Edinburgh in 1816, and studied art at the +Trustees’ Academy under Sir William Allan. He painted portraits, and +subjects mostly from domestic life. He was elected a member of the +Royal Scottish Academy in 1869. He died in 1876. + +Robert Thorburn was born at Dumfries in 1718, and educated at the High +School of that ancient town. At the age of fourteen he was sent to +study drawing at the Trustees’ Academy, under Sir William Allan, in +Edinburgh. In 1836 he proceeded to London, and entered as a student +at the Royal Academy. Miniature portrait-painting seemed to him the +quickest way of becoming known, and he adopted that branch of the art. +He first exhibited his portraits at the Royal Academy in 1837, and his +success was pretty rapid. His list of sitters soon numbered personages +of the highest rank, including the Queen and the Prince Consort. In the +latter part of his career he executed large portraits in oil and chalk. +He died in 1885. + +Joseph N. Paton was born in Dunfermline in 1823. As a painter he is +original and imaginative, working chiefly in the historic region. Among +the more successful of his works may be mentioned his “Dante meditating +the episode of Francesca,” 1852; “The Dead Lady,” 1854; “The Pursuit of +Pleasure,” 1855; “Home――the return from the Crimea,” ♦purchased by the +Prince Consort. + + ♦ “puchased” replaced with “purchased” + +Erskine Nicol was born in Leith in 1825. He was intended by his parents +for a commercial life, but his bent for painting was so keen that he +chose rather to be apprenticed to a house-painter in Edinburgh, and +occupied his leisure hours as a student of the antique at the Trustees’ +Academy. After completing his apprenticeship, he applied for the post +of drawing-master in the Leith High School, which he obtained, and +he then earnestly prosecuted his art studies. Afterwards he went to +Dublin, where he remained three years, teaching and painting portraits. +And it was then that he gained his insight of the every day life and +characteristics of the Irish people, from which he drew a series of +pictures of a descriptive cast which were much admired and widely +patronised. Many of his pictures have been engraved. + +Robert Herdman was born in 1829 in the parish of Rattray, Perthshire, +where his father was minister. He received a liberal education, and +studied art at the Trustees’ Academy in Edinburgh. Among his early +efforts he painted some Scriptural subjects, and a portrait of his +mother. In 1855 he visited Italy, and made drawings from the paintings +of the old masters in the Italian galleries. After he returned home, +he exhibited at the Royal Academy a number of pictures from Italian +subjects. He was elected a member of the Royal Scottish Academy in +1863; and he contributed to the exhibitions of the Academy nearly two +hundred pictures. Among the more notable of his pictures are “After +the Battle,” a Covenanting scene; the “Captive of Lochleven,” and the +“Conventicle Preacher before the Court,” which is an admirably realised +and well-executed work. Some of his other historic pictures are the +“Conference between Mary Stuart and John Knox at Holyrood,” and “Prince +Charles Edward seeking shelter in the house of an adherent.” He had +a strong feeling for historic subjects, and he sometimes drew upon +Scottish song for his characters. He was an eminent portrait-painter, +executing a large number of portraits of distinguished men and ladies. +Personally he was a man of fine sensibility and an amiable genius. He +died suddenly on the 10th of January, 1888, in his fifty-ninth year. + +George P. Chalmers was born in Montrose in 1836, where he received +the rudiments of education. He studied art at the Trustees’ Academy +in Edinburgh, and worked carefully and assiduously, and by persistent +effort he attained a fine artistic style. He was gifted with keen +imaginative and realistic powers, which gave high promise of eminence. +He executed a number of admirable paintings, both in portraiture and +landscape, and was elected a member of the Royal Scottish Academy +in 1867. But his career was suddenly terminated by an accident which +resulted in his death in February, 1878, in his forty-second year. + +William B. Scott, a brother of David Scott, was born in Edinburgh, and +studied under Sir William Allan in the Royal Academy. He afterwards +settled in London, where his pictures were exhibited at the Royal +Academy for a long series of years. He was for many years director of +the Newcastle Government School of Art; and gradually his reputation +became widely known. He produced a series of eight large pictures, +original in design and vigorously executed, illustrating the history +of Northumberland, for Sir W. C. Trevelyan, Baronet, to decorate +Wellington Hall. This series was exhibited at the French Gallery +in London in 1861. He also occasionally occupied his attention with +literature, wrote and published a biography of his brother David, some +pieces of poetry, and several other writings. He died on the 22nd of +November, 1890. + +The names of Scottish painters noticed in this section forms a pretty +long list, but it should be understood that it is not presented as +an exhaustive one; enough, however, has been adduced to show that the +culture of painting and art had made considerable progress in Scotland +during this period, and especially in the present century. It may +be observed, too, that in this branch, as in many other departments, +Scotsmen have contributed something to the richness of English Art; and +if they have learned something from the south side of the Tweed, they +have done more than repaid it. + +In the last century some indications of a revival of sculpture +appeared in Scotland, though little progress was made till the present +century. Thomas Campbell was born in Edinburgh on the 1st of May, 1790. +Originally he was a marble-cutter. Carving a chimney-piece in the house +of Gilbert Innes of Stow, this gentleman was much pleased with his +intelligence and promise, and gave him means to enable him to prosecute +the study of sculpture. He went to London, and attended the classes of +the Royal Academy. In 1818 he proceeded to Rome, where he studied for +several years. He ultimately attained distinction, and received many +commissions. He worked both in bronze and in marble, and executed many +statues, and also busts. Among his works may be mentioned:――a marble +statue of the Duke of Wellington, a statue of Queen Victoria at Windsor +Castle, and the granite statue of the fifth Duke of Gordon at Aberdeen. + +Laurence Macdonald was born at Boneybrow, Findo-Gask, in Perthshire, +on the 15th of February, 1799. In the winter of 1822 he studied for +a short time at the Trustees’ Academy in Edinburgh. The same year he +went to Rome, where he studied earnestly, and executed several busts. +In 1826 he returned to Edinburgh, and executed busts of Professor John +Wilson and George Combe, the phrenologist. He produced many busts; +and in 1829 he exhibited his works in the Royal Academy, and the Royal +Institution, Edinburgh. He returned to Rome in 1832, where he held a +leading position as a sculptor, chiefly in executing portrait busts. He +executed a bust of Sir Walter Scott. He died on the 4th of March, 1878. + +Sir John Steel was born in Aberdeen in 1804, a son of a woodcarver. He +early manifested a taste for sculpture, in which he eventually attained +distinction. He settled in Edinburgh, and executed many fine statues +and busts. He died on the 15th of September, 1891. + +William Brodie was born in 1815. He was a distinguished sculptor, +highly gifted with fine ideal and realising powers. He was a remarkably +quiet and unassuming man. He died in Edinburgh in 1881. His brother, +Alexander Brodie, born in 1829, was also a sculptor of promise. His +chief work was a marble statue of Queen Victoria, which he executed for +the city of Aberdeen. He died in 1867, at the age of thirty-eight. + +Henry B. Smith was born in Aberdeen in 1857. He executed a considerable +number of small busts in marble. His chief work was a bronze statue of +Burns, which was unveiled in Aberdeen on the 17th of September 1892. He +was a sculptor of great promise. He died on the 16th of April 1893, at +the early age of thirty-six. + +In short, the progress of art in Scotland is one of the most striking +facts in the recent history of civilisation. The chief cities have +their academies, institutes, and schools of art, galleries and museums; +and even many of the smaller towns show their appreciation of art in +many ways. Let us hope that the culture of art, in all its branches, +shall be still more widely diffused in the future than it has been in +past; that the resources of elevated feeling and refined enjoyment may +continue to be opened and expanded. + + + + + CHAPTER LI. + + _Political and Social Movements._ + + +THE scope of this chapter naturally assumes a somewhat general +character, as the course of political events in Scotland was greatly +influenced by external power and circumstances; she had not a +government of her own, and even the spirit of the British Ministry +often seriously affected the executive in Scotland during the latter +part of the last century, and the early part of this one. I will, in +the first place, indicate briefly the political state of the nation +in the later part of the eighteenth century; and in the second, touch +on the rise of political discussion, of the principles of liberty and +freedom, political rights, and reform; the attempts to suppress them, +and their ultimate triumph. + +In the last century there was no popular representation in Scotland. +The town councils elected the burgh members of parliament. Excepting +Edinburgh, which had a member to itself, there was only one member +for a district of four or five burghs: for instance, Perth, Dundee, +St. Andrews, Cupar, and Forfar, were classed together, and had but one +member; Aberdeen, Montrose, Arbroath, Brechin, and Inverbervie, formed +another group, with one member of parliament, and so on amongst the +other burghs. The mode of election was this:――Each town council elected +a delegate, and these five or four delegates met and elected the member +of parliament. And it is a well ascertained fact, that the Governments +of the day, instead of bribing the town councils, bribed the delegates, +or, for the sake of economy, only one or two of them, if this could +secure a majority. Such was the representation of the burghs of +Scotland prior to 1832. + +I have examined the rolls of the freeholders or electors of the +different counties of Scotland, as made up at the meetings for +electing their representatives to the Parliament, summoned to meet +at Westminster on the 10th of August, 1790, and find that the total +number of electors was then 2652. So in those days it was an easy +matter for the Government to manage the elections as they thought fit. +The public press was only in its infancy, and a pretty hard struggle +had to be fought ere it obtained freedom of discussion. Corporations +and public bodies might speak for themselves, but the opinion of +the general community was not recognised as having any claim to be +heard or consulted. The Government of those days recognised no public +opinion save that which issued from themselves or their official +organs. So long as the mass of the people plodded on quietly at their +daily occupations, the corruption of the political fabric was concealed +behind its official trappings; but when the French Revolution burst out, +it sent a shock of alarm and panic into the heart of every Government +in Europe. + +The effects of this soon appeared in the administration of Scotland. +The terror of revolution seized the British Government; reason itself +shook, and justice and humanity were for a time driven beyond the +gates of mercy. Everything rung with the French Revolution, which was +made the all in all for about twenty years. “Everything, not this or +that thing, but literally everything, was soaked in this one event.”¹ +Although there is no evidence that any considerable number of persons +in Scotland ever embraced the French revolutionary principles, +there were, of course, many people who wished to reform the existing +political system of government. But the reigning Toryism of the time, +in order to retain its monopoly of power, fixed upon all reformers +and opponents the stigma of Jacobins, revolutionaries, and seditious +persons. The real Whigs were then very few in Scotland, and they were +viewed by the Government and its supporters with extreme suspicion; +even such a man as Dugald Stewart was an object of great secret +alarm for several years. When such was the feeling in Edinburgh, we +may easily imagine what must have been the position of men who held +liberal opinions in the country at large; still, such persons existed +throughout the nation, but were subjected to contumely, insult, and +personal loss and danger for many years. + + ¹ Lord Cockburn’s _Memorials of his Time_, page 80; 1856. + +In the end of the year 1792, some attempts were made to form political +associations; and in December, a meeting of delegates was held in +Edinburgh, some of whom had come from Ross and Sutherlandshire. The +Lord Advocate, Dundas, immediately set the arm of the law in motion, +and the most notable and talented man connected with the movement, +Thomas Muir, was arrested on the 2nd of January, 1793, but was +liberated on bail.¹ After instructing his legal agent to inform him +whenever a criminal indictment was served upon him, he proceeded to +France. His trial was finally fixed on the 25th of February; but Muir +failed to reach Edinburgh on the day fixed for his trial, accordingly +he was declared an outlaw, and his name deleted from the roll of the +Faculty of Advocates. He returned to Scotland in July, and was at +once apprehended; and on the 30th he was brought before the Court +and charged with sedition. The indictment was of enormous length――a +curious mass of legal verbiage; but the chief point in it was that the +prisoner at the bar was connected with political associations, whose +sole end was to agitate for parliamentary reform. Braxfield, then Lord +Justice-clerk, was the leading spirit in this trial, and in the other +political trials of the period; and it has long since been admitted +that he was notoriously prepossessed and prejudiced against all persons +charged with political crimes.² The juries were usually packed in +these trials, and there was not only a bias against such prisoners, +but also an absolute straining for convictions was manifested by the +bench; nothing so grossly unjust had taken place in Scotland since the +seventeenth century. + + ¹ Mr. Muir was born in Glasgow in 1765, and educated at the + Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh. Having chosen the + legal profession, and studied law, he was called to the + Scottish bar in 1787. He was a man of high intellectual + abilities, and an ardent advocate of political reform. + + ² “But the giant of the bench was Braxfield. His very name + makes people start yet. Strong built and dark, with rough + eyebrows, powerful eyes, threatening lips, and a low + growling voice, he was like a formidable blacksmith. His + accent and his dialect were exaggerated Scotch; his language, + like his thoughts, short, strong, and conclusive.” + + “It is impossible to condemn his conduct as a criminal + judge too gravely, or too severely. It was a disgrace to the + age. A dexterous and practical trier of ordinary cases: he + was harsh to prisoners even in his jocularity, and to every + counsel whom he chose to dislike.... It may be doubted if he + was ever so much in his element as when tauntingly repelling + the last despairing claim of a wretched culprit, and sending + him to Botany Bay or the gallows with an insulting jest; + over which he would chuckle the more from observing that + correct people were shocked. As he once said to an eloquent + culprit at the bar: ‘Ye’re a verra clever chiel, man, but + ye wad be nane the waur o’ a hanging.’ Hang was his phrase + for all kinds of punishment.... He, as the head of the + Court, and the only powerful man it contained, was the real + director of its proceedings. The reports make his abuse of + the judgment-seat bad enough; but his misconduct was not + so fully disclosed in formal decisions and charges as it + transpired in casual remarks and general manner. ‘Let them + bring me prisoners, and I’ll find them law’ used to be + openly stated as his suggestion when an intended political + prosecution was marred by anticipated difficulties.... Mr. + Horner, one of the jurors, in Muir’s case, told me that + when he was passing behind the bench to get into the box, + Braxfield, who knew him, whispered, ‘Come awa, Maister + Horner, come awa, and help us to hang ane o’ thae daamned + scoondrels.’”――Lord Cockburn’s _Memorials of his Time_, + pages 113‒117. + +Muir admitted that he had agitated concerning the representation of +the people in parliament, but denied having used seditious language or +disseminated seditious literature. The judges were prepossessed against +him, the jury was packed, and there was little hope for the prisoner at +the bar; nevertheless, Muir addressed the jury in a memorable speech, +which occupied three hours in its delivery. When he concluded, a +shout of applause was raised by the audience in the gallery and the +passages of the court, the echo of which is not even yet spent. In +vain Lord Braxfield shouted “Clear the court,” and he then said, that +this applause which the prisoner had received had only confirmed his +conviction that it would be dangerous to allow Muir to remain in the +country. He next concentrated all his powers, and rose to sum up and +address the jury, and amongst other and equally remarkable things, his +lordship said:―― + +“This is the question for consideration. Is the panel guilty of +sedition or is he not. Now, before this question can be answered, +two things must be attended to that require no proof. First, that the +British Constitution is the best that ever was since the creation of +the world, and it is not possible to make it better. For is not every +man secure? Does not every man reap the fruit of his own industry, +and sit safely under his own fig tree? The next circumstance is that +there was a spirit of sedition in this country last winter which made +every good man uneasy. Yet Mr. Muir had at that time gone about among +ignorant country people, making them forget their work, and told them +that a reform was absolutely necessary for preserving their liberty, +which, if it had not been for him, they would never have thought was +in danger. I do not doubt that this will appear to the jury, as it does +to me, to be sedition. + +“The next thing to be attended to is the outlawry. Running away from +justice――that was a mark of guilt. And what could he do in France +at that period? Pretending to be an ambassador to a foreign country +without lawful authority, that is rebellion; and he pretends to have +had influence with those wretches, the leading men there. And what +kind of folks were they? I never liked the French all my days, and +now I hate them. The panel’s haranguing such multitudes of ignorant +weavers about their grievances might have been attended with the worst +consequences to the peace of the nation and the safety of our glorious +Constitution. Mr. Muir might have known that no attention could be paid +to such a rabble. What right had they to representation? I could have +told them that the parliament would never listen to their petition. How +could they think of it? A government in every country should be just +like a corporation, and in this country it is made up of the landed +interest, which alone has a right to be represented. As for the rabble, +who have nothing but personal property, what hold has the nation of +them? What security for the payment of their taxes? They may pack +up all their property on their backs and leave the country in the +twinkling of an eye, but landed property cannot be removed.”¹ + + ¹ _The Martyrs of Reform in Scotland_, by A. H. Millar, F.S.A. + Scotland. + +Muir, as a matter of course, was found guilty, and sentenced to +transportation for a period of fourteen years. Other persons were tried +this year and the following one for similar offences, and every one +of them for a first offence were sentenced to transportation. Amongst +those were Gerald, Hargarot, and Palmer. Political discussion and +political meetings were completely suppressed for a considerable time +in Scotland. But these trials left a deep impression upon the popular +mind, and on the minds of all thinking men. In 1844, a stone monument +was erected to their memory on the Calton Hill burying ground, +Edinburgh. + +The Government employed a set of spies, who often brought innocent and +unsuspecting persons into the iron grasp of the criminal law. After +the trials of 1793 and 1794, the Government seems to have imagined that +Glasgow was the chief revolutionary centre in Scotland, although, in +fact, there was no such thing in the nation, save what the Government +itself was creating. When any Government purposely employs and pays +men to discover sedition among a peaceful community, these men, in +the interest of their trade, will soon create a show of the article +required by their employers. This was what occurred in Glasgow between +1816 and 1820; that there was distress, and consequently discontent, in +Glasgow, is well-known; but that there was anything like an organised +conspiracy against the Government there is no evidence whatever. + +By the operations of the spies and paid agents of the Government, three +or four men were arrested and imprisoned in the Castle of Edinburgh +in 1816, where they were kept for a considerable time. When the trial +of these men began, it at once became evident that the whole affair +had been manufactured to order; and it was shown in open court that +the Advocate-depute had tampered with a witness, and endeavoured to +corrupt him. The trial broke down, and “the prison and castle gates +were instantly opened, and all the kindred prisoners walked forth.” + +But in the year 1820, three men, Hardie, Baird, and Wilson, were +executed for political offences which they were led into by the agents +of the Government of the day; and other fifteen men were, at the same +time, and for the same offence, sentenced to transportation. + +Liberal principles in politics, and freedom of discussion, slowly +advanced in Scotland; and incidents occasionally happened to convince +the party in power that they were not quite immortal. The younger +class of Whigs, represented by the _Edinburgh Review_, fought bravely +and effectually, and by and by the clouds began to disperse, and the +political atmosphere became clearer. The calm and reasonable teaching +of Adam Smith and of Dugald Stewart had begun to tell; the press, too, +was beginning to gather some influence; but the most powerful wave +which was rapidly increasing in volume and momentum issued from the +commercial and trading class. The wealth of this class was increasing, +and it was them especially which rendered the first Reform Bill, +not a matter of choice to be decided by this or that party, but a +matter of absolute necessity. The new bill, therefore, gave this class +power, and free trade won the day; but, though this great measure of +reform swept off innumerable abuses, and introduced a better system of +representation, it was far from satisfactory. The body of the people +were still left outside the Constitution, and outside the legislature; +they had no vote or voice in the government of their country. Hence, +agitation for political reform, instead of being abated, shortly became +more general and intense than it had ever before been, and the Chartist +movement arose. + +As might have easily been foreseen, the Chartist movement commenced +almost immediately after the passing of the Reform Bill. They were, +however, more troublesome in England than in Scotland. Their programme +of reform was enounced in distinct terms and published to the world, +and consisted of the following points:――(1) Universal Suffrage; (2) +Vote by Ballot; (3) Annual Parliaments; (4) Payment of Members; (5) +Abolition of the Property Qualification; and in 1848, they adopted the +principle of equal electoral districts or proportionate constituencies. +The more important of these points have already been embodied in the +political system of the country; and the Chartists are, therefore, +entitled to be considered as the real and only fruitful political +reformers since 1833. From about 1843 to 1851, they had associations, +clubs, and meeting-houses in Scotland; and many of their lecturers +travelled through the country and delivered speeches at public +meetings in the centres of population. One of their last meetings was +a Democratic Conference, held in Edinburgh, in 1852. + +In fact, many of the workmen in the chief towns of England: Manchester, +Birmingham, Nottingham, Newcastle, and the chief seats of industry in +Lancashire and Yorkshire, as well as in the chief towns of Scotland, +were extremely disappointed with the Reform Bill of 1832; as it was +merely drawn to admit the commercial and middle class to political +rights and power. So the cry for political reform was continued; and +one responsible statesman ventured, about 1862, to announce that, in +his opinion, the time had arrived when an extension of the franchise +might safely be made. The announcement was received by many of the +organs of public opinion with utter amazement, and by some it was +treated with scorn and contempt. But shortly after the death of Lord +Palmerston, the subject of representative reform was taken up by +Earl Russell’s Administration, and in the spring of 1866, a measure +called “The Representation of the People Bill” was introduced in +parliament. It proposed a £7 franchise for burghs, and some other +forms of qualification for a vote; the Government, a little later in +the session, also introduced “The Redistribution of Seats Bill;” but, +properly speaking, the two halfs were intended to form one measure. The +whole measure was fiercely assailed in its principle and its details +by Mr. Robert Lowe, then member for the burgh of Calne. In the course +of the debates on the measure, he delivered three or four powerful +and long speeches against it; in one of which his peroration was as +follows:―― + +“I have said that I am utterly unable to reason with the Chancellor of +the Exchequer for want of a common principle to start from; but there +is happily one common ground left to us, and that is the second book +of the Æneid of Virgil. My right honourable friend, like the moth which +has singed its wings in the candle, has returned again to the poor +old Trojan horse, and I shall, with the permission of the House, give +them one more excerpt from the history of that noble beast.... The +passage which I am about to quote is one which is, I think, worthy the +attention of the House, because it contains a description not only of +the invading army of which we have heard so much, but also a slight +sketch of its general:―― + + ‘The fatal horse pours forth the human tide, + Insulting Sinon flings his firebrands wide―― + The gates are burst; the ancient rampart falls, + And swarming millions climb its crumbling walls.’ + +I have now traced, as well as I can, what I believe will be the +natural results of a measure which, it seems to my poor imagination, is +calculated, if it should pass into law, to destroy one after another, +those institutions which have secured to England an amount of happiness +and prosperity which no country has ever reached, or is ever likely +to attain. Surely the heroic work of so many centuries, the matchless +achievements of so many wise heads and strong hands, deserve a nobler +consummation than to be sacrificed at the shrine of revolutionary +passion, or the maudlin enthusiasm of humanity! But, if we do fall, +we shall fall deservedly. Uncoerced by any external force, not borne +down by any internal calamity, but in the full plethora of our wealth +and the surfeit of our too exuberant prosperity, with our own rash +and inconsiderate hands, we are about to pluck down on our own heads +the venerable temple of our liberty and our glory. History may tell of +other acts as signally disastrous, but of none more wanton, none more +disgraceful.” + +A considerable number of the Liberal members followed Mr. Lowe in +his opposition, and on a division the measure was thrown out; and +Earl Russell’s ministry resigned. The country was soon in a flame of +agitation. Demonstrations in favour of parliamentary reform were held +in every city and town of any importance throughout Scotland. This time +the manifestations were determined and unmistakable, and it was seen +that longer resistance to the united voice of the people was hopeless. +Accordingly, the Conservatives introduced a Reform Bill, which, as +every one knows, was worked into form by the Opposition in committee, +and in its reamended state finally passed. But I have perhaps come down +far enough, and shall only observe that at present a single division +of Lanarkshire or of Aberdeenshire contains twice as many voters as +all the counties of Scotland put together had at the end of the last +century. + +At the beginning of the present century, the position of the working +classes with respect to civil, municipal, and political rights were +very different from the status in which they now stand. In short, +as we have seen, the people had no political rights, nor political +freedom, till a recent period. The struggle to obtain those rights was +a long and severe one; but various influences and circumstances have +contributed to place the people in the commanding position which they +at present enjoy. + +The gradual diffusion of education and intelligence, and organisation +and association among themselves for mutual benefits and ends, have +done much to advance the body of the people. Trades unions have been +viewed from very different standpoints; but without entering into a +discussion or endless details, by attempting to justify the principles +and the action of those unions in all the varied directions of their +operation, I take them as a whole, and consider their results. When +the liberty of the subject was so restricted that it was a crime to +unite or associate for mutual benefits and ends, the effect of this +was that Trades Unions in the early part of the present century were +unlawful associations, and treated as such. Now injustice always begets +injustice in some form. It is not surprising, therefore, that in their +early stages trades unions were not always reasonable and fair in their +proceedings. The Combination Laws were only partly repealed in 1825. + +Upon the lines just indicated, there can be no doubt that those unions +have done a vast amount of good. They have enabled workmen in some +degree to hold their own, to obtain equal justice, and civil and +political rights. In short, in the intense struggle of competition +during the last fifty years, workmen could not have existed without +their unions. + + + + + CHAPTER LII. + + _Ecclesiastical Movements._ + + +THE aim of this chapter is mainly expository. It will, therefore, +proceed on the fundamental conceptions and principles of the polity of +the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. In the first place it will touch +on the original conception of this polity; in the second, the effect of +external power and circumstances upon it; and third, the modifications +which it has undergone. + +The conceptions of the Scotch Reformers were not elaborated at once: +religion and secular government were often mixed in the early stages +of the Reformation. A Church distinct from and independent of the State +was a conception quite alien to the forms of thinking which prevailed +among the Reformers; on the other hand, a secular government distinct +from and independent of the Church was an idea scarcely entertained +by any statesmen of the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries. Both the +Church and State held the common notions of theocracy, as being both +under the direction of God, should therefore be associated. In itself +the theocratic idea is grand and inspiring in contemplation. But in +practical operation it appears that the Church and State both claim +a supremacy; and they often hold very different views as to what is +the will of God, or how far and in what circumstances the Word of +God should be followed. The King may maintain that he alone under God +has a supremacy of power over the Church and everything else within +his kingdom, as was done by James VI., Charles I., Charles II., and +James VII., in Scotland. Whoever wishes to understand the Church +of Scotland and her many struggles should form a clear conception +of this theocratic principle, as it is the key of the history of +Presbyterianism in this country. + +According to the authoritative and historic polity of the Church, the +doctrine of the spiritual and civil powers were as follows:――“This +power and ecclesiastical polity is different and distinct in its own +nature, from that power and polity which is called the civil power, and +belongs to the civil government of the commonwealth; albeit, they are +both of God, and tend to the same end, if they be rightly used――namely, +to advance the glory of God and to have godly and good subjects. This +power ecclesiastical flows immediately from God and the Mediator, +Christ Jesus, and is spiritual, not having a temporal head in earth, +but only Christ, the only spiritual King and Governor of His Church. +Therefore this power and polity of the Church should lean upon the +Word of God immediately, as the only ground thereof, and should be +taken from the pure fountains of the Scriptures, hearing the voice +of Christ, the only spiritual King, and being ruled by His laws.... +Notwithstanding, as the ministers and others of the ecclesiastical +estate are subject to the civil magistrate, so ought the person of +the magistrate in spiritual matters to be subject to the Church and +in ecclesiastical government. + +“The civil power should command the spiritual to exercise and perform +their office according to the Word of God. The spiritual rulers should +require the Christian magistrate to administer justice and punish +vice, and to maintain the liberty and quietness of the Church within +their bounds.... The magistrate ought neither to preach, minister the +Sacrament, nor execute the censures of the Church, nor yet prescribe +any rule how it should be done, but command the minister to observe +the rule commanded in the Word of God, and punish the transgressors +by civil means. The ministers do not exercise civil jurisdiction, but +teach the magistrate how it should be exercised according to the Word. +The magistrate ought to assist, maintain, and fortify the jurisdiction +of the Church. The ministers assist their princes in all things +agreeable to the Word, provided they do not neglect their own charge +by involving themselves in civil affairs. + +“So it appertains to the office of the Christian magistrate to assist +and maintain the discipline of the Church, and to punish them civilly +that will not obey the censures of the Church; to make laws and +constitutions agreeable to the Word, for the advancement of the Church +and her polity, without usurping anything that does not belong to the +civil sword.”¹ + + ¹ _Second Book of Discipline._ + +It is obvious that this theory of the spiritual and civil powers is +grounded upon the assumption that the State and the Church ought to +assist each other and runs on lines of a co-ordinate jurisdiction. As +to supremacy in the case of the Church, the final appeal is distinctly +placed upon the Word of God and Christ Jesus, the spiritual Head and +King; in other words, it is a distinct development of the theocratic +conception. The ideas involved in the theory are irreconcilable in +practical operation, unless under peculiar conditions and circumstances +of society. + +Touching the election of ministers to congregations, it is explicitly +and repeatedly stated that great care should always be taken not to +intrude any minister on a congregation, if they are not satisfied +with him. Hence, lay patronage was throughout inconsistent with the +conception and fundamental principles of this Church; and she opposed +and rejected it, and fought against it. + +Having now stated the original grounds out of which the struggles +between the Government and the Church arose, which have been explained +at length in the preceding volumes of the work, it may be remarked +that patronage was abolished shortly after the Revolution, but again +restored by the British Government in 1712. After this the struggles +of the Church of Scotland were mainly internal; but they still sprang +from the conceptions and theory of the powers of the Church. The +ideas, sentiments, and feelings engendered by many long years of severe +persecution continued to be represented in the Assemblies and Courts of +the Church with more or less vigour; hence, an internal struggle arose +between the party who held firmly to those ideas and views and the new +or more modern party――called, in ecclesiastical history, the Moderate +party. At first the difference between the two parties was not great; +but about the middle of the eighteenth century the opposite views of +the popular and Moderate parties in the Church Courts and throughout +the country had become distinct and irreconcilable. + +The chief practical point of polity in dispute was the settlement +of ministers in parishes against the wishes and the expressed +determination of the congregations. Cases of this character were +constantly coming before the presbyteries and the General Assemblies; +and in 1733 it was upon matters which arose out of such cases that a +secession from the church then took place. Ebenezer Erskine, minister +of Stirling, was a vehement advocate of popular election, and in +his sermon at the opening of the Synod in the autumn of 1732, he +said:――“There is a twofold call necessary for a man’s meddling as +a builder in the Church of God: there is the call of God and of His +Church. God’s call consists in qualifying a man for His work; inspiring +him with a holy zeal and desire to employ those qualifications for the +glory of God and the good of His Church. The call of the Church lies +in the free choice and election of the Christian people. The promise +of conduct and counsel in the choice of men that are to build is not +made to patrons, heritors, or any other set of men, but to the Church, +the body of Christ, to whom apostles, prophets, pastors, and teachers +are given. As it is the natural privilege of every house or society +of men to have the choice of their own servants or officers, so it +is the privilege of the house of God in a particular manner. What a +miserable bondage would it be reckoned for any family to have stewards +or servants imposed on them by strangers, who might give the children +a stone for bread, or a scorpion instead of a fish, or poison instead +of medicine? And shall we suppose that ever God granted a power to any +set of men, patrons, heritors, or whatever they be――a power to impose +servants on His family, without His consent, they being the freest +society in the world?... A cry and complaint came in before the bar +of the last Assembly for relief and redress of these and many other +grievances, both from ministers and people. But instead of a due regard +had thereunto, an act is passed confining the power of election unto +heritors and elders, whereby a new wound is given to the prerogative +of Christ and the privileges of His subjects.... Only allow me to say, +that whatever Church authority may be in that act, yet it wants the +authority of the Son of God. All ecclesiastical authority under heaven +is derived from Him; and, therefore, any act that wants His authority +has no authority at all.” + +Erskine was rebuked by the Synod, and by the General Assembly, for the +sentiments uttered in this sermon; but he adhered to every word that +he had said, and in Covenanting style protested at every stage of the +proceedings taken against him, along with three of his brethren who +adhered to him. They stood out boldly against every attempt of the +Assembly to threaten or to flinch them; and, accordingly, at last they +were turned out of their churches and manses in 1740. But several years +before this they had formed themselves into a presbytery, and dissent +continued to increase. In the year 1773, there were nearly two hundred +dissenting congregations in Scotland, besides Episcopalians and Roman +Catholics. + +The question of patronage and the intrusion of presentees on reclaiming +congregations still occupied much of the attention of presbyteries and +the General Assembly. But, in 1752, a movement was inaugurated in the +General Assembly which had for its object the enforcement of the law of +patronage at all hazards; and the leader of it was Dr. Robertson, who, +in the policy which he persistently followed, seemed to have attained +a remarkable measure of success, yet the wisdom of the course which +he adopted may be questioned. His object was to enforce a strict and +literal observance of patronage.¹ But what did this mean? It meant that +one of the fundamental principles of Scotch Presbyterianism was to be +extinguished. It also assumed that the opinions and sentiments of the +people with regard to this principle could be suppressed by decrees of +the General Assembly, forgetting that the people had fought and bled +in opposing patronage for a period of nearly two centuries. In short, +taking all the facts and circumstances in connection with patronage +into account, it would have been a wiser policy, and more worthy of +Robertson’s historic mind, if he had employed his talents and influence +to abolish patronage. Dr. Robertson’s ecclesiastical policy had a +deadening tendency, inasmuch as those who followed it had no higher +principle than that of a cringing allegiance to patrons, so his party +lost the confidence and the respect of the people because they had cast +off the historic glory of their Church. The descent of the majority +of the Scotch clergy in the last half of the eighteenth century was +remarkable; their earnestness, spirit, and abilities, faded. Dr. +Robertson retired from the management of ecclesiastical affairs in 1780. + + ¹ “Some friends and companions having been well informed + that a great majority of the General Assembly, 1751, were + certainly to let Mr. Adams, of Falkirk, the disobedient + brother, escape with a very slight censure, a select company + of fifteen were called together in a tavern, a night or + two before the case was to be debated in the Assembly, to + consult what was to be done. There met, accordingly, in + the tavern the Right Honourable the Lord Provost Drummond; + the Honourable William, Master of Ross; Mr. Gilbert Elliot, + junior, of Minto; Mr. Andrew Pringle, advocate; Messrs. + Jardine, Blair, Robertson, John Home, Adam Dickson of Dunse, + George Logan of Ormiston, Alexander Carlyle of Inveresk, + and as many more as made fifteen, two of whom, viz., Logan + and Carlyle, were not members of the Assembly. The business + was talked over, and, having the advice of two able lawyers, + Messrs. Elliot and Pringle, we were confirmed, in our + opinion, that it was necessary to use every means in our + power to restore the authority of the Church, otherwise + her government would be degraded, and everything depending + on her authority would fall into confusion; and although + success was not expected at this assembly, as we know that + the judges, and many other respectable elders, besides the + opposite party of the clergy, were resolved to let Mr. Adams + and the disobedient Presbytery of Linlithgow escape with an + admonition only, yet we believed that, by keeping the object + in view, good sense would prevail at last, and order be + restored. We did not propose deposition, but only suspension + for six months, which, we thought, was meeting the opposite + party half way. John Home agreed to make the motion, and + Robertson to second him.... Home made a spirited oration, + though not a business speech, which talent he never attained. + Robertson followed him, and not only gained the attention + of the Assembly, but drew the praise of the best judges + ... whom I overheard say, that Robertson was an admirable + speaker, and would soon become a leader in the Church + courts.”――_Autobiography of the Rev. Dr. Alexander Carlyle_, + pages 246‒248. + + “It was in the Assembly of 1752 that the authority of + the Church was restored by the deposition of Gillespie. + Robertson and John Home, having been dissenters, with some + others, from a sentence of the Commission in March that year + in the affair of Inverkeithing, gave them an opportunity + of appearing and pleading at the bar of the Assembly, which + they did with spirit and eloquence. The minds of the leaders + of the Assembly having been now totally changed, a vigorous + measure was adopted by a great majority. The presbytery + of Dunfermline were brought before the Assembly, and + peremptorily ordered to admit the candidate three days after, + and report to the Assembly on the following Friday. They + disobeyed, and Mr. Gillespie was deposed.... At a general + meeting of the party, after Gillespie was deposed, it was + moved that it would be proper to propose next day that the + Assembly should proceed to depose one or two more of the + offending brethren. Mr. Alexander Gordon of Kintore, and + George Logan, and I, were pointed out as proper persons to + make and second the motion. I accordingly began, and was + seconded by Gordon in a vigorous speech, which occasioned + great alarm on the other side, as if we were determined + to get rid of the whole Presbytery; but this was only + _in terrorem_, for by concert, one of our senior brethren + proposed that the Assembly should rest content with what + they had done, and this was carried.”――_Ibid._, pages + 255‒256. + + Another secession sprang from Gillespie’s deposition, which + soon increased in numbers. + +In 1781 the Synod of Glasgow and Ayr presented overtures to the +General Assembly touching patronage, which insisted that no call +should be sustained unless it was signed by a majority of the heritors, +elders, and communicants of the parish. But the Assembly dismissed this +proposal because it was of a dangerous tendency. The Synods of Dumfries, +Perth, and Stirling overtured the Assembly to state explicitly what was +meant by a call, but these, too, were simply dismissed. The following +year the Synods of Glasgow and Ayr, Perth and Stirling, Fife, Galloway, +Lothian, and Tweeddale, unitedly appeared before the Assembly and +stated that several presbyteries had recently inducted ministers +without the moderation of a call, and prayed the Assembly to prohibit +such proceedings in the future. Dr. George Hill, who had then assumed +the leadership of the Moderate party, opposed the prayer of the synods, +and said that the Assembly might at once dismiss the overtures; but to +quiet the minds of the people, and prevent persons from spreading an +opinion that the Church was deserting her Presbyterian principles, he +moved that the Assembly should declare that the moderation of a call +was the immemorial practice of the Church, and dismiss the overtures +as unnecessary. Another eminent Moderate, Dr. Macknight, then moved +that the resolution should be: “The Assembly, having considered +overtures, declare that the moderation of a call in settling ministers +is agreeable to the immemorial practice of the Church, and ought to be +continued.” The popular party voted for this motion, and it was carried; +but as to what constituted a call was left undefined. Again, in 1783, +the synods of Perth, Stirling, and Fife brought this point before the +Assembly; the kingdom of Fife was stamped with the spirit of Melville, +and never deserted the popular cause. They implored the Assembly to +make the utmost efforts to get the Act of 1712 repealed and the Act +of 1690 restored. The Moderate party wanted to throw out the overtures +without a debate; but the popular party proposed that Presbyteries +should be instructed to consult with the landed gentry within their +bounds, and report the result to the next Assembly. In the debate, it +was stated that the aversion of the people to patronage was invincible, +and could never be overcome; but the proposal was defeated by a +majority of nine. Once more, in 1784, the synods of Glasgow and Ayr, +Perth and Stirling, appeared before the Assembly, praying for the +removal of patronage. It was proposed that the landed gentry should +be consulted touching the divising of some means to remedy this +insufferable evil; but the Moderate party became enraged, and carried +a motion declaring that the overtures were ill founded and dangerous +to the welfare of the Church. They further declared that henceforth +patronage was not to be considered as a grievance. + +In spite of this resolution of the majority, the synod of Perth and +Stirling and the presbytery of Dumfries again appeared before the +Assembly of 1785, with overtures touching the repeal or alteration +of the law of patronage. But it was of no avail, the overtures were +rejected by a large majority. The popular party, though in a minority +in the Assembly, were not in a minority among the people; as they +wielded the greatest influence on the heart and soul of the nation. + +A grand revolution was preparing, unlike anything which had before been +evolved, insomuch that scarcely a man in the British Parliament could +comprehend its principles or understand its end. The changed state and +circumstances of society in Britain rendered the original theocratic +conception impracticable, while the original and fundamental principles +of Presbyterianism were almost incomprehensible to politicians and +lawyers beyond the Tweed. Hence their futile, and laughable efforts to +check the evolution of the movement. + +As an attempt to redress the evils involved in patronage, the popular +party proposed in the General Assembly of 1833, that when a majority +of a congregation objected to the minister presented by the patron, the +presbytery of the bounds should not proceed with the settlement. The +proposal was debated at great length; both parties exerted themselves +to the utmost. At last Dr. Cook moved that the proposal should be +approved, and a committee appointed to consider the best means of +carrying it into execution; and this was carried by a majority of +four. The Assembly of 1834 passed it into an Act; and the effect of +the Act was simply this, that when a clear majority of the male heads +of families, being members of the congregation, and in full communion +with the Church, deliberately objected to the presentee’s settlement +as their minister, in that case the presbytery of the bounds should not +proceed to thrust him upon the congregation. This famous regulation is +elsewhere called “The Veto Act.” It was on this simple and reasonable +rule that the grand struggle which issued in the Disruption was fought. +This was the hinge on which the conflict externally turned, although, +of course, there were other principles involved in it. + +The ultimate issue of such a conflict greatly depended upon the +prevailing ideas touching the rights of man, as a reasonable +and responsible agent, a free and social agent, a being not only +accountable to external authorities, but also to his own conscience and +to God. If the body of the people are merely conceived to exist for the +convenience, pleasure, and glory of the privileged and ruling class, +it follows as a consequence that the Church will be conceived and used +as an instrument of the Government, as a mere prop of the power of the +State. But to the credit of Scotland in the struggle under review, the +first class of conceptions indicated above, gave such a manifestation +of their vitality as astonished the British Government. + +Without entering into many details, I shall present a summary of the +leading steps in the revolution. For some time the Veto Act worked +beneficially, and the internal discipline and order of the Church was +improving. But self-interest and love of power are strong and often +blind motives; so it was determined to maintain patronage in its most +rigorous and offensive form. In 1834 the Earl of Kinnoul presented Mr. +Robert Young, preacher of the gospel, to the parish of Auchterarder, +in Perthshire; and the presbytery of the district proceeded according +to the usual forms to admit him; but only two of the parishioners +signed his call, and therefore the presbytery could not settle him in +the parish. The case, in due course, was brought before the Court of +Session; and in March, 1838, a majority of the Lords gave judgment to +the effect that the presbytery had acted contrary to the provisions of +the statute of Queen Anne, of 1712. The General Assembly met in May, +1838, and the Rev. Robert Buchanan, of Glasgow, proposed a motion which +affirmed the spiritual independence of the Church. It was opposed by +Dr. Cook, who moved an amendment. But after a long and vehement debate, +Buchanan’s motion was carried by a majority of forty-one. + +The collision between the Church and the civil power was begun in +earnest, and could not continue long. The Auchterarder case was +appealed to the House of Lords――the English Law Lords; and they came +to the conclusion that the jurisdiction of the civil court, even in a +matter which involves the spiritual act of ordination, is supreme, and +must be obeyed; consequently, they affirmed the judgment of the Court +of Session. This settled the point that the rejection of a patron’s +presentee, entirely on the ground of the dissent of the congregation, +was illegal; but it also implied and involved the conclusion that the +congregation had no legal standing at all in the settlement of their +minister. Their simple and only duty in the matter was to submit +quietly to whoever the patrons thought fit to place over them. + +The General Assembly met on the 16th of May, 1839, and intimation of +the grounds of the final struggle was given. Dr. Cook, the chief of +the Moderate party, at once announced that he himself, and those who +acted with him, had resolved to conduct the affairs of the Church in +accordance with the decrees of the civil courts. Dr. Chalmers then +intimated that he would submit some motion to the Assembly. The debates +were long and animated. Dr. Cook insisted that the Veto Act, by the +decisions of the courts, was rendered not an Act of the Church at all, +as the Church had been acting under an error. Dr. Chalmers’ motion was +in effect that the Church bowed to the decision of the court so far +as matters of civil rights were concerned, but avowed that――“Whereas +the principle of non-intrusion is one coeval with the reformed Kirk of +Scotland, and forms an integral part of its constitution, embodied in +its standards, and declared in various Acts of Assembly; the General +Assembly resolved that this principle cannot be abandoned, and that no +presentee shall be forced upon any parish contrary to the will of the +congregation. + +“And whereas, by the decision above referred to, it appears that +when this principle is carried into effect in any parish, the legal +provision for the sustentation of the ministry in that parish may be +thereby suspended, the General Assembly being deeply impressed with +the unhappy consequences which must arise from any collusion between +the civil and ecclesiastical authorities, and holding it to be their +duty to use every means in their power, not involving dereliction of +the principles and fundamental laws of their Church constitution, to +prevent such unfortunate results, do hereby appoint a committee for +the purpose of considering in what way the privileges of the national +establishment and the harmony between Church and State may remain +unimpaired, with instructions to confer with the Government of the +country.” + +This motion was finally carried by a majority of forty-nine, and a +deputation from the committee appointed under it proceeded to London; +but the Government then in office was weak. In short, the Government +were never anxious to grapple with the different views which were taken +of the operation of patronage, or to interfere by legislation on the +limits and extent of the ecclesiastical power of the Church of Scotland. +Then their almost utter ignorance of the real merits of the matters in +dispute was another reason for the apathy of the British Government. So +little were they aware of the true facts of the case, that they never +dreamed of such an event as the Disruption. + +The excitement in the country was rising fast. In the end of the year +1839, the seven rebellious ministers of the presbytery of Strathbogie +were suspended, to prevent them from proceeding with the settlement +of Mr. Edwards in the parish church of Marnoch, to which he had been +presented several years before, it became manifest that the crisis +was approaching its issue. The seven suspended ministers placed their +faith upon the Court of Session, and in that quarter they showed great +energy. They obtained first an interdict to prevent the minority of +the presbytery, and all others, from using the church, churchyard, +and school-house, in executing the sentence which the commission +of the General Assembly had pronounced. They next obtained a formal +warrant from the Court of Session for continuing in the exercise of +the ministry themselves: and in moving this Lord Gillies said that “it +appeared to him that the position which the non-intrusion party of the +Church of Scotland had taken up in opposition to the established law of +the country was the most arrogant that any established Church had ever +attempted.” The second interdict also prohibited all the individual +ministers, from various parts of the country, who had been appointed +by the commission to execute the sentence of suspension, from even +intruding into their parishes; but this part of the interdict was +disregarded. Many ministers from the south and west entered into the +presbytery of Strathbogie and preached on the turnpike roads and in +the fields to vast crowds of the people, published the sentence of +suspension, expounded the principles then at stake, and preached the +gospel with a vigour and earnestness which had not been heard in that +region since the middle of the seventeenth century.¹ + + ¹ Although I was only six years of age, being living in the + heart of Strathbogie, I recollect these proceedings quite + clearly. One of the suspended ministers was our family + minister, and subsequently I knew five of them very well, + and have frequently heard them preaching. The last of them + died about ten years ago. + +When the General Assembly met in May, 1840, a firm attitude was assumed +by the popular party, who were still in a majority, and the suspension +of the Strathbogie ministers was confirmed by a majority of eighty-four. +The debate on this matter was long and animated. The final motion to +continue their suspension was carried by a majority of sixty-four. +The Moderate party in the Church now threw in their lot with the +Strathbogie ministers, and the position which they soon drifted into +was something like this: Whatever the Court of Session had declared to +effect civil rights passed at once from the ecclesiastical jurisdiction +to that of the civil courts; the Church could not finally determine +it, therefore she must submit to the dictation of the civil courts. +This, they said, was the law of the land, and obedience to it was the +first duty of all loyal subjects. They made few or no allusions to the +fundamental conception and the original principles of Presbyterianism. +It became pretty evident, too, that so far as the British government +had any ideas upon the matter, they were most akin to those avowed by +the Moderate party. They therefore resolved to carry on the conflict +with a high hand. The popular party were equally resolute, and, with a +clear aim in view and a firm grasp of principles, they already foresaw +the ultimate issue of the struggle, and were prepared to face it. + +The commission of the General Assembly met in Edinburgh on the 12th +of August, 1840, when a motion to serve a libel on the seven ministers +of Strathbogie was carried by a majority of one hundred and eighty +to sixty-six; but the minority were securely covered by the Court of +Session. The following is a portion of Dr. Chalmers’ speech to the +members of the commission in reference to the libel. After remarking +on the many encroachments of the civil courts, he said: “We must stand +out against this series of aggressions thus rising in magnitude one +above the other, else the most sacred, the most sacramental of our +institutions, the very innermost recesses of the sanctuary, will be +opened to the invader and trampled under foot. I know the obloquy which +will be heaped upon us. I have heard the odious names which will be +given us for this resistance; and I am prepared for them. If not an +impartial public, at least an impartial posterity will tell whether +we are rebels or they are persecutors. And here I may say one word +to those who express the hope――and I observe that Sir Robert Peel is +among the number――that we will give up our personal feelings and do +otherwise than this. To what personal feelings he refers, he does not +specify――whether it be the feeling of irritation or of false honour, +――the pride of men who have committed themselves and gone too far to +retract without shame and degradation. If so, never was an appeal made +wider of its object. These personal feelings have no existence with us; +or if they have, it is in so slight a degree that they are altogether +overborne by principles of a depth and height and breadth and length +sufficient to engross and occupy the whole man. The principles, whether +our adversaries comprehend them or not,――the only moving forces that +have told and still tell on the Assembly,――are the full security of +our spiritual independence. The Headship of Christ, the authority of +the Bible as the great spiritual statute-book, not to be lorded over +by any power on earth, a deference to our own standards in matters +ecclesiastical, and a submission, unqualified and entire, to the +civil power in all matters civil. These are our principles; and these +principles, not personal feelings, we are asked to give up by men who +have put forth unhallowed hands upon them. I ask, is there no room for +a similar appeal to them? Have they no personal feelings,――no acrimony +arising from the anticipation of defeat,――no triumph arising from the +anticipation of victory? Have they no mortification of wounded vanity +lest their battle-cry――‘What firmness has done before, firmness may +do again’――lest that battle-cry should be rolled back by a resolute +and unyielding Church on the heads of those who used it.... I was +enumerating what may be the personal feelings of our adversaries, and +I have a right to do so. I have a right to state everything that has +occurred, whether within or without the limits of this court, that may +lead the house to a right decision. I say, is there no inward chagrin +among parliamentary friends, mourning over their abortive measures,――is +there no sense of offended dignity among the functionaries of the law, +lest it should be found that law――no impossible thing in the course of +a hundred and fifty years――had for once gone beyond its sphere? I ask, +which of the rival elements ought to give way? Whether the personal +feelings of the men who have nothing to lose in this contest, or the +personal feelings of men who are ready to risk all for principles; +and who, though many of them are in the winter of life, would, rather +than renounce their principles, abandon their homes, and brave the +prospect of being cast, with their helpless and houseless families, +upon the wide world? I ask if it was well in Sir Robert Peel, from +his high station and from his seat of silken security, to deal out +his admonitions to the Church of Scotland in this way; and while he +spares the patrician feelings of his compeers, to take no account of +the principles and feelings of those conscientious men who, humble in +station but high in spirit, are ready, like their forefathers of old, +to renounce all their enjoyments for the glory and the dignity of their +Church.” + +Alluding to the excitement and what was going on throughout the country, +he ventured on an anticipation of future changes, which have since been +fully realised:――“As we were not permitted to regulate the call, let +the right of nomination be so regulated as to anticipate the call; and +for this purpose let us, in the name of all Scotland――and I am sure +of nineteen-twentieths of her people――seek, through the medium of the +legislature, to modify, and, if less will not do, utterly to abolish +the system of patronage. It is a consummation to which I look forward +without uneasiness.... The time is fast approaching when our political +constitution will be greatly more popularised; and it is one of the +reasons why I plead so strongly at present for the independence of the +Church, that if we are obliged to give it up now to the patrons, we +must give it up then to the people.” + +Under an order from the Court of Session, the suspended ministers of +Strathbogie inducted Mr. Edwards in the church of Marnoch, on the 21st +of January, 1841. The proceedings, which took place on this memorable +occasion have been fully described by eye-witnesses, are well known, +and need not be repeated. But the majority of the General Assembly, the +non-intrusion body, had been driven into a position by the decisions, +interdicts, decrees, and orders issued from the Court of Session, +which had rendered it impossible for them to entertain any compromise, +or recede from their original conception and fundamental principles. +Accordingly, the General Assembly of 1841 deposed the Strathbogie +ministers. Very different views have been taken of the action of the +majority of the Court of Session, for, on the main principle involved, +the bench, as a whole, never agreed. Looking at the matter as a +historian, all forms of constitutional law and common law are grounded +upon history and usage. The first point for consideration therefore is, +was the interference and consequent decisions of the Court of Session +historically justifiable? It is a fact, that the theory of the Court +of Session since its institution, in 1533, has been that it was a +court for the administration of justice in civil cases; it was never +specially empowered to determine ecclesiastical cases or issue orders +for proceedings in such cases. There were always courts for settling +ecclesiastical matters within their own jurisdiction. Of course, from +the Reformation to the Revolution the powers assumed and exercised in +the courts of the Presbyterian Church were often questioned, interfered +with, and their decisions and proceedings reversed and repealed by +the Government of the country, but not by the Court of Session; or +if it ever intermeddled in ecclesiastical cases, it was under special +instructions from the Government of the day, not from any power +inherent in its own constitution. This was the state of the question +till the Revolution. + +After the Revolution in 1690, the Presbyterian polity was +re-established by statute. At the same time, patronage was abolished +in this way: when a vacancy occurred, the heritors and elders had +to nominate a minister for the approval of the congregation, and if +the congregation disapproved of the nominee, they were required to +adduce their reasons before the Presbytery, and in its hands the final +settlement was left.¹ + + ¹ _Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland_, Volume IX., pages + 196‒197. + +In the Treaty of Union, by a special and emphatic article, the polity, +privileges, and ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Presbyterian Church +of Scotland were to continue inviolable “to the people of this land in +all succeeding generations,” There is no reservation to the effect that +the Court of Session shall have the power of overriding the proceedings +of her courts. + +But, contrary to the letter and spirit of the Treaty of Union, and to +all conceptions of a just and wise policy toward the Scottish nation, +the British Government imposed upon Scotland a new Patronage Act in +1712. It is historically true, however, that this Act was not generally +enforced against the sentiments and feelings of the people, even by the +ecclesiastical courts, till past the middle of the eighteenth century; +and it was observed in a preceding page that the sentiments of the +people were invincibly against its practical application. Keeping +within the lines of just and reasonable historic exposition, the point +under consideration naturally assumes this form:――When an effort was +made by the supreme ecclesiastical court of the nation not to violate +the highest sentiments and aspirations of the people by intruding +spiritual instructors upon congregations, what had the Court of Session +to do with that? This is the historic and constitutional question. + +It seems obvious that this was not a question for the Court of Session +at all, but one for the British Government, if the ecclesiastical court +had not the power to settle it. The Court of Session has no legislative +functions, hence when it interfered in this matter, it only looked at +one side of the shield――namely, the rights of patrons and presentees. +It began and ended with these, declaring that the people had no +right to a voice at all in the choice of their spiritual and moral +instructors. Thus the Court of Session succeeded in dragging the +constitution and the principles of the Church of Scotland through the +dust. When this Court saw, as it could not but have seen, that it could +only deal with a mere fraction of the great questions and interests +involved in the struggle, it should have stood aloof, and allowed the +Government to interfere when it became necessary. During the three +centuries and a half of its career, the Court of Session has done many +curious and questionable things, but history cannot point to a series +of its proceedings more signally illegal and disastrous than those +which it enacted in connection with the Disruption of the Church. + +For several years the whole country rang with the clamour and talk +of non-intrusion and spiritual independence. Pamphlets, speeches, and +ballads were circulated through the country in hundreds of thousands, +most of which were serious and earnest, but vehement and impassioned. +In short, the excitement and agitation, the controversy and discussion +of the engrossing subject, and the interests involved in it, occupied +the attention of every family and household, and many a family +became disunited in religious feeling. The popular party put forth +extraordinary efforts, and sounded the kingdom from end to end. + +The non-intrusion party repeatedly approached the Government, and laid +the state of the Church before it. But seeing that the Court of Session, +in its wisdom and unmatched foresight, had assumed the function of +government in this conflict, the British ministry felt a strong desire +to let it run to the end of the course on which it had entered, for +neither the Whig nor the Conservative Governments were at all anxious +to try their hands on this difficult matter. The Whigs had little love +for Churches, and it was only for its patronage, and chiefly for the +politics of the moderate party, that the Conservative in general had +any respect for the Church of Scotland. Hence the Court of Session was +allowed to enjoy its glory to the end of the conflict. + +When the General Assembly of 1842 met in May, the anarchy within the +Church was fearful. Under a warrant from the Court of Session, the +deposed ministers of Strathbogie had met and elected two of their +number, and an elder from Aberdeen, to represent them in the General +Assembly, with a commission, in the usual form, to take their place +amongst its members. On a division these commissions were rejected by +a majority of one hundred and thirty. But the Court of Session and the +deposed ministers went further; they interdicted and discharged the +members elected by the other party in the Presbytery of Strathbogie +from taking any part in the Assembly. The Assembly ignored this +interdict, and the members took their seats. This was a state of +matters which could not continue. + +A motion for the abolition of patronage was proposed, and carried by a +majority of sixty-nine. The claim, declaration, and protest, or, more +shortly, the Claim of Rights, was moved and discussed at great length, +and finally adopted by a majority of one hundred and thirty-one. It is +a very able and well-known document, and was drawn up by Mr. Alexander +Dunlop, Advocate, an able, calm, wise, and resolute gentleman. Mr. +Dunlop gave much of his time and thought to the service of the Church, +for which he never accepted a single farthing. He was one of the ablest +and most honourable men who appeared in the Assemblies of the period. +The Claim of Rights is a memorable specimen of his spirit and powers. + +But the claims and the attitude of the Church of Scotland were grossly +misrepresented in Parliament, especially in the House of Lords, and +by no one more so than the rambling and bombastic Lord Brougham. On +the 7th and 8th of March, 1843, a debate took place on the Church of +Scotland’s Claim of Rights in the House of Commons. The subject was +introduced by Mr. Fox Maule in a very clear and able speech. Sir James +Graham followed him, and in the course of his speech said:――“These +pretensions of the Church of Scotland (Claim of Rights), as they +now stand, of a co-ordinate jurisdiction, and the demand that the +Government should establish one law on the subject of parishes, and +should allow the judge, by the interpretation of the statute judging +of his own case, to set up another law co-equal with, and paramount to +the law of the realm, did appear to him an expectation so unjust and +unreasonable, the sooner the House extinguished it the better, because +he was satisfied that any such expectation never could be realised in +any country in which law, equity, or order, or common sense prevailed.” +Other members spoke in favour and against the claims of the Church, +but the Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel, was vehemently opposed to +her claims, though it is evident that he had not taken the trouble +to understand them. He declared that the Church, in its proceedings +against the Strathbogie ministers, had laid claim to greater powers +than ever were claimed, even before the Reformation by the Church of +Rome herself. Touching the question of the limits of the civil and +ecclesiastical power, it seemed to him that this should be determined +by the English law lords. When the division was taken, the motion +was rejected by a majority of one hundred and thirty-five, but out +of the thirty-seven Scotch members who were present at the division, +twenty-five voted in favour of the motion. Thus the Claim of Rights was +rejected in the British Parliament, but not by the representatives of +Scotland. + +On the 5th of April, 1843, Lord Campbell, in the House of Lords, +introduced five resolutions, which were to this effect:――1. That the +House was desirous that the Church of Scotland should freely possess +and enjoy her rights, government, discipline, and privileges, according +to law, in all time coming. 2. That she is an excellent Church. 3. That, +with a view to heal the unhappy discussions now prevailing, “this House +is of opinion that the demands of the Church should be conceded by the +legislature, in so far as they can be safely conceded; and that when +any measure for correcting the alleged abuses of patronage shall be +constitutionally brought before this House, this House will favourably +entertain the same, and anxiously endeavour that the end of the said +measure may be attained.” 4. That, in the opinion of this House, the +demand that patronage be abolished, as a grievance, is unreasonable +and unfounded, and ought not to be conceded. 5. “The demand of the +Church that the law shall be framed so as to give the Church courts +absolute authority, in every case, to define the limits of their +own jurisdiction, without any power in any civil court in any way to +question or interfere with their proceedings or decrees, although they +may exceed their jurisdiction,” etc. That this claim of “exclusive +spiritual jurisdiction is unprecedented in any Christian Church since +the Reformation, is inconsistent with the permanent welfare of the +Church, and the existence of subordination and good government in the +country”. This is a misrepresentation. + +In the debate which followed, the speakers maintained that even if +some redress were needed, none should be given until the Church should +obey the existing law. Lord Brougham said “he would not be a party +to the suicidal, to the self-destructive folly of giving men new laws +to break until they had consented to obey the old law”. Referring +to Lord Aberdeen, Brougham said “his noble friend, who seemed to +be a non-intrusionist――What! Would he have that principle not only +established in Scotland, but carried south of the Tweed? Would he have +it eat into our English system? Would ♦he seek, by means of it, to +destroy our Erastianism?” Such was the twaddle and rant which the House +of Lords thought proper to vent on this momentous subject. No thought +of what was due to the people of Scotland ever entered into their minds. + + ♦ duplicate word “he” removed + +The popular party of the clergy were now everywhere earnestly preparing +to leave the Establishment, as it was hopeless to prolong the contest. +The forethought, the systematic order, the discipline of the rank +and file, and the completeness of all their arrangements were truly +wonderful. In short, the final scene of leaving the Establishment +presented the characteristics of the closing act of a noble, a +memorable, and well-played drama. + +On the two Sundays before the meeting of the Assembly many +congregations throughout the country had been moved to the core by +farewell sermons from ministers to whom they were deeply attached. +It was known that an extraordinary move was about to be made; but +the uncertainty as to its extent and form had produced an anxiety +and uneasiness of feeling unexampled in Scotland since the battle +of Culloden. How would the Royal Commissioner act? Would he dissolve +the Assembly, or would he recognise the minority as constituting the +Assembly? + +The Assembly met on the 18th of May, 1843. Dr. Welsh of Edinburgh +opened the proceedings by delivering a sermon before the Royal +Commissioner in St. Giles’, in which he announced what was going to +happen. Dr. Welsh then proceeded to St. Andrew’s Church, where the +Assembly was to be held, and took his place in the Moderator’s chair; +and the Commissioner entered the church a few minutes after. The +church was crowded, and Dr. Welsh rose and engaged in prayer. After +the members had resumed their seats, he again rose, and announced +that, in consequence of certain proceedings affecting their rights and +privileges, which had been sanctioned by the Government of the country, +and more especially seeing that there had been an infringement on the +liberties of the constitution of the Church, so that they could not +constitute this court without violating the terms of the union between +Church and State in this nation, and, therefore, “I must protest +against our proceeding further.” Accordingly, amidst profound silence +and intense alarm on the moderate benches, he read the protest, which +fully explained the grounds of the step they were about to take. +When he had read the protest, he handed the document to the Clerk at +the table, bowed to the Commissioner, quitted the chair, lifted his +hat, and walked away. Instantly, Dr. Chalmers, Dr. Gordon, and what +appeared to be the whole of those in the left side of the church, rose +and followed him. About two hundred walked out; and they were joined +outside by three hundred clergymen and other adherents. + +Dr. Welsh wore his Moderator’s dress; and as soon as he appeared on +the street, and the people saw that principle had risen above interest, +shouts of triumph rent the air, such as had not been heard in Edinburgh +since the days of the Covenant. They walked down Hanover Street to +Canonmills, where a large hall had been fitted up for the reception +of the disestablished Assembly. They elected Dr. Chalmers Moderator, +and formed themselves into the first General Assembly of the “Free +Church of Scotland.” Four hundred and seventy-four ministers left +the Establishment in 1843; they were also joined by about two hundred +probationers, nearly a hundred theological students of the University +of Edinburgh, three-fourths of those in Glasgow, and a majority of +those in Aberdeen. + +The Free Church commenced to work with earnestness and vigour, and her +success and usefulness from the first has been remarkable. As this is +well known, I need not dwell on it; it is more in character with the +scope of this History to remark on the peaceable and orderly features +of the “Disruption:” I call it a revolution of a peculiar character, +because it was effected without violence or bloodshed. In rebutting the +charges brought against the Scotch Reformers of the sixteenth century +touching the excesses which occurred, and especially the destruction +of religious buildings, I then said:――“Each party has striven to lay +the blame upon the other, to exaggerate or extenuate these excesses, +according to their respective standpoints. But it should be remembered +that there never was a revolution without excesses, and the reason +of which is not difficult to find. The amount of outrage and the +destruction of property which a revolution may entail mainly depends +on the strength and completeness of the organised moral force in +the country at the time of its occurrence. If the moral sentiments +and ideas of the nation are but imperfectly formed, the guiding and +restraining feelings and influences only partly developed through the +social organisation, and the intelligence of the people is very limited +and dim, and, as it were, only awakening to a consciousness that they +have been long deluded, then, in such circumstances, a revolution +cannot be effected without anarchy and excess in various forms. The +same undeviating principle comes into play in this as in everything +else; when the moral organisation is sufficiently developed and ripe, +the desired and needful reform is gradually brought to pass by peaceful +means.”¹ + + ¹ Mackintosh’s _History of Civilisation in Scotland_, Volume + II., pages 94‒5. + +The creation of the Free Church, in the month of May, 1843, is the best +illustration of the principle stated above which has as yet occurred; +and it affords ample and striking evidence of the moral change of +the people of Scotland since the sixteenth century, and that the very +principles which were introduced at the Reformation have contributed +greatly to place the Scottish nation upon the moral elevation which +was so palpably and beautifully manifested in the peaceful and orderly +revolution which gave birth to the Free Church of Scotland. It was an +event charged with a moral power of vast import, and which could not +fail to produce beneficial results. + +The Established Church for a time was greatly crippled, and her +pre-eminence has not been restored. But she has worked steadily and +well, and extended her lines on every side. The Roman Catholics have +increased more, comparatively, especially in recent years, than any +other denomination, in the present century. The Roman hierarchy has +recently been restored in Scotland. As observed in preceding chapters, +toleration and liberty of thought have made remarkable progress within +the last fifty years; no one need now be afraid to announce their +opinions, if they have anything to tell worthy of attention. + + + + + CHAPTER LIII. + + _Summary of the Work――Conclusion._ + + +I.――THE first volume opens with a few brief explanations of the +method and scope of the work, and touched on the primary causes of +civilisation, indicating that the human mind was the prime factor. + +1. The geographical and physical aspects of the country were described. +The influence of climate, and other external agencies were considered; +and, also the general features of the country in relation to the +imagination and understanding. + +2. The principle of historic interpretation in reference to the order +of development――touching thought and language, was treated; and the +importance of the discrimination of historical evidence was also +pointed out. + +3. The interesting problem of the cradle of the human race was mooted; +and followed by the question of the cradle of the great Aryan race, of +which a concise statement was presented. The ethnology of Scotland was +next handled, and disentangled from a mass of legends and obscuring +accretions. + +4. The prehistoric period, embracing the stone and iron ages, were +treated in detail. The stone weapons and implements were described, +and the processes of their manufacture indicated. The various modes +of disposing of the dead, interments in chambered cairns, cremation, +and other peculiarities, were described. The origin and use of the +earth-houses was discussed, and primitive boats noticed. + +5. The introduction of the use of metals was narrated. Bronze weapons +and tools found in Scotland were described; and attention was directed +to the gold ornaments of the prehistoric period. Traces of the +dwellings and sites of the prehistoric people were treated, including +crannogs, and hill forts. The modes of interment which prevailed in the +bronze age were handled. An attempt was made to indicate the probable +duration of the prehistoric period in Scotland. + +6. So far as available data admitted, an account of the religion, +social state, and culture of the prehistoric people was presented. + +II.――The Roman invasion and occupation of a portion of the country was +narrated. This occupation tended to create new historical conditions in +the Island. + +7. The relative position of the chief tribes in the country from the +fifth century to the foundation of the historic monarchy was given. The +natural circumstances which led to its foundation and its limits were +also indicated. + +III.――Advent of a new factor of civilisation――The introduction of +Christianity and the missionary labours of the early saints were +narrated; and the impression which they left upon the people was noted. + +8. The gradual extension of the kingdom was concisely narrated; and a +change of historical conditions indicated. + +9. The social state of the people from the seventh century to the end +of the eleventh was presented in detail. + +10. Early architecture, including the brochs, round towers, and +rude chapels, were historically treated. The sculptured stones were +described, and historically handled in relation to the life and habits +of the people. The art of these monuments was also briefly treated. The +distinctive characteristics of this art as exhibited on metal ornaments +were indicated. + +The fragments of early literature and chronicles, and teaching in the +monasteries were noticed. + +IV.――A critical estimate of the result of Norman feudalism on the +civilisation of Scotland was presented, in which interesting details +of the social state of the Normans themselves are given. + +11. An account of the kingdom and the introduction of feudalism in the +twelfth and thirteenth centuries was presented. The social state of the +people, trade, organisation, and civilisation, were treated in detail. + +12. The difficulties arising from the disputed succession issued in the +War of Independence, of which a clear account was given. The results +of the battles of Stirling Bridge and Bannockburn ultimately led to the +acknowledgment of the independence of the nation. + +13. A narrative of events from the death of Robert I. to 1424 was +presented. + +14. The reign of James I. was exceedingly important. He was an able +ruler, and endeavoured to curb the lawless nobles. He tried to govern +the kingdom through parliament, and was the first King who attempted +to introduce the principle of representation in Scotland. A body of +laws was passed in parliament in his short reign, such as is not to +be found in any period of the same length before or since, and these +were recorded and proclaimed in the language of the people, and in many +other ways he struggled to redress the disorder and oppression which +had so long prevailed. + +15. After the murder of James I., to the battle of Flodden, the +struggle between the Crown and the nobles often distracted the kingdom. +A narrative of the chief events and proceedings till 1513 was presented. + +16. An exhaustive account of the social state of the nation in the +fourteenth and fifteenth centuries was given: Embracing the origin +and peculiarities of the Scottish Parliament; the power of the nobles; +agriculture, and the state of the tenants and labourers, the Crown +lands, and relative subjects were detailed. The burghal communities +――their trade, and the characteristics of their daily life were handled +at length. The commerce and coinage of the kingdom, the defence of the +country――armour, weapons, and organisation of the army were treated. +Amusements and games, the dress of the different ranks, household goods +and ornaments, were noticed. The price of the staple necessaries of +life, and the wages of workmen were indicated. Crime and defects in the +administration of justice, and the forms of punishment, were treated +in detail. Architecture, the wealth of the Church and monasteries, +were noticed; and an account of the religious feeling of the people was +presented. + +17. The literature of the period, education, music, and art were +treated. + +V.――New historical conditions had arisen, and the second volume, which +deals with the sixteenth century, opened with a survey of the agencies +and causes which preceded the Reformation. The power, wealth, and +vast organisation of the Church in the Middle Ages was indicated; and +an outline of the popular belief presented. The Inquisition, morals +of the clergy, translations of the Bible, awakening of the moral and +religious consciousness were touched on; and the early stages of the +revolutionary movement explicated. + +18. The history of the Reformation in Scotland till the overthrow of +the Roman Catholic Church, was given. The external circumstances and +influences which aided the Reformation in Scotland were examined; while +the inner and sustaining causes of the movement were shown to depend +upon the moral sentiments and convictions of the people. + +19. An outline of the Confession, polity, and organisation of the +Reformed Church of Scotland was given; and other proceedings of the +Reformers noticed. + +20. The reign of Queen Mary was treated at length. The trying +circumstances in which she was placed were pointed out. Her +difficulties with the Reformed preachers, marriage with Darnley, and +consequent proceedings, the character of her husband, who became a +mere tool in the hands of the nobles, were narrated. The difficulties +thickening around her, the tragic events, and the proceedings which +ended in her flight to England, were related. + +21. The history of Protestantism and the conflict of the clergy with +the Crown was commenced and continued till the accession of James VI. +to the throne of England. The proceedings of the Reformed clergy in +the struggle with a party of the nobles and the King were concisely +narrated; and the attitude of the nobles and the policy of the King +were placed in a clear light. + +22. At the close of the history of Protestantism a brief expository +statement was made, in which it was enunciated that the supreme +sustaining power of the Reformation throughout was the moral sentiments +and ideas, coupled with religious feelings and aspirations. + +23. The social state of the people in the sixteenth century was next +treated. Commencing with a reference to the character of the Government, +I described the state of the inhabitants of the Borders and Highlands. +The prevalent classes of crime and forms of punishment, the defective +organisation, and habits of swearing, were handled. The defective +sanitary condition of the towns was noticed. The state of the tenants +and tillers of the land, and the poor, were noted. The religious +feelings of the people, as manifested in their daily life, was +illustrated, and indications of the approaching change were noticed. + +24. After the Reformation sharp and severe measures were adopted for +the suppression of immorality and vice. The relation of the different +sexes, the observance of Sunday, the regulation of marriage, the +protection of the life of infants, and also the condition of the +poor, engaged the attention of the Reformed Church and the Government. +Trials and executions for witchcraft were noticed. The coinage, mining +operations, and the trade and commerce of the kingdom were noted. +Sumptuary enactments touching dress, eating, drinking, and popular +amusements were passed by the Government. + +25. The literature of the nation in the first half of the century, +embracing the writings of Dunbar and Gavin Douglas, was reviewed and +characterised; and also the Complaint of Scotland, which was treated +in detail. + +26. The literature more associated with the Reformation movement, +including the writings of Sir David Lyndsay, and also ballads and +rhymes were treated historically. An account of the writings of Knox, +and others, was given; and the historical and political writings of +Buchanan were characterised. The literature of the later part of the +century, poetical, religious, and scientific, was noticed. + +27. In no branch of effort was the evidence of the change more +remarkable than in the interest shown in education. Although there were +grammar schools centuries before, yet it was not till the Reformation +that the supreme importance of education was recognised. + +After the Reformation, many efforts were made to erect and organise +primary schools, and before the end of the century a considerable +number of these were established. The Reformed clergy took a warm +interest in the education of the people, and exerted themselves to the +utmost to promote it. Efforts were also made to reform and re-organise +the Universities, which were noticed. + +28. The concluding chapter of this volume presents an attempt on +psychological and historical grounds to explicate the ultimate problem +of the Reformation. In a concise form it indicates several of the +great religious movements which have occurred in the world, in order +to illustrate in some measure the influence of Christianity as a factor +in civilisation, and in the progress of Scotland. + +VI.――The third volume covers the period from 1603 to 1746, and opens +with a review of the influences of the Union of the Crowns upon +Scotland. The means adopted for the pacification of the Borders were +indicated in detail. The policy of James VI. and Charles I. was stated. +The Covenanting struggle was narrated, and the fall of the King noted. +The Covenanters executed their work heroically and effectively. + +29. During the sequence of events the kingdom fell under the sway of +Cromwell. After resistance ceased, the country was well governed, and +peace and order reigned. + +30. In the natural course of events Cromwell died, and the traditions +and glories associated with the throne and the monarchy were soon in +the ascendant. Charles II. was recalled, and entered London amid the +shouts of the populace. + +VII.――The Restoration was a reactionary movement, which proved more +injurious to Scotland than to England. + +31. The principles of the Government were exposed, and a clear +narrative of their proceedings and the suffering inflicted upon the +people was presented. The reign of Charles II. terminated in 1685 amid +a scene of persecution, oppression, and corruption unmatched in the +worst times of the nation’s history. + +32. The Duke of York then mounted the throne, and a proclamation +was read at the Cross of Edinburgh, announcing that he was “the only +and undoubted king of the realm.” This man, who had succeeded to the +sceptre of three kingdoms, soon gave the culminating touch to the ideas +of the absolute power of the King, which had entailed so much suffering +and bloodshed. For a few years he played his game admirably. But he +became odious to the Scots, and lost the confidence of the English +nation; by his own rash and inconsiderate action at last he found +himself helpless and forlorn, and fled from the throne of his ancestors. + +33. When the crisis of the Revolution was observed to be nigh, great +excitement arose in the South and West of Scotland, and tumults ensued +in Edinburgh. The Convention of Estates met at Edinburgh in March 1688. +Then the throne was declared vacant, the Crown was tendered to William +and Mary, and the “Claim of Right” presented. Thus the Revolution was +recognised in Scotland. + +VIII.――The period from the Revolution to the Union was treated in +detail. Many important events and matters were touched on, such as the +rise of the commercial spirit, the Darien scheme and the proceedings +connected with it, the policy of England and the attitude assumed by +the Scots. The proceedings connected with the passing of the Treaty +Union were narrated, and the excitement in the kingdom noted. + +34. The advantages and disadvantages of the Union were touched on, the +causes of disaffection in Scotland; and the Risings of 1715 and 1745 +were concisely handled. The separate political history of Scotland then +terminated. + +IX.――The social state of the people in the seventeenth century was +very fully treated. Embracing the administration of justice, crime +throughout the kingdom, the state of the poor, and the laws for +suppressing vagrancy, were handled. Supernatural ideas, persecution +of the Quakers, and witchcraft, were treated. State of morality, +observance of Sunday, drinking and swearing, irregular marriages, +survival of customs associated with marriages and funerals, were +noticed. Acts of Parliament regulating the dress of the different +ranks of society were noted. The defective sanitary condition of the +towns, lack of pure water, and cleansing appliances were indicated. +Restrictions on trade and fixing the price of articles and food +continued in the burghs. The wages of skilled workmen and farm +labourers were noticed. The state of coal miners, and mining operations +were noted. The condition of the roads, the introduction of postal +communication, shipping, and agriculture, were noticed. + +The subjects of the improvement, and introduction of various +manufactures, such as tanning leather, woollen cloth, linen, soap works, +glass works, paper making, and tobacco spinning, which had engaged the +attention of Parliament and enterprising persons, were treated. After +indicating the progress of the coinage, the establishment of the Bank +of Scotland and a paper currency, I adduced more evidence that a spirit +of trade and commercial enterprise had arisen among the Scots in the +later part of the seventeenth century. + +35. An account of the ballad and Jacobite literature of the period was +given. Other branches of literature, including the progress of science, +were also treated. + +36. The progress of education, establishment of the parish schools, +music, and art, were related. + +37. The last chapter of the volume gave an outline of European +philosophy in the seventeenth century and early part of the eighteenth, +in which the systems of Bruno, Descartes, Spinoza, Leibnitz, Hobbes, +Locke, Shaftesbury, and other philosophers, were concisely explicated. +The aim of the outline was to show the historical relations of the +philosophy which subsequently arose in Scotland, to the systems of +thought which preceded it. + +X.――Accordingly, the fourth volume commenced with the history of +Scottish philosophy, Carmichael and Hutcheson――the founders of the +school. Hutcheson’s ethics were explained, and the influence of +his teaching and writings indicated. Hume’s chief psychological and +philosophical works were explicated and characterised, and their +influence on subsequent systems of thought pointed out. Adam Smith’s +ethical theory was explained; and his famous work――_The Wealth of +Nations_ reviewed at length, and its influence noted. + +38. The psychological works of Reid, Stewart, and Ferguson, were +examined and characterised. The writings of Gerard, Beattie, Campbell, +and Alison, were briefly noticed. Brown’s psychology was examined +in detail, and its influence noticed. The ethical views of Sir James +Mackintosh were indicated. + +39. Sir William Hamilton’s philosophical views were treated at +length. His psychology was explicated; and also his philosophy of the +conditioned; and his views of logic. Ferrier’s Theory of Knowing and +Being was reviewed; and the History of Scottish Philosophy concluded +with a notice of the psychological writings of George Croom Robertson. + +40. The literature of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was +treated under its various branches. Historical literature was concisely +reviewed. The change of historic conceptions, method, discrimination of +evidence, and greater freedom of criticism was noticed. + +41. Poetry of the period was handled, and a considerable number of the +works of the poets were characterised. Fiction also was briefly noticed, +and a number of distinguished novelists mentioned. + +42. Religious literature was treated; and it was remarked that +much greater freedom of thought and criticism now prevailed in this +department than heretofore. + +43. Under the title of miscellaneous literature a number of important +works were noticed. An account of the rise and development of +newspapers, periodical literature, and works of reference was given. + +44. The progress of mathematical, physical, and mechanical science +was narrated. The bearing of these sciences upon the industrial arts +and manufactures was indicated, and consequently their importance as +factors of civilisation. + +45. The progress of medical science followed:――1. The phenomenon +presented to this science was indicated; 2. The state of medical +science in Europe at the beginning of the eighteenth century was +briefly explained; 3. The institution of the medical schools of +Scotland were successively handled. Notices also were given of the +teaching and works of the eminent medical men who contributed to found +and raise the reputation of these schools. + +46. The advance of education, and changes in the primary, grammar +schools, and Universities were noticed. + +47. Agriculture, and the remarkable changes introduced in it during the +last hundred years were noticed. + +XI.――The progress of the coal, iron, and lead mining industries were +detailed, and interesting particulars stated. + +48. The erection of iron works and the introduction of iron +manufactures were narrated. + +49. The remarkable improvement and revolution in the means of +communication were indicated. + +50. The rapid increase of shipping was noticed. The progress of +shipbuilding, application of steam power to propel vessels, and the +introduction of steamboats and ships were noted. The change from wood +to iron shipbuilding, and subsequently the substitution of steel, and +the remarkable development of this branch of industry on the Clyde was +noticed. + +51. The erection and progress of glass and earthenware manufactures +were noted. + +52. The introduction and development of textile manufactures were +treated in detail:――1. The mechanical inventions connected with +the introduction of machinery and steam power in this department of +industry were noticed; 2. The development of woollen manufactures; +3. The development of linen manufactures; 4. The introduction and +development of cotton and jute manufactures; 5. Thread manufactures; +6. Silk and other manufactures. + +53. The progress and development of paper manufactures and +paper-hangings were narrated. + +54. The development of printing, the introduction of printing machines +and steam power in this department was noticed. The introduction of +machines in bookbinding was also noted. + +55. Leather and boot and shoe manufactures, Gutta-percha and +India-rubber manufactures were noticed. + +56. Sugar refining, brewing and distilling were treated. + +57. A number of various manufactures were briefly noticed. + +XII.――Architecture was partly treated in relation to the modern +reconstruction and recent sanitation of the chief cities. + +58. Monumental art was treated with reference to stone monuments, and +the granite industry. + +59. Fine art, embracing music, painting, and sculpture, was handled at +length. + +XIII.――A concise account of political and social movements was +presented. + +60. Ecclesiastical movements were treated. The historic grounds of the +Disruption were traced; and a brief narrative of the later stages of +the struggle was given. + +In conclusion, the population, wealth, industries, and commerce of +Scotland have greatly increased during the last two centuries. There +have been intervals of fluctuation and depression, when numbers of +working people in the centres of population have been out of employment. +Yet I see no necessity for taking a gloomy view of the future. The +resources of the human mind are not exhausted. The incidental suffering +associated with the existing industrial system may be gradually +remedied, as the moral and intellectual state of the people becomes +more perfect. Let us all endeavour to eradicate injustice, and embrace +every opportunity of ameliorating the conditions of life and human +happiness. + + + + + INDEX. + + + Abercorn, i., 116; + castle of, 343, 390; + Earl of, iii., 19. + + Abercromby, Dr. Patrick, iv., 143. + + Aberdeen, i., 148, 151, 234, 238‒9, 264, 284, 288, 306, 325, 366, + 370, 386‒7, 390; + ii., 116, 123, 192, 202, 212, 241, 247; + iii., 28, 90, 91, 219, 223, 228; + iv., 370, 375; + University of, i., 415, 467; + ii., 412, 413; + iii., 62, 392‒3; + iv., 60, 139, 317‒320. + + Aberdeen, Earl of, iv., 482. + + Aberdeenshire, i., 28, 49, 52, 68, 75, 90, 95, 140, 184, 271, 284, + 287, 325; + ii., 154; + iii., 244; + iv., 370, 371. + + Abernethy, i., 114, 165, 245. + + Aboyne, i., 174; + Viscount of, iii., 93. + + Ada, daughter of Earl David, i., 204, 256. + + Adam, + Dr. Alexander, iv., 153; + William, Robert, James, 402. + + Adamson, Archbishop of St. Andrews, ii., 182‒4, 189, 271, 380. + + Aed, King, i., 136. + + Agricola, General, i., 105, 109. + + Agriculture, i., 100, 133, 150, 250‒254, 376‒381; + ii., 266, 289, 290; + iii., 303‒305; + iv., 332‒339. + + Aidan, King of Dalriada, i., 117‒8. + + Aikman, iv., ♦429. + + ♦ page number provided by transcriber + + Airlie, Earl of, iii., 90; + castle of, 337. + + Alan, Lord of Galloway, i., 211. + + Albany, + Duke of, i., 319, 321‒2, 324‒6; + Murdoch, 326, 327, 328; + Alexander, 348‒351; + John, Regent, ii., 36‒37. + + Ale, i., 251, 399, 400, 401, 402, 404; + ii., 291‒292; + iii., 217‒219; + iv., 395. + + Alexander I., reign of, i., 200, 201. + + Alexander II., reign of, i., 209‒212, 242. + + Alexander, III., + coronation of, i., 213; + reign of, 213‒217. + + Alexander, William, iv., 209‒211. + + Alison, + Rev. Archibald, iv., 86; + Sir Archibald, 155‒6; + Dr. William, 312. + + Allan, + David, iv., 433; + Sir William, 443. + + Alloa, iv., 433. + + Alnwick castle, i., 143, 300. + + Amberley, Viscount, ii., 43, 44. + + Anderson, + Dr. Joseph, i., 52, 55, 57, 61, 65, 66, 168, 180; + William, ii., 68; + James, iv., 143, 144; + Robert, 173. + + Angles, i., 113, 118, 119. + + Angus, + Pictish King, i., 120; + Angus, Chief, 116, 202; + Angus Duff, 329; + Angus, Lord of the Isles, 218, 285, 292, 293; + Angus, Earl of, 342, 343, 350, 351; + ii., 36, 37, 38, 61, 63, 64, 65, 181, 195, 212. + + Annandale, i., 26, 203, 223, 349. + + Annandale, Earl of, iii., 179. + + Anne, Queen, iii., 204, 205, 209, 211, 220, 222. + + Anstruther, ii., 192. + + Arbroath, + monastery of, i., 249, 296, 432, 433, 434; + town of, 238, 409; + iii., 93, 301; + iv., 375. + + Arbuthnot, + Alexander, ii., 372, 373, 413; + Dr. John, iv., 228‒230. + + Architecture, i., 157‒165, 247‒250, 428‒431; + ii., 396, 397; + iii., 396‒7; + iv., 401‒411. + + Ardnamurchan, i., 24, 261, 356; + iii., 90. + + Ardoch, i., 106. + + Argyle, + Earl of, i., 356‒7, 364, 365; + ii., 63, 64, 89, 96, 97, 130, 134, 135, 145, 150, 181, 201, + 202, 224, 226, 229; + iii., 90, 91, 92, 99, 104, 121, 123, 159, 167, 192; + Duke of, 206, 223, 241. + + Argyleshire, i., 53, 116, ♦117, 121, 127, 210, 261, 369; + iii., 91; iv. + + ♦ “177” replaced with “117” + + Arkinholm, battle of, i., 343. + + Armada, ii., 191, 192. + + Armstrong, + John, a marauder, ii., 224, 225; + Dr. John, iv., 169. + + Arran, island of, i., 23, 95, 216, 286, 379, 380. + + Arran, + Earl of, i., 346; + Regent, ii., 63, 65, 67, 70, 74, 78, 86, 87; + Stewart, Earl of Arran, 175, 177, 181, 184, 185, 187. + + Arrowheads, i., 49, 50. + + Art, + early, i., 52, 75‒79, 166‒174, 176‒180, 241‒243, 470, 471; + ii., 423‒425; + iii., 393‒396; + Progress of, in Scotland, iv., 428. + + Aryan race, i., 38‒42; + language of, 43. + + Arth, a friar, ii., 51‒53. + + Asceticism, i., 131, 156, 157, 244; + ii., 43‒46, 261, 262. + + Assembly, General, + ii., 115, 129, 149, 151, 160, 166, 167, 169, 188, 193, 211, + 213; + iii., 28, 34, 36, 39, 69‒72, 77, 83, 84, 98, 104, 186; + iv., 465‒485. + + Athole, + Earl of, i., 208, 209, 214, 217, 255, 263, 283, 285, 305, 306, + 335, 337; + ii., 143, 148; + iii., 110; + Marquis of, 174; + Duke of, 207, 212. + + Attwood, iv., 143, 144. + + Auldearn, battle of, iii., 94. + + Ayr, + Burgh of, i., 240, 356, 359, 386, 387; + ii., 69; + iii., 303; + iv., 369‒372; + Castle of, i., 215, 248, 274, 287. + + Ayrshire, i., 29, 114, 286, 287, 379; + ii., 78; + iii., 134, 153; + iv., 341, 342. + + Aytoun, William E., iv., 194. + + + Bacon, Lord, ii., 395; + iii., 434‒435. + + Badenoch, i., 211, 276, 356; + iii., 181. + + Badenoch, Lord of, i., 217, 256, 271, 274, 275, 277. + + Baillie, + General, iii., 93, 94, 95; + Rev. Robert, 75, 76, 87, 88, 357, 358. + + Bain, Dr. Alexander, ii., 420; + iv., 139, 140, 141, 155. + + Balcanqhall, Walter, ii., 177, 184, 187, 206. + + Balfour, + Sir James, ii., 75, 135, 144, 146; + John, of Burley, iii., 151, 153, 343; + Sir Andrew, 369. + + Baliol, Bernard de, i., 203. + + Baliol, + King John, i., 256, 258, 259, 260‒262, 263, 264, 366; + Edward, 304, 305, 306, 307. + + Ballads, + early, i., 184‒5, 441‒450; + ii., 76, 77, 244, 245, 341‒345; + referring to the Civil War and persecution, iii., 237‒346; + Jacobite ballads, 346‒353. + + Balmerino, Lord, iii., 18, 60. + + Bancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury, iii., 32. + + Bane, Donald, King, i., 144. + + Banff, i., 148, 248, 307, 385, 390, 391; + iii., 301; + iv., 373. + + Bank of Scotland established, iii., 327‒329. + + Bannatyne, George, ii., 371, 372. + + Bannockburn, battle of, i., 291‒295. + + Barbour, John, i., 451‒454. + + Barclay, + Robert, iii., 258; + Dr., iv., 308. + + Barlow, Bishop, ii., 54, 56. + + Barmekyn hill, fort on, i., 90. + + Barony, i., 223, 225. + + Barton, Captain, i., 359, 363. + + Beaton, + James, Archbishop, ii., 38, 58; + David, Cardinal, 58, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70‒72, 79. + + Beaumont, Henry, i., 301, 305, 306. + + Beck, Bishop of Durham, i., 266, 270. + + Bede, i., 116, 122, 126. + + Bellhaven, Lord, iii., 197, 211‒12. + + Bell Rock, i., 23. + + Bell, + Dr. John, iv., 306, 307; + Sir Charles, 307, 308. + + Bellenden, + John, ii., 317, 318; + Sir John, 158; + Sir Lewis, 274. + + Berkeley, Bishop, iii., 470, 471. + + Berwick-North, i., 387, 389. + + Berwick, i., 206, 233, 234, 236, 238, 239, 248, 259, 260, 263, + 264, 268, 279, 285, 295, 305, 350, 382; + Treaty of, ii., 100, 272. + + Bible, translations of, ii., 25‒27, 49, 170. + + Bisset, Thomas, i., 271. + + Black, + David, ii., 204‒206; + Dr. Joseph iv., 260‒263, 273, 276, 278. + + Blackadder, John, iii., 139. + + Blackie, John S., iv., 247‒249. + + Blakey, Robert, iv., 160. + + Blacklock, Dr. Thomas, iv., 171, 172. + + Blair, + Robert, iv., 169, 170; + Dr. Hugh, 215. + + Blair Athole, iii., 90. + + Blair Castle, iii., 181. + + Bœce, Hector, ii., 316. + + Bondmen, i., 252, 380‒382. + + Book of Common Order, ii., 113, 114; + Book of Discipline, the first, 105‒113; + the second, 171‒173. + + Book of Canons, iii., 45, 46. + + Boot and shoe manufactures, iv., 392, 393. + + Borders, + state of, i., 309, 315‒318, 322, 324, 342; + ii., 223‒225; + order established on the Borders, iii., 20‒28. + + Borthwick Castle, ii., 143. + + Bothwell, + Earl of, i., 353, 426; + ii., 69, 131, 133, 134, 135, 136, 138‒145; + Francis Stewart, Earl of, 198, 272, 273, 274‒276. + + Bothwell Bridge, Battle of, iii., 153, 154. + + Botriphnie, i., 378; + iv., 197. + + Bower, Walter, i., 376, 463. + + Boyd, + Robert, of Kilmarnock, i., 283; + Robert, Lord Boyd, 345, 346, 347; + Sir Thomas, created Earl of Arran, 146, 147. + + Boyd, Zachary, iii., 358, 359. + + Braemar, iii., 222. + + Brahmanism, ii., 428, 429, 431, 433. + + Braxfield, Lord, iv., 458. + + Breadalbane, Earl of, iii., 190, 191. + + Brechin, i., 138, 164, 183, 238, 249, 276, 409; + Castle of, 264, 276; + Battle of, 342. + + Bridges, Early, i., 250. + + Briggs, Henry, ii., 389, 390, 391. + + Brigham, treaty of, i., 218. + + Britons of Strathclyde, i., 113, 114, 117, 123‒125, 138. + + Britons and Scots, early laws of, i., 151‒153. + + Brochs, i., 157‒163. + + Brodick Castle, i., 286. + + Brodie, + Alexander, iii., 255; + William, iv., 454. + + Bronze weapons and tools, i., 74‒79. + + Brooches, i., 117‒119. + + Brown, + Janet, ii., 231; + Dr. Thomas, iv., 87‒97; + John, 216; + Dr. John, 217; + Dr. William L., 218, 219. + + Bruce, + Robert, of Annandale, i., 203, 218, 255, 256, 257, 258, 259, + 260; + Robert, Earl of Carrick, 266, 267, 271, 276, 278, 281‒283. + + Bruce, + Nigel, Thomas, Alexander, i., 285; + Edward, 287, 290, 291, 292; + Robert, ii., 201, 208, 216, 381, 382; + Michael, iv., 177. + + Brude, King of the Picts, i., 127. + + Bruno, Giordano, writings of, iii., 399‒401. + + Brunston, Laird of, ii., 69. + + Buchan, Earl of, i., 208, 209, 211, 213, 217, 262, 287, 288, 319, + 325, 352, 353, 373. + + Buchan, Peter, i., 446. + + Buchanan, + George, ii., 58, 145; + writings of, 364‒369, 409; + Thomas, 260; + Dr. Robert, iv., 224. + + Buddha, his life and work, ii., 429‒432. + + Buddhism, ii., 233, 432. + + Burghs, + the origin and organisation of, i., 33, 82, 83, 152, 232‒237; + Custom and trade of, 382‒391; + Social life and characteristics of the burghal communities, + 397‒408, 414, 438, 439; + ii., 230‒243, 291‒294; + iii., 245‒248, 274‒278, 283‒289. + + Burghs of regality, barony, and church, i., 226, 237, 238, 408, + 409. + + Burial dues exacted by the Church, ii., 39, 40. + + Burnet, + Bishop, his works, iii., 364‒366; + John, iv., 441. + + Burns, Robert, iv., 179‒182. + + Burntisland, iii., 301. + + Burton, Dr. John H., iv., 160. + + + Caerlaverock Castle, i., 247, 272. + + Cairns, burial, chambered, i., 53‒64, 91, 92. + + Caithness, + prehistoric structures in, i., 53‒58; + Norseman inroads, 136, 138, 139. + + Caithness, Earls of, i., 207, 208; + ii., 227; + iii., 237, 238, 239. + + Calderwood, David, iii., 38, 356, 357. + + Caledonians, i., 105‒109, 110, 111, 114. + + Caledonian Canal, iv., 354. + + Calvin, ii., 119, 357‒360. + + Cambuskenneth, i., 249, 367. + + Cameron of Lochiel, i., 356; + iii., 181. + + Cameron, Richard, iii., 155, 156. + + Cameronians, iii., 155, 174, 185, 186, 187. + + Campbell of Glenlyon, iii., 192. + + Campbell, + Sir Colin, iii., 395; + Dr. John, iv., 144; + Dr. George, 85, 86; + Thomas, his writings, 185‒187; + Colin, architect, 402; + Thomas, sculptor, 454. + + Candlish, Dr. R. T., iv., 221, 222. + + Canterbury, Archbishop of, i., 200, 201, 272. + + Cantyre, i., 21, 215, 261, 285, 348. + + Canute, i., 139, 192. + + Carberry Hill, ii., 144. + + Cardross, i., 302, 303. + + Cargill, Donald, iii., 155, 156, 157. + + Carham, battle of, i., 138. + + Carlisle, i., 210, 318; + iii., 227. + + Carlyle, + Thomas, iv., 156‒159; + Dr. Alexander, 19, 43, 44. + + Carmichael, Lord, iii., 186, 187. + + Carmichael, + John, of ♦Meadowflat, iii., 27; + William, 151; + Gershom, iv., 18. + + ♦ “Meadowflatt” replaced with “Meadowflat” + + ♦Carmon, Colonel, iii., 183. + + ♦ Printed out of alphabetic order. + + Carrick, Earl of, i., 217, 266, 271, 278, 281, 302, 305, 314, + 316. + + Carswell, John, ii., 108. + + Carstairs, William, iii., 178, 179. + + Carved woodwork, i., 430; + ii., 423. + + Casket Letters, ii., 141, 142; + iv., 145. + + Cassillis, Earl of, i., 365; + ii., 69, 150; + iii., 19, 56, 87, 99, 104. + + Castellio, Sebastia, ii., 359. + + Castles, i., 247, 248, 428, 430; + ii., 422, 423. + + Catechisms, ii., 77, 78, 85, 109, 110; + iii., 89. + + Caterthun, hill fort, i., 89, 90. + + Cathen, the King’s adviser, i., 125. + + Caves, i., 43, 83, 163. + + Celestius, ii., 356. + + Celibacy, i., 131, 156, 244, 245; + ii., 21, 22, 41‒43, 45, 46, 261, 262. + + Celtic tribes, i., 44, 45, 90, 100, 101, 105, 110, 113‒116, 119. + + Censorship of the press, ii., 277, 278. + + Chalmer, James, ii., 90. + + Chalmers, + George, iv., 153; + Dr. Thomas, 219‒221. + + Chambered Cairns, i., 53‒65. + + Chambers, + Thomas, i., 336, 337; + David, ii., 138; + Dr. Robert, iv., 163. + + Charles I., + reign of, iii., 42‒100; + policy of, 43‒50, 51‒54, 57, 58, 59, 63‒65, 66‒68, 71, 73‒75, + 76, 77, 78‒82, 90, 95, 96, 97. + + Charles II., reign of, iii., 103, 107, 110, 119‒163. + + Charles Stewart, prince, iii., 226‒229. + + Charters, i., 148, 201, 223‒225, 227, 232‒234, 373, 387, 422. + + Chartularies, i., 247. + + Chatelherault, Duke of, ii., 86, 130. + + Chemical Science, iv., 260‒266, 273, 286, 296‒298, 397. + + Chepman, Walter, ii., 300‒302. + + Christian I., King of Denmark, i., 346. + + Christianity, + introduced, i., 121‒129; + early form of, 130‒134; + influence of, 134, 135, 168, 181, 186, 232, 245, 248‒250, 288, + 289, 466, 467; + ii., 437‒439, 443. + + Church, + early, i., 130‒134, 155‒157, 200, 201; + re-organisation of, 212, 213, 243‒245; + property of, 227, 252‒254, 380, 431‒433; + state of, 332, 333, 431, 432; + ii., 40‒43, 51, 76‒78, 79, 102. + + Church, the Reformed, + organisation of, ii., 104‒115; + conflict with the Government, 165‒173, 177‒189, 192‒194, + 197‒220; + iii., 20‒42, 46‒82, 83‒87, 95‒101, 110, 120‒163, 164‒169; + internal struggles of, iv., 467, _et seq._ + + Circuit Courts, i., 222, 355, 356, 424; + Lords of Council, Judicial Committee, i., 370, 371; + Court of Session, ii., 216, 223; + iii., 112, 113, 124, 232‒235; iv.; + Church Courts, i., 227, 230, 371. + + Cists, i., 55, 93, 95. + + Civilisation, + primary causes of, i., 19‒20, 31‒33, 34, 35; + ii., 426, 427; + gradual progress of, i., 53, 70, 71, 98‒102, 119‒121, 135, + 149‒151, 161, 164, 169, 170, 181‒188, 232‒241, 245‒55, + 330‒332, 366‒371, 382‒397, 408, 418‒422, 465‒472; + ii., 109, 278‒291, 398, 419; + iii., 101, 102, 294‒335; + rapid development of, iii., 215; + iv., 142‒145, 165, 284, 324‒332; _et seq._, 341‒400. + + Clackmannan, iv., 343. + + Claim of Right, + of the Scotch Parliament, iii., 176, 177; + Claim of Right, of General Assembly of the Church, iv., 480, + _et seq._ + + Clan, i., 146; + iii., 225. + + Clan Canan, i., 150. + + Clan Morgan, i., 150. + + Clanranald, chief of, i., 356; + ii., 226; + iii., 242, 243. + + Cleland, William, iii., 153. + + Clunymore, i., 378. + + Coal, + early notice of, i., 238, 409; + mining, ii., 286; + iii., 292‒293; + iv., 341‒343. + + Cochrane, Robert, i., 348‒350. + + Cockburne, of Henderland, ii., 224. + + Cockburn, Sir Richard, Sir John, iii., 18. + + Coinage, i., 238, 394‒397; + ii., 279‒282; + iii., 320‒327; + paper currency, 327‒329. + + Coldingham, i., 209, 246. + + Colin, King, i., 137. + + Colliers, iii., 291‒292; + iv., 342‒344. + + Colville, John, i., 448. + + Commerce, i., 239‒240, 391‒394; + ii., 286‒290; + iii., 112, 300‒303, 311; + iv., 352‒357, 359‒363, _et seq._ + + Compurgators, i., 228‒229. + + Comyn, Clan, i., 213‒214. + + Comyn, + John, i., 217, 256, 271, 275, 277; + slaughter of, 281. + + Confessions of Faith, ii., 34‒35, 102, 204‒205; + iii., 89. + + Constantine, Roman general, i., 112. + + Constantine I., son of Kenneth M‘Alpin, i., 136. + + Constantine II., 136‒137. + + Constantine III., 138. + + Conventicles, acts against, iii., 130, 131, 133, 138, 140, 146, + 148, 149. + + Convention of Royal Burgh, i., 234, 235. + + Convention of Estates, iii., 173‒177. + + Cope, Sir John, iii., 226, 227. + + Corrichie, battle of, ii., 123, 124. + + Cotterel, Colonel, iii., 110, 111. + + Covenant, + National, iii., 59‒62; + Solemn League and Covenant, 83‒86. + + Covenanters, iii., 68‒73, 74‒77, 78‒82, 86, 89‒102, 103‒105, 107. + + ♦Craftsmen, i., 335, 336, 404‒408; + ii., 240, 241, 242, 293, 294; + iii., 287‒289. + + ♦ “Craftesmen” replaced with “Craftsmen” + + Craig, + John, ii., 110, 158, 167, 185; + Sir Thomas, 384; + Andrew, iii., 245. + + Craigellachie, iv., 354. + + Craigmiller Castle, i., 349. + + Craigphadrig, vitrified fort, i., 91. + + Crannogs, i., 42, 84‒87. + + Cranstoun, Sir William, iii., 21, 24, 25, 27. + + Crawar, Paul, i., 332. + + Crawford, Earl of, i., 321, 340, 341, 342, 343, 364; + iii., 120, 179, 186. + + Crawford, Sir William, i., 388, 389. + + Crawford Moor, ii., 282; + iii., 293. + + Crichton, Sir William, i., 338, 339, 340. + + Crinan, Abbot of Dunkeld, i., 139, 140. + + Cromwell, iii., 99, 108, 100, 110, 111, 112‒115. + + Culblean, battle of, i., 306. + + Cullen, burgh of, i., 385, 386. + + Culloden, battle of, iii., 229, 230, 351, 352; + iv., 172, 173. + + Cumberland, i., 105, 125, 142. + + Cumberland, Duke of, iii., 228, 229. + + Cummene, i., 181. + + Cunningham, Allan, iv., 192, 193. + + Cupar, i., 465; + iii., 157. + + Curates, under Charles II., iii., 130, 132, 173. + + + Dacre, Lord, ii., 62. + + Dalkeith, iii., 227; + castle of, i., 316, 342; + ii., 423. + + Dalriada, i., 116, 117, 127. + + Dalry, iii., 133. + + Dalrymple, Sir John, iii., 191‒193, 233, 234. + + Dalziel, General, iii., 134, 135, 342. + + Dancing, i., 457, 468; + ii., 124, 125, 415; + iv., 416. + + Darien Colony, iii., 196‒204. + + Darnaway Castle, i., 360; + ii., 124. + + Darnley, ii., 128, 129, 130‒136, 137, 138. + + Dauney, William, iv., 416. + + David I., reign of, i., 201‒204, 221, 223, 224, 225, 227, 228, + 230, 232, 234, 235, 243, 244. + + David II., reign of, i., 304, 306, 307‒313, 429. + + David, Earl of Huntingdon, i., 204, 256. + + Davidson, + John, ii., 198, 214, 373, 374; + Thomas, 302, 303; + John, Principal of the University of Glasgow, 352, 408; + Dr. Patrick, iv., 164. + + Dean of Lismore’s Book, i., 442, 443. + + Defence of the Country, armour, weapons, organisation of the + army, i., 409‒413. + + Denmark, marriage treaty, i., 346. + + Descartes, method and principles of his system, iii., 403‒418. + + Dickson, David, iii., 61, 359. + + Dingwall, i., 385, 386. + + Divorce, ii., 265, 266. + + Donald I., i., 136. + + Donald II., i., 136. + + Donald Bane, i., 144. + + Donald Balloch, i., 329, 330. + + Donald, Lord of the Isles, i., 324‒326. + + Douglas, + Sir William, i., 266, 267; + Sir James, 283, 286, 287, 290, 292, 300, 303; + Sir Archibald, 305, 306; + Sir William, 307; + Sir John of Dalkeith, 342; + Sir James, 435; + Sir William of Drumlanrig, 389; + Sir James, ii., 225; + George of Parkhead, 284, 285; + Sir Archibald, iii., 18. + + Douglas, Earl of, i., 316, 317, 318, 321, 323, 326, 338, 339, + 340, 341, 342, 343, 349, 388, 389, 390. + + Douglas, + Gavin, ii., 36, 310‒315; + Dr. James, iv., 320. + + Drumclog, battle of, iii., 153. + + Drummond, + Lord, i., 360; + ii., 228; + Earl of Perth, iii., 171, 172; + Lady Margaret, i., 360. + + Drummond, + General, iii., 135; + James, 227; + William, 366, 367. + + Dryburgh, Monastery, ii., 66. + + Duff, + King, i., 137; + Angus Chief, 329; + + ♦Dumbarton, i., 114, 121; + castle of, 248, 278; + ii., 149, 154, 155; + burgh of, i., 386, 391; + iii., 302, 303; + iv., 361. + + ♦ Separate item, not part of Duff. + + ♦Dumfries, + Castle of, i., 248, 290; + burgh of, 282, 356, 384; + ii., 131, 186; + iii., 24, 27, 134, 212, 228, 342, 386; + iv., 371. + + ♦ Printed out of alphabetic order. + + ♦Dumplin, battle of, i., 305. + + ♦ Printed out of alphabetic order. + + Dunaverty Castle, i., 285, 355. + + Dunbar, + Castle, i., 263, 383; + ii., 133, 140, 141, 143, 149; + town of, i., 383, 503; + iii., 227, 300, 387; + battle of, 109. + + Dunbar, Earl of, i., 212, 214, 217, 218; + iii., 18, 25, 26, 30. + + Dunbar, William, ii., 303‒310. + + Dunblane, + cathedral, i., 249; + ii., 423; + city of, i., 238, 408. + + Duncan I., i., 139, 140. + + Duncan II., i., 143, 144. + + Duncan, Dr. Andrew, iv., 302‒304. + + Dundee, i., 83, 119, 248, 265, 267, 288, 387, 391, 437; + ii., 69, 93, 197, 202, 233, 235, 237, 240, 243, 400; + iii., 93, 223, 301, 303; + iv., 243, 331, 357, 358, 375, 376. + + Dundee, Viscount, iii., 174, 175, 181, 182, 183. + + Dunfermline, + Abbey of, i., 141, 144, 156, 239, 248, 252, 303, 385; + burgh of, 238, 258, 408; + ii., 400; + iv., 375. + + Dunfermline, Earl of, iii., 18, 30. + + Dunkeld, i., 119; + church of, 120, 134; + abbot of, 138, 139, 143; + bishopric of, 210, 218, 222, 225. + + Dunlop, + John, iv., 155; + Alexander, 480. + + Dunnichen, i., 116. + + Dunnotter, i., 136. + + Duns Law, iii., 74. + + Dunsinnane, i., 91, 92, 140. + + Dupin, Nicolas, iii., 313, 318, 333. + + Durham, i., 203; + battle of, 308; + iii., 97. + + Durham, James, iii., 359. + + ♦Durrisdeer, i., 91. + + ♦ Printed out of alphabetic order. + + Durward, Alan, i., 214, 216. + + Dury, John, ii., 167, 178, 179, 182. + + + Eadmer, i., 200, 201. + + Earth-houses, i., 65‒70. + + Earthenware, iii., 317; + iv., 365, 366. + + Edgar, King, i., 143, 144, 148. + + Edinburgh, + annexed, i., 137, 144, 151, 233, 247, 258, 276, 301, 306, 312, + 317, 319, 338, 352, 354, 370, 388, 389; + ii., 35, 54, 58, 65, 66, 78, 89, 90, 91, 93, 97, 99, 100, + 115, 117, 119, 124, 128, 132, 133, 135, 140, 143, 148, + 151, 154, 163, 167, 179, 183, 203, 206, 213, 219, 237; + iii., 37, 41, 42‒44, 48, 49, 54, 55, 56, 67, 81, 99, 110, + 120, 129, 134, 135, 147, 153, 163, 168, 171‒173, 174‒176, + 180, 182, 186, 203, 206, 213, 219, 227, 236, 241, 274, 285; + iv., 44, 70, 75, 87, 97, 144, 148, 165, 174, 178, 194, 211, + 222, 234, 330, 391, 405‒6; + Castle of, i., 248, 264, 274, 307, 322, 339, 349, 350, 358, + 429; + ii., 101, 134, 142, 144, 149, 152, 155; + iii., 73, 159, 174, 175, 227; + University of, ii., 414‒419; + iii., 392, 393; + iv., 18, 69, 70, 74, 75, 87, 97, 102, 103, 136, 148, 156, + 157, 167, 257, 263, 274, 291‒315. + + Edinburgh, treaty of, ii., 100. + + Edmund, i., 143. + + Education, i., 184, 245, 466; + first Educational Act, 466, 467, 468; + ii., 109, 110, 397‒422; + iii., 375‒393; + iv., 324‒330. + + Edward I., policy of, i., 218, 219, 255‒260, 261, 262, 263‒265, + 266, 269‒271, 272, 273‒279, 283, 287. + + Edward II., i., 287, 290, 291, 292, 293, 294, 296, 298, 299, 300. + + Edward III., + Invasions of Scotland, i., 305, 306, 307; + policy of, 309, 310, 311, 312. + + Edward IV., i., 348, 349, 351. + + Edward VI., ii., 75, 86, 87. + + Egfrid, defeat of, i., 116. + + Eglinton, Earl of, ii., 140, 229; + iii., 56, 75, 99. + + Elgin, i., 139, 264, 385, 390; + ii., 251; + iii., 92, 94; + iv., 370; + + Elizabeth, wife of Robert I., i., 303. + + Elizabeth, Queen, ii., 92, 93, 99, 100, 145, 150, 220; + iv., 147. + + Elliot, Robert, iii., 27. + + Ellon, iv., 370. + + Elphinstone, Bishop, i., 467; + ii., 300, 301. + + Elphinstone, + Lord, iii., 19; + master of, 292. + + England, policy of toward Scotland, i., 206, 214, 218, 257‒260, + 261, 263‒265, 271, 273, 278, 280, 283, 287, 299, 300, 301, + 305, 306, 309, 310, 322, 349, 361, 362; + ii., 54‒57, 63‒67, 76, 99‒101, 155; + iii., 179, 183, 184, 190‒193, 198, 201‒204, 206, 217‒221. + + English language, i., 441, 443, 464. + + English money, i., 396; + ii., 282; + one standard fixed, iii., 216. + + Eocha, King, i., 136. + + Episcopacy, ii., 108, 109, 157‒160, 164‒171, 177, 182‒185, 188, + 210‒218; + iii., 28‒42, 44‒69; + abolished, 70‒72; + reintroduced, 122‒128; + again abolished, 180, 181, 184. + + Erc, Chief, i., 116. + + Eric II., King of Norway, i., 217, 259. + + Errol, Earl of, i., 365, 373; + ii., 195, 196, 199, 201, 212; + iii., 19. + + Erskine, + Lord Robert, i., 334; + John, of Dun, ii., 88, 89, 93, 108, 158, 185; + Rev. Ebenezer, iv., 213; + Rev. Ralph, 213; + Dr. John, 213, 214; + Thomas, Lord, 232‒234. + + Ethnology, i., 38‒43; + of Scotland, 43‒47, 114, 115, 116, 118. + + Etive, Loch, vitrified fort on, i., 91. + + Evans, Dr. John, i., 50, 51. + + Exchequer, i., 221. + + Excise, difficulties connected with, iii., 217‒219; + iv., 395, 396. + + Excommunication of Robert I., i., 295, 303; + form of, ii., 255, 257. + + + Fairfax, iii., 342. + + Falasie, i., 192. + + Falkirk, battle of, i., 269‒271; + iii., 228. + + Falkland Castle, i., 323, 430; + ii., 213, 274. + + Fast Castle, i., 324, 353. + + Fasting, i., 131; + ii., 257‒260; + iii., 272, 273. + + Fergus, + King, i., 120; + Chief, 116, 205. + + Ferguson, + David, ii., 352; + Adam, iv., 69‒74, 152. + + Fergusson, Robert, iv., 178, 179. + + Feudalism, i., 161, 190, 193, 198, 199, 201, 203, 209, 211, + 220‒228, 256, 260, 261, 269, 337, 371‒376, 411. + + Fife, Earl of, i., 143, 204, 209, 213, 217, 225, 271, 308, 314, + 317, 319, 333. + + Fifeshire, i., 105, 119, 121, 136, 304; + ii., 66; + iii., 151; + iv., 142, 143, 341, 373. + + Finlay, John, i., 446. + + Firth of Forth, i., 23, 28, 109, 110, 115, 119. + + Fisheries, i., 239, 377, 390, 391, 432; + ii., 40, 54; + iii., 301, 302, 303, 308; + iv., 400. + + Flanders, Count of, i., 240, 241, 391, 392. + + Fleming, + Robert, i., 283; + Malcolm, 327, 339. + + Fleming, Lord, i., 345; + ii., 150. + + Fletcher, + Sir John, iii., 120; + Andrew, of Saltoun, 179, 206, 255. + + Flint weapons and tools, i., 48‒52. + + Flodden, Battle of, i., 363‒365. + + Forbes, Lord, i., 353, 354. + + Forbes, + Patrick, Bishop, iii., 362; + Dr. John, 362, 363; + Professor, iv., 266, 268. + + Fordoun, iii., 94. + + Fordun, John, i., 463. + + Forest, + free, i., 223; + forest laws, 225, 417. + + Forfar, + Castle of, i., 248, 267, 288; + burgh of, 373, 387; + iv., 375. + + Forfarshire, i., 89, 121, 202, 264, 378; + ii., 88; + iii., 90, 110; + iv., 373. + + Forfeited estates, i., 343, 344, 347; + ii., 60; + iii., 217, 224; + iv., 336. + + Forman, Andrew, Archbishop of St. Andrews, i., 428; + ii., 36. + + Forres, i., 248, 372, 385. + + Forrest, Thomas, martyred, ii., 58. + + Forrester, Robert, martyred, ii., 58. + + Four Burghs, court of, i., 234, 235. + + France, + Alliance with, i., 262, 274, 275, 299, 300, 315; + French troops in Scotland, 316, 317, 330, 363; + ii., 76, 97. + + Franchise, iv., 456, 460, 461‒463. + + Francis II., ii., 97, 116. + + Frankfort, ii., 75. + + Fraser, William, Bishop of St. Andrews, i., 217, 246, 255. + + Fraser, + Sir Simon, i., 275, 277, 285; + Alexander, 283; + James, 305; + Simon, 305; + Captain Simon, iv., 421. + + Free Trade with England under Cromwell, iii., 112. + + French refugees, ii., 189. + + Fyvie, i., 50, 432; + iii., 91. + + Fyvie, Lord, ii., 204; + iii., 18. + + + Gaelic, i., 148, 175, 183, 184, 442‒444. + + Galgacus, Chief, i., 106‒109. + + Galloway, i., 115, 122, 201, 203; + risings in, 205, 206, 211, 212, 272; + law of, 229, 230; + castles of, 290. + + Galloway, + Lord of, i., 211, 230, 256; + Bishop of, 212; + ii., 153. + + Galt, John, iv., 204. + + Game laws, i., 417. + + Garioch, i., 325. + + Gasklune, battle of, i., 319, 320. + + Geddes, Sir William, iv., 142. + + Geneva, ii., 75, 89, 113, 114, 359. + + Geology, iv., 268‒271. + + George I., iii., 222. + + Gibbs, James, iv., 402‒404. + + Gibson, James, ii., 188. + + Gilbert, Chief, i., 206. + + Gillespie, George, iii., 87, 362. + + Gillies, Dr. John, iv., 152, 153. + + Gladstanes, Archbishop of St. Andrews, iii., 19. + + Glammis, + Lord, i., 373; + Master of, ii., 177, 181; + iii., 19. + + Glasgow, + Bishop of――Wishart, i., 266, 273, 277, 283, 294; + Turnbull, 466, 467; + Laing, 467; + Archbishop of, ii., 38, 59; + iii., 19, 35, 363; + Cathedral of i., 249. + + Glasgow, + city of, i., 125, 238, 403, 408, 465; + ii., 97, 252, 400, 402, 403; + iii., 50, 69, 128, 153, 218, 228, 245, 246, 248, 254, 284, + 302, 303, 319, 328, 330, 331; + iv., 348‒351, 360‒363, 370, 376, 378, 380, 383, 389, 392‒393, + 395, 397‒399, 406‒409, 428; + University of, i., 466; + ii., 408‒410; + iii., 388, 390, 391, 392; + iv., 18, 19, 44, 60, 102, 260‒263, 266, 272‒275, 284, 315‒317. + + Glass, + introduction of, i., 420; + Glass-making, iii., 315‒317; + iv., 363‒365. + + Glencairn, Earl of, ii., 69, 88, 89, 97, 130, 133, 145, 148, 177; + iii., 120, 124. + + Glencoe, iii., 191‒193. + + Glenfinnan, iii., 226. + + Glengarry, chief, iii., 190, 191, 226. + + Glenlivet, battle of, ii., 201, 202. + + Glenmore, i., 25, 215. + + Godly Ballads, ii., 341‒345. + + Gold ornaments, ancient, i., 79‒81. + + Goodal, Walter, iv., 145. + + Goodsir, John, iv., 306. + + Gordon, Duke of, iii., 174, 175; + iv., 421, 454. + + Gordon, + Sir Adam, i., 298, 305; + Sir Alexander, 338; + Sir John, ii., 124; + George, 124; + Sir Robert, iii., 237, 238; + Sir Alexander, 238; + Lord Gordon, 238, 239; + Robert, 247; + George, 267, 268; + Dr., iv., 309; + Sir John W., 446. + + Gourlay, Norman, burned, ii., 54. + + Gow, + Neil, iv., 418, 420; + Nathaniel, 421, 422. + + Gowrie, Earl of, ii., 177, 179, 180, 181, 218, 219. + + Gowrie, Carse of, i., 28. + + Graham, + Sir John, i., 271; + David de, 277; + Sir Robert, 327, 334, 335, 336, 337; + William, iii., 313; + John of Claverhouse, 153; + George F., iv., 416. + + Grammar Schools, i., 465, 466; + ii., 399‒405; + iii., 380‒388; + iv., 327. + + Grant, James, iv., 208. + + Gray, Lord, iii., 238. + + Gray, David, iv., 195. + + Greenock, i., 409; + iii., 303; + iv., 394. + + Gregory, + James, iii., 371, 372; + David, 372, 373; + Dr. John, iv., 300, 302; + Dr. James, 302. + + Greyfriars Church, iii., 49. + + Greyfriars Churchyard, iii., 61, 154. + + Grub, Dr. George, iv., 164. + + Gruoch, i., 139, 140. + + Guilds, laws of, i., 235‒236, 404. + + Guinea, iii., 330. + + Guise, House of, ii., 57, 92, 93, 116, 124, 125. + + Grum John, iv., 422. + + Guthrie, + James, iii., 123, 326; + William, iv., 150; + Dr. Thomas, 222. + + + Hackston, of Rathillet, iii., 151, 153, 156. + + Haco, i., 215, 216. + + Haddington, i., 307, 386, 387, 465; + ii., 69, 303, 315; + iv., 370. + + Haddington, Earl of, iv., 335. + + Haddingtonshire, i., 271; + iv., 343, 373. + + Hailes, Lord, iv., 146, 151, 152. + + Halidon Hill, battle of, i., 306. + + Hall, Sir John, i., 336. + + Hamilton, + Lord, i., 345, 346; + Lord Claud, ii., 150, 155, 208; + Marquis of, iii., 63, 64, 65, 67, 70, 71, 74; + Duke of, 98, 99, 174, 175, 177, 179, 181, 193, 207, 211. + + Hamilton, Patrick, martyred, ii., 49, 50. + + Hamilton, + of Bothwellhaugh, ii., 152; + John, Archbishop of St. Andrews, 71, 77, 87, 96, 138, 150, 154, + 406; + Sir Thomas, of Monkland, iii., 18; + James, Master of Paisley, 19; + Sir Robert, 154; + William, iv., 167; + William, of Bangour, 170; + Sir William, his writings, 102‒135. + + Hamilton town, iii., 153; + iv., 295, 296. + + Harlaw, battle of, i., 324‒326, 450. + + Harold, King, i., 194. + + Harold, Earl of Orkney, i., 207, 208. + + Harrington, James, iii., 450. + + Hastings, + John, i., 256, 259, 260; + Henry de, 204. + + Hawick, iv., 369, 370, 371. + + Hawley, General, iii., 228, 229. + + Hay, + Gilbert, of Errol, i., 283; + Hugh, 283, 284; + Alexander, iii., 19; + Sir James, 19. + + Hebrides, i., 22, 23, 118, 134, 144, 156, 215, 217, 329, 346, + 348, 355, 356, 357; + ii., 60; + iii., 242, 243. + + Henderson, + James, ii., 238; + Alexander, iii., 52, 55, 60, 61, 70, 87, 88, 362. + + Henry, the minstrel, i., 458‒462. + + Henry I., i., 195, 202. + + Henry II., i., 205, 206. + + Henry III., i., 214. + + Henry IV., i., 322, 324. + + Henry VI., i., 345. + + Henry VII., i., 353, 358, 361, 362. + + Henry VIII., i., 362, 363; + ii., 37, 51, 54‒56, 57, 61, 63‒67, 69, 76. + + Henry II. of France, ii., 97. + + Henry, Dr. Robert, iv., 151. + + Henryson, + Robert, i., 376, 462, 463; + Dr. Edward, ii., 383. + + Hepburn, + William, i., 353; + Patrick, Lord Hailes, 353; + John, ii., 36, 406. + + Hereditary jurisdiction, i., 220, 221, 223, 225, 226, 228, 237, + 238, 372, 411, 424‒426; + iii., 213, 225, 226. + + Heresy, i., 37, 327, 332; + ii., 18, 19, 49, 53, 58‒60, 68‒70, 74, 75, 78, 81, 91. + + Hermitage Castle, i., 309. + + Herries, Ralph, i., 285. + + Herries, Lord, ii., 150. + + Hertford, Earl of, ii., 65‒67. + + Hexham, i., 253, 254, 268. + + High Commission, Courts of, iii., 34, 132, 133. + + Highlands, i., 23‒25, 27, 29, 206‒208, 329, 348, 355‒357; + ii., 226, 227, 290; + iii., 237‒239, 241‒244; + iv., 353, 354. + + Hill, Dr. George, iv., 219, 470. + + Hill forts, i., 88‒92. + + Historic Interpretation, i., 33‒37. + + Historical conditions, i., 19, 45, 46, 85, 88, 101, 102, 113, + 119, 120, 121, 135, 136, _et seq._, 227, 228, 255‒265; + ii., 1, 2, _et seq._, 100, 103, 220; + iii., 17‒20, 176, 177, 214, 215. + + History of Scottish philosophy, iv., 17‒142. + + Hogarth, George, iv., ♦422, 423, 427, 429. + + ♦ page numbers supplied by transcriber + + Hogg, James, iii., 344; + iv., 189‒191. + + Holland, John, iii., 328. + + Holyrood Abbey, i., 221, 222, 249, 338; + Palace of, ii., 117, 130, 133, 136, 142, 179, 206, 209, 215, + 273, 275, 423; + iii., 396; + Chapel of, ii., 119, 138; + iii., 37, 51, 169, 172. + + Home, Lord, i., 364; + ii., 199, 224. + + Home, John, iv., 174. + + Homeldon Hill, battle of, i., 323. + + Homil, James, i., 348, 350. + + Hope, Sir Thomas, iii., 84, 367. + + Howard, Lord, i., 363. + + Hume, Lord, ii., 143, 145, 148. + + Hume, + Alexander, ii., 377, 378; + Alexander, 402, 403; + Sir Patrick, iii., 179; + David, + his philosophical writings, iv., 25‒44; + history, 146‒148. + + Huntingdon, Earl of, i., 204. + + Hunter, + Dr. Henry, iv., 217, 218; + Dr. William, 320, 321; + Dr. John, 321‒323. + + Huntly, + Earl of, i., 342, 350, 354, 356, 357, 358, 364; + ii., 63, 64, 78, 116, 123, 124, 133, 134, 135, 136, 138, 139, + 150, 152, 155, 192, 195, 196, 199, 201, 202, 203, 204, 206, + 212; + Marquis of, iii., 68, 74, 90, 94, 104, 222. + + Hurry, General, iii., 93, 94. + + + Icolmkill, statutes of, iii., 242, 243. + + Inchaffary, Abbot of, i., 292. + + Inchcolm, ruins of monastery, i., 163. + + Inchkeith, i., 23. + + Inchmahome, i., 249. + + Incontinence, i., 155, 244, 245; + ii., 41. + + India-rubber manufactures, iv., 391, 392, 393. + + Indulf, King, i., 137. + + Independents, iii., 88, 96, 97. + + Influence of surrounding nature upon the Mind, i., 19, 20, 31‒33, + 66; + ii., 427. + + Innermaith, Lord, ii., 145, 146. + + Innes, + Thomas, iv., 145; + Cosmo, 162. + + Invercharron, iii., 105, 106. + + Inveresk, iv., 418. + + Inverkeithing, i., 307, 387; + iii., 301. + + Inverlochy, battle of, iii., 92. + + Inverness, i., 83, 91, 127, 151, 207, 233, 240, 306, 329, 356, + 385, 390, 404; + ii., 226, 227; + iii., 94, 225, 226, 227, 228, 288, 302; + iv., 354, 373, 374. + + Inverurie, i., 278‒287; + iii., 74. + + Iona, i., 127‒134, 156, 175, 181, 182. + + Ireland, 21, 48, 70, 77, 78, 126, 127, 133, 161, 174, 181, 211, + 285, 291, 357; + iii., 65, 85, 90, 297, 302, 303. + + Irish, + early writings, i., 117, 150; + note illuminated manuscripts, 172, 173. + + Iron works and manufactures, iv., 345‒352. + + Irvine, i., 267, 391, 434; + iii., 134. + + Irvine, Sir Alexander, i., 328. + + Irving, Dr., ii., 367; + iv., 163. + + Isles, lordship of forfeited, i., 348, 355. + + Isabella, daughter of Earl David, i., 204, 256. + + + Jack, Thomas, ii., 402. + + Jacobites, iii., 175, 176, 181‒183, 190, 193, 195, 196, 201, + 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 211, 213, 218, 219, 220, 222‒224, + 226‒230. + + Jacobite Songs, iii., 346‒353. + + James I., reign of, i., 226‒337. + + James II., reign of, i., 338‒344. + + James III., reign of, i., 344‒352. + + James IV., reign of, i., 353‒365. + + James V., reign of, ii., 38‒39, 49‒62. + + James VI., reign of, ii., 169‒220; + iii., 17‒42. + + James VII., policy of, iii., 163‒172. + + James VIII., Pretender, iii., 223. + + Jamesone, George, painter, iii., 393‒396. + + Jamieson, Dr., i., 280, 461. + + Jedburgh, 238, 356, 383, 426; + ii., 292; + iii., 24, 27, 380; + iv., 371; + castle of, i., 248, 264, 324; + abbey of, 248; + ii., 66. + + Jeffrey, Lord, iv., 234‒236. + + Jesuits, ii., 82‒84, 192, 195. + + Joanna, Queen of David II., i., 302, 306, 307, 310. + + John, King of England, i., 208, 209, 210. + + Johnstone, + of Johnstone, ii., 186, 224; + Archibald, of Warriston, iii., 60, 61, 70, 87, 121, 123; + Dr., 380; + Mrs., iv., 204, 205. + + Justiciary, i., 214, 222, 330, 386, 424. + + Jury trial, i., 221, 230, 371. + + Justice of the Peace, iii., 248, 249, 294. + + + Kay, John, iv., 366. + + Kells, Book of, illuminated manuscripts, i., 172, 173. + + Keith, iii., 244. + + Keith, + Sir Robert, i., 292, 293, 305, 367; + Sir William, of Inverugy, ii., 228; + Dr. William, iv., 319. + + Kelso, i., 238, 344, 384; + iv., 369; + Abbey of, i., 216, 249, 250, 252‒254, 432; + ii., 66. + + Kennedy, + Bishop of St. Andrews, i., 340, 345; + Walter, ii., 309; + Quintin, 349, 352, 353. + + Kennedy, Lord, i., 360; + ii., 309. + + Kenneth I., M‘Alpin, i., 120, 121, 136. + + Kenneth II., i., 138. + + Kenneth, M‘Duff, i., 138. + + Ker, + George, ii., 195, 196; + Mark, 224; + Robert, iii., 19; + Dr. David, iv., 319. + + Kilconcath, William, i., 246. + + Kildelith, i., 246. + + Kildrummy Castle, i., 247, 264, 276, 284, 285, 306, 307. + + Killiecrankie, Battle of, iii., 181‒183. + + Kilmarnock, i., 409; + iii., 297; + iv., 369, 371, 372. + + Kilpatrick, West, i., 110. + + Kilsyth, battle of, iii., 95. + + Kincardineshire, i., 136, 137, 378. + + Kinghorn, i., 217, 258. + + Kinghorn, Earl of, iii., 19. + + Kirk-of-Field, ii., 135. + + Kirkcaldy, iii., 301, 303; + iv., 375. + + Kirkcaldy, Sir William, of Grange, ii., 71, 149, 152, 153, 155, + 156. + + Kirkpatrick, i., 282. + + Knapdale, i., 348. + + Knox, + John, ii., 69, 72, 73, 74, 75, 87‒89, 93, 94, 96, 97, 98, 99, + 100, 104, 118, 119, 120, 123, 124‒127, 130, 134, 147, 153, + 154, 159, 160‒165; + his writings, 345‒349, 352‒354, 360‒364; + Andrew, minister of Paisley, 195; + Bishop of the Isles, iii., 242, 243; + Dr., iv., 309. + + + Laing, David, ii., 300, 305, 331, 340, 343, 346; + iv., 163. + + Lamberton, Bishop of St. Andrews, i., 274, 281, 283, 285. + + Lanark, i., 356, 387; + ii., 181; + iii., 160; + iv., 373. + + Lanarkshire, i., 29, 81, 114, 271, 279; + iii., 134; + iv., 341, 342, 343, 344, 347, 378, 381, 388. + + Land, in connection with the tribe, and organisation of society, + i., 100, 146‒150, 202, 223‒228, 250‒254, 371‒376, 377‒380, + 380‒382, 421, 422; + ii., 39, 40, 110, 266, 297; + iii., 305; + iv., 336‒339. + + Langside, battle of, ii., 150. + + Largs, battle of, i., 216. + + Latin, i., 183, 245, 463, 464; + ii., 5, 6, 379, 380. + + Laud, Archbishop, iii., 45, 63, 66. + + Lauder Bridge, i., 350. + + Lauder, Sir Thomas D., iv., 206. + + Lauderdale, Earl of, iii., 14, 129, 137, 142, 348. + + Laws, early, i., 151‒153, 221, 222, 228‒231, 370, 371. + + Lawson, James, ii., 162, 167, 184, 421. + + Le Crocke, ii., 161. + + Leibnitz, theory of monads, iii., 432‒434; + iv., 255, 256. + + Leighton, Bishop, iii., 141, 363‒364. + + Leith, i., 316, 333, 346, 358, 359, 419; + ii., 66, 89, 97, 98, 99, 100, 117, 132, 158, 275, 291, 294; + iii., 74, 84, 300, 301, 303, 309, 313, 331, 332; + iv., 357, 369. + + Lennox, + Earl of, i., 217, 283, 285, 327, 328, 354, 364, 365; + ii., 37, 128, 131, 139, 152, 154, 155; + Duke of, iii., 54. + + Lennox, Esme Stewart, Duke of, ii., 175, 176, 177, 179. + + Lesley, Norman, ii., 71. + + Leslie, + General Alexander, iii., 73, 76, 79, 338; + General David, 95, 338; + Sir John, iv., 263‒265. + + Lesly, John, ii., 116. + + Lesmahagow sanctuary, i., 232. + + Leven, Earl of, iii., 175. + + Lewis, island, i., 22, 357. + + Leyden, University of, iv., 287, 292, 293, 304. + + Leyden, John, ii., 319; + iv., 184, 185. + + Liddel, Dr. Duncan, ii., 393, 394. + + Lindisfarne, i., 126. + + Lindores, i., 323. + + Lindsay, + Alexander, i., 267, 277; + Sir James, 317; + Sir William, 321, 322; + David, Lord of Crawford, 434; + David, ii., 158, 167, 188. + + Lindsay, Lord, ii., 132, 134, 143, 145, 148, 155, 175, 181, 206, + 207. + + Linlithgow, i., 258, 264, 274, 276, 290, 294, 307, 326, 345, 358, + 387, 390; + ii., 120, 152, 207, 349, 400; + iii., 29, 80, 54; + iv., 370. + + Linlithgow, Palace of, i., 333, 360, 377, 429, 430, 470; + ii., 62. + + Linlithgow, Earl of, iii., 19. + + Linlithgowshire, i., 29, 119; + iv., 341, 342, 343, 373. + + Lismore, Book of the Dean of, i., 442. + + Literature, + early, i., 181‒185, 215‒247, 441‒464; + Poetry, ii., 301‒315, 331‒341, 370‒380; + Ballad, 341‒345; + Historical and various, 315‒330, 345‒364, 364‒370, 380‒385, + 393‒396; + Ballad and Jacobite Song, iii., 336‒355; + Historical and various, 356‒368; + Historical, iv., 143‒154, 154‒164; + Poetry, 165‒182, 183‒198; + Fiction, 199‒212; + Religious, 213‒228; + Miscellaneous, 228‒254. + + Liturgy, iii., 44, 46‒50, 51‒58, 62, 63. + + Livingston, + Sir Alexander, i., 338, 339, 340; + John of Livingston, 389, 390; + Sir William, iii., 19. + + Livingston, Lord, i., 345; + ii., 150. + + Livingstone, Dr. David, iv., 250. + + Lochaber, i., 329, 356; + iii., 181. + + Lochiel, chief of the clan Cameron, i., 356; + iii., 181, 226. + + Lochindorb Castle, i., 247, 276. + + Lochleven, i., 140; + ii., 144, 145, 147, 150. + + Lochmaben, + Castle, i., 281; + town of, 372, 468. + + Locke, John, writings of, iii., 452‒462; + iv., 17, 18, 27. + + Lockhart, + Colonel, iii., 113; + Sir George, 148, 233; + Sir George of Carnwath, 208, 209, 210, 214; + John G., iv., 207, 208. + + Logan, John, iv., 177, 178. + + Logic, iii., 437‒439; + iv., 130‒133. + + Logie, Margaret, i., 310. + + Lomond, Loch, i., 29. + + London, i., 271, 279, 280, 285; + ii., 99, 220; + iii., 54, 82, 86, 116, 118, 173, 179, 183, 198, 229, 296; + iv., 167, 173, 245. + + Long Parliament, iii., 80, 84, 86, 87, 89, 96, 97. + + Lord of the Isles, i., 285, 292, 312, 324, 325, 329, 330, 341, + 348, 355. + + Lords of the Articles, i., 369, 370; + iii., 37, 38, 129, 130, 180, 183, 184. + + Lords of the Congregation, ii., 89, 91, 93, 95, 96, 97, 99, 100. + + Lorne, + Lord of, i., 284, 312; + black knight of, 338; ii., 89. + + Lothian, i., 47, 116, 138, 185, 189. + + Lothian, Earl of, iii., 18, 188, 189, 190. + + Loudon, Lord, iii., 55, 57, 58, 60, 61. + + Loudon Hill, battle of, i., 286, 287. + + Lowe, Dr. Peter, ii., 393. + + Lovat, Lord, i., 386. + + Lubeck, i., 268. + + Lude Hill, iii., 181. + + Lulach, i., 140. + + Lumphanan, battle of, i., 140. + + Luther, ii., 17, 32‒34, 49. + + Lyndsay, Sir David, ii., 42, 331‒340. + + + M‘Ancrum, Donald B., ii., 229. + + M‘Angus, William, iii., 237. + + Macbeth, i., 139, 140, 148. + + M‘Cowane, Donald C., ii., 229. + + M‘Crie, Dr. Thomas, iv., 154. + + M‘Culloch, Horatio, iv., 449. + + Macdonald, Lord, i., 163. + + Macdonald, + Sir Donald, iii., 190; + Chief of Glencoe, 191‒192; + of Boisdale, Glengarry, Keppoch, 191, 226; + Donald Gorm of Sleat, Donald of Ylanterim, Captain of + Clanranald, Angus of Dunivaig, 242, 243. + + Macdonald, Alaster, iii., 90. + + Macduff, i., 261, 271. + + Macgill, James, ii., 146, 158, 274. + + MacGregors, + clan of, iii., 243; + Patrick Roy, 244. + + MacHeth, i., 205, 207, 209. + + Mackay, ii., 227; + Donald, iii., 237, 238; + Dr. Charles, iv., 196; + Angus, 425. + + Mackay, General, iii., 176, 181‒183. + + Mackenzie, + Kenneth, iii., 19; + Sir George, 144, 146, 147, 234, 368; + Henry, iv., 199, 200. + + Mackinnons, i., 117, note; + Rory, iii., 242. + + Mackintosh, + of Borlum, iii., 224; + Sir James, iv., 97‒101; + Robert, 421. + + Macknight, Dr. James, iv., 216, 471. + + Maclean of Lochbuy, i., 357; + Lauchlan, iii., 242; + Hector of Duart, 242; + Lauchlan of Lochbuy, 242. + + Macleod, + of Lewis, i., 357; + Rory, of Harris, iii., 242; + Dr. Norman, iv., 223, 224. + + MacNeil of Barra, i., 357. + + Macpherson, James, iv., 175, 176. + + Macquharrie, Gellespie, iii., 242. + + M‘Sevir, Farquhar, ii., 229. + + MacWilliam, i., 207, 208, 209. + + Magi, i., 128, 129. + + Magnus VI., King of Norway, i., 216. + + Maid of Norway, i., 217, 218, 219. + + Mair, John, ii., 51, 315, 316. + + Maitland, + Sir Richard, i., 445; + ii., 370, 371; + William, 99, 100, 120, 121, 135, 141, 152, 155, 156, 157. + + Malcolm I., reign of, i., 137. + + Malcolm II., reign of, i., 138, 139. + + Malcolm III., reign of, i., 140‒143. + + Malcolm IV., reign of, i., 204, 205. + + Malise, Earl of Strathern, i., 203. + + Mallet, David, iv., 169. + + Man, Isle of, i., 216, 301. + + Manufactures, + Textile, woollen, i., 100, 133, 150, 162, 241, 390, 392, 406, + 407; + ii., 294; + iii., 306‒310; + iv., 366, 369‒372; + linen, iii., 311‒313; + iv., 372‒376, 377; + jute, 375‒377; + cotton, 377‒379, 383; + thread, 379‒380; + silk, 380; + mixed fabrics, 380, 381. + + Mar, + Earl of, i., 208, 214, 216, 217, 304, 305, 312, 325, 334, 348, + 349; + ii., 139, 145, 148; + elected Regent, 155, 177, 184; + iii., 19; + John, Secretary of State, 210; + his rising, 222‒224. + + March, Earl of, i., 255, 270, 305, 321, 322, 328, 333, 334. + + Marchmont, Earl of, iii., 262. + + Margaret, + Queen of Malcolm III., i., 141, 143, 155‒157; + Queen of James III., 346, 351; + Queen of James IV., 360‒362; + ii., 36, 37. + + Marischal, Earl, i., 358; + ii., 86, 419; + iii., 19, 222. + + Marriage, i., 99, 153‒156, 428; + ii., 229, 261‒266; + iii., 264, 278‒281. + + Mathematical Science, progress of, ii., 386‒391; + iii., 371‒374, 403; + iv., 254‒260. + + Marston Moor, battle of, iii., 95. + + Mary of Gueldres, Queen of James II., i., 340, 344, 345. + + Mary of Guise, Queen of James V., ii., 57, 86, 87, 90, 91, 93, + 95, 97, 98, 101. + + Mary, + Queen of Scotland, ii., 62, 63, 79; + reign of, 116‒147; + imprisonment of, 144; + escape, flight to England, 150; + her execution, 189, 190. + + Mary, Queen of England, ii., 87, 92. + + Maxwell, + Lord, i., 345; + ii., 186, 187, 224; + Master of, 225; + iii., 27. + + Maybole, ii., 353. + + Mechanical Science, i., 408; + ii., 384‒386; + progress of, iv., 271‒285. + + Medical Science, + state of, i., 414, 415; + ii., 392‒394; + iii., 368‒371; + progress of, iv., 286‒323. + + Melrose, Monastery of, i., 125, 126, 246, 254, 302, 303, 432, + 438; + ii., 66. + + Melville, + James, ii., 71; + Sir James, 141, 142; + Andrew, 167, 182, 201, 202, 213, 214, 409, 410, 412; + iii., 32, 33; + Sir Robert, iii., 19. + + Melville, Lord, iii., 179, 183, 186. + + ♦Menteith, Earl of, i., 213, 214, 217, 218, 263, 383, 308, 317. + + ♦ “Monteith” replaced with “Menteith”; + Printed out of alphabetic order. + + Menteith, Sir John, i., 278, 279. + + Metaphysics, iii., 399‒401, 405, 407‒414, 418‒452, 432‒434, 468, + 469, 470; + iv., 126‒130, 136‒139. + + Methven, + Bruce defeated at, i., 284; + lands of, 377. + + Middleton, Earl, Royal Commissioner, iii., 121‒123, 125‒129. + + Military service under the feudal organisation, i., 409‒412. + + Mill, + Walter, executed for heresy, ii., 91; + John S., iv., 135; + James, 155. + + Miller, Hugh, iv., 238‒240, 271. + + Mining, ii., 282‒286; + iii., 291‒294; + iv., 340‒345. + + Mitchell, + James, 135, 147, 148; + Dr. Charles, iv., 318. + + Moir, + Dr. James, i., 461; + David, iv., 208. + + Monk, General, iii., 110, 116. + + Monmouth, Duke of, iii., 153, 154, 167. + + Monro, + John, iv., 292; + Alexander, professor, 292‒294; + Alexander, 304‒305; + Alexander, 305‒306. + + Montgomery, + Sir John, i., 321; + Sir Hugh, 449; + Sir Matthew, ii., 229; + Alexander, poems of, 375‒377; + Sir James, iii., 179, 180. + + Montgomery, Lord, i., 345. + + Montrose, i., 276, 387, 391; + ii., 69, 182, 217; + iii., 301, 303, 323; + iv., 369, 375, 424. + + Montrose, + Earl of, iii., 18, 74; + Marquis of, 90‒95, 105, 106, 338, 339. + + Moral philosophy, iii., 417, 418, 424‒430, 448, 451, 452, + 466‒467; + iv., 19‒24, 38‒40, 45‒50, 68, 69, 71‒74, 81, 82, 94‒96, + 98‒101. + + Moray, + Sir Andrew, i., 266, 267, 268; + Sir Andrew of Bothwell, 306, 307, 378; + Thomas, 379. + + Moray, + Earl of, Randolph, i., 283, 290, 292, 296, 298, 299, 300, 302, + 304, 305, 308, 317, 360; + James Stewart, Earl of, ii., 123, 128, 129, 130, 131, 134, 136; + elected Regent, 148‒152. + + Morken, King, i., 124, 125. + + Morton, + Earl of, ii., 132, 133, 134, 142, 143, 145, 147, 151; + elected Regent, 155, 158, 165, 169, 175, 176. + + Mouat, Bernard, i., 285. + + Mowbray, 291, 294. + + Mure, William, iv., 163, 164. + + Murray, + Lord George, iii., 227, 228; + Mungo, 227; + Gideon, 21. + + Music, i., 245, 468, 469; + ii., 421‒422; + iii., 386‒388; + iv., 416‒428. + + Musselburgh, ii., 144; + iii., 300. + + + Nairn, i., 372, 386; + castle of, 248. + + Napier, John, inventor of logarithms, ii., 386‒391. + + Narne, Duncan, ii., 415. + + Nasmyth, iv., 436. + + Navigation, teaching of, iii., 386. + + Navy, under James IV., i., 363. + + Negative Confession, ii., 176. + + Ness, Loch of, i., 25. + + Newbattle, i., 239, 434, 435. + + Newbattle, Lord, iii., 18. + + Newcastle, i., 318; + ii., 75, 184; + iii., 33, 79, 80, 97. + + Nithsdale, Earl of, iii., 222. + + Nithsdale, i., 26, 272. + + Norham, + meetings at, i., 255, 256, 258; + castle of, 209, 300, 359, 363. + + Normans, i., 189‒194, 196, 197, 101‒103. + + Norman Conquest, i., 141, 197, 198. + + Norsemen, i., 47, 118, 120, 134, 136, 214‒217. + + Northallerton, battle of, i., 203, 204. + + Northampton, Treaty of, i., 300, 301. + + Northumberland, i., 142, 143, 262, 268, 295, 300, 318. + + Northumbria, i., 116, 138, 441. + + Norway, 21, 144, 215, 216, 217, 219. + + + Oaths associated with feudalism, i., 258, 264, 281, 372, 373. + + Ochiltree, Lord, ii., 146, 275; + iii., 19, 235, 236. + + Odistown, i., 303. + + Ogham, writing, i., 174, 175. + + Ogilvie, Sir Walter, i., 319, 320. + + Oliphant, Sir William, i., 277, 278. + + Oliphant, Lord, i., 373; + ii., 228. + + Orkney Isles, i., 22, 47, 53, 58‒61, 138, 139, 158, 215, 217, + 219, 346; + ii., 60; + iii., 302; + iv., 372, 373. + + Orkney, Earl of, i., 138, 139, 207, 208; + iii., 239‒241. + + Ormiegill, i., 55. + + Ormiston, Laird of, ii., 69. + + Ormond, Earl of, i., 343, 379. + + Ossian, Ossianic poems, i., 442‒444; + iv., 175, 176. + + Otterburn, battle of, i., 318, 449. + + Otterburne, Thomas, i., 468. + + Oxford, i., 451, 452; + iii., 372, 373, 374; + iv., 102, 134. + + + Pae, David P., iv., 208, 209. + + Painting, i., 470; + ii., 423, 424; + iii., 393‒396; + iv., 428‒454. + + Paisley, i., 83, 151, 238, 409; + ii., 195; + iii., 386; + iv., 182, 183, 205, 206, 214, 372, 377, 378, 380; + Abbey of, i., 249, 324, 355. + + Paper, manufacture of, ii., 2; + iii., 317‒319; + iv., 384‒389. + + Parliament, + origin and constitution of, i., 366‒370; + Meetings of, 295, 309, 310, 311, 313‒315, 316, 320, 327, 328, + 329, 330, 334, 340, 343, 347, 349, 351, 353, 354, 357; + ii., 38, 49, 60, 65, 68, 91, 102, 126, 139, 149, 183, 193, + 213; + iii., 30, 33, 37, 41, 44, 77, 81, 84, 97, 99, 103, 121‒128, + 129, 137, 140, 142, 158‒160, 164‒167, 168, 180, 183, 193, + 202, 203, 205, 206‒208, 210‒215. + + Parliament of the United Kingdom, introduced changes in Scotland, + iii., 217‒218, 220. + + Paterson, + Abraham, ii., 284; + Robert, 289; + William, iii., 196, 199. + + Patronage, ii., 107, 172; + iii., 103, 104, 184; + iv., 467‒473 _et seq._ + + Peasantry, + in Normandy, i., 191, 193; + in Germany, ii., 16, 17. + + Pedro de Ayala, i., 360. + + Peebles, i., 282, 356, 384, 402; + ii., 260; + iii., 274, 290, 307, 380; + iv., 246, 369. + + Peers, Scottish representative, iii., 214. + + Pembroke, Earl of, i., 283, 284, 286, 287. + + Pennington, Joseph, iii., 21. + + Pentland Firth, i., 22. + + Pentland, battle of, iii., 134. + + Percy, + Henry, i., 266; + Sir Henry, Sir Ralph, 318, 449. + + Perkin Warbeck, i., 357‒359. + + Persecution, ii., 49, 50, 53, 54, 58, 68‒70, 91; + iii., 130‒135, 140, 144‒154, _et seq._ + + Perth, i., 119, 151, 205, 208, 233, 258, 264, 276, 278, 279, 283, + 290, 307, 311, 320, 327, 333, 335, 369, 386, 387, 391, 433; + ii., 69, 93, 94, 96, 179, 214; + iii., 39‒41, 90, 193, 194, 222, 223, 226; + iv., 196, 354, 373. + + Perth, Earl of, iii., 171, 172. + + Peterhead, iii., 223, 301, 302; + iv., 370, 374. + + Philip IV., of France, i., 262, 271. + + Phillip, John, iv., 450, 451. + + Philiphaugh, battle of, iii., 95, 338. + + Philosophy, ii., 28‒30, 220; + outline of European in the seventeenth century, and early part + of the eighteenth, iii., 398‒471; + Scottish, iv., 17‒142. + + Physical Science, progress of, iv., 255‒271. + + Picts, i., 112, 114, 115, 116, 119, 120, 127, 128. + + Pinkerton, John, iv., 153, 154. + + Pinkie, battle of, ii., 76. + + Pitcairn, + Dr. Archibald, iii., 371; + Robert, iv., 163. + + Plantations, nonconformists banished to, iii., 167, 168, 223. + + Pont, Robert, ii., 158, 184, 382, 383. + + Poor Laws, ii., 238, 239, 267; + iii., 248‒254. + + Population, i., 413; + iv., 214, 495. + + Postal communication, iii., 296‒296; + iv., ♦352, 356. + + ♦ Page numbers supplied by transcriber. + + Prehistoric period, + Stone Age, i., 36, 47‒71; + stone weapons and tools, 48‒53; + modes of disposing of the dead, chambered cairns, cremation, + 53‒65; + earth-houses, 65‒70; + primitive boats, 70; + Bronze Age, 71‒74, 74‒96; + bronze weapons and implements, 74‒79; + ornaments, 79‒81; + traces of dwellings, 81‒83; + crannogs, 84‒87; + hill forts, 88‒92; + cairn, and urn interment, 92‒96; + summary, 96‒104. + + Prelacy, iii., 177. + + Presbyterianism, ii., 166‒175, 193‒194; + iii., 68‒72, 184‒185. + + Press, censorship of, ii., 84, 277, 278. + + Preston, battle of, iii., 227. + + Primrose, Sir Archibald, iii., 120. + + Pringle, Charles, iii., 236, 237. + + Printing, + introduction of, ii., 2, 25‒27, 299‒303; + development of, iv., 389‒391. + + Privy Council, ii., 223, 225, 229, 248, 273, 275, 279, 281, 283, + 288, 403; + iii., 18‒20, 24, 26, 28, 30, 47, 49, 52, 53, 54, 55, 57, 59, + 62, 67, 123, 124, 128, 131, 133, 134, 136, 142, 146, 147, + 148, 163, 171, 182, 192, 195. + + Protestantism, history of in Scotland, ii., 149‒218. + + Protests, iii., 59, 65, 67. + + Protesters, iii., 109, 110, 111. + + Provincial councils of the Roman Catholic clergy, i., 212, 213; + ii., 41, 42, 76, 77, 78. + + Psalms, ii., 114, 342, 422. + + Psalmody, iv., 426‒427. + + Psychical faculties, i., 34, 35. + + Psychological phenomenon, ii., 439, 441. + + Psychology, ii., 30; + iii., 414‒417, 422‒430, 435, 436, 438‒444, 453‒460, 470; + iv., 20, 27‒39, 61‒68, 77‒82, 88‒96, 108‒126. + + + Quakers, iii., 114, 115, 256‒259. + + Quarries, iv., 406, 411, 412. + + Queensberry, Duke of, iii., 164, 202, 205, 210. + + Quoyness, i., 59. + + + Raban, Edward, iii., 363. + + Raeburn, Sir Henry, iv., 436‒439. + + Raid of Ruthven, ii., 179‒181. + + Ramorgny, Sir John, i., 322. + + Ramsay, + John, i., 460; + Allan, ii., 305; + his writings, iv., 165, 166; + Allan, painter, 429‒431. + + Randolph, Thomas, i., 283, 284. + + Ratisbon, ii., 351. + + Reader, office of, ii., 108, 174. + + Reeves, Dr., i., 127, 129, 181. + + Reformation, + rise of, ii., 16‒31; + eras of, 32, 85, 86; + history of, in Scotland, 38‒54, 58‒60, 67‒103, 104, 105, 149. + + Reformed Church, organisation of, ii., 104‒115, 121, 122, + 161‒175. + + Regalities, i., 225, 226, 373, 374, 425, 426; + iii., 225. + + Regality burghs, i., 234, 237, 238. + + Reid, + Dr. Thomas, writings, iv., 161‒169; + General, 427, 428. + + Religion, + prehistoric in Scotland, i., 58, 63, 99; + primitive, ii., 426, 428. + + Renwick, James, iii., 155, 171. + + Representatives of Scotland in the United Parliament, iii., 214. + + Rescissory Act, iii., 122. + + Resolutioners, iii., 109, 111. + + Reuchlin, ii., 17, 18. + + Revenue, i., 220, 221, 391. + + Revocation Act of Charles I., iii., 43‒45. + + Ricco, ii., 131, 132, 133, 134. + + Richard, I., i., 206. + + Riderch, King, i., 125. + + Ripon, iii., 80, 81. + + Roads, i., 256, 413; + iii., 225, 294‒296; + iv., 352‒355. + + Robert I., reign of, i., 283‒303. + + Robert II., reign of, i., 313‒319. + + Robert III., reign of, i., 319‒324. + + Robert, Prior of Scone, i., 201. + + Robertson, + William, iv., 148‒150; + Joseph, 162, 163; + E. W., 163; + George C., 139‒142; + James S., 425; + Andrew, 439. + + Robin Hood, i., 451. + + Rollo, a Norman hero, i., 190, 191. + + Rollock, + Robert, ii., 380, 381, 415, 416; + Hercules, 402. + + Roman Catholic Church, ii., 3‒14; + Power of, 14‒20; + state of the clergy, 20‒23, 40‒43, 51‒77, 78, 328, 329. + + Roman invasion, i., 104‒112. + + Romanised tribes, i., 112, 113. + + Rome, i., 45, 122, 129, 140, 341, 354, 355; + ii., 5, 20, 33, 58, 82, 103, 434, 435, 438. + + Roslin, battle of, i., 275. + + Ross, Earl of, i., 209, 211, 217, 264, 306, 312, 324, 325, 326, + 340, 341, 348. + + Ross, Lord, iii., 179. + + Ross, + Alexander, iv., 170, 171; + William, 425. + + Rothes, Earl of, ii., 130, 139, 150; + iii., 56, 60, 61, 120, 129, 148, 156, 165. + + Rothesay, Duke of, i., 320, 321, 322, 323. + + Rowll, i., 463. + + Roxburgh, i., 231, 232, 245; + Castle of, 248, 264, 290, 305, 364, 383. + + Roxburgh, Earl of, iii., 49, 57. + + Royal Burghs, i., 233‒237, 382‒387, 397‒408. + + Runic Inscriptions, i., 59, 175. + + Russell, Dr. William, iv., 152. + + Rutherford, Samuel, iii., 359‒362. + + Rutherglen, i., 386, 409; + iii., 152. + + Ruthven, + Lord, ii., 132, 133, 134, 135, 145, 158; + Master of, 219. + + Ruthwell, i., 175. + + + Sadler, Sir Ralph, ii., 57, 65. + + St. Adamnan, his life of St. Columba, i., 126, 181‒183. + + St. Andrews, i., 137, 148, 200, 201, 238, 239, 277, 322, 332, + 367, 387, 408, 413; + ii., 49, 66, 69, 70, 91, 96, 120, 136, 153, 199; + iii., 38, 151; + Castle of, i., 322; + ii., 49, 70, 71, 72, 73‒75; + Cathedral of, i., 249; + Bishop of, 137, 200, 209, 217, 255, 271, 281, 283, 285, 304, + 340, 345, 353, 355, 360; + ii., 36, 58, 71, 77, 78, 90, 138, 154, 159, 182, 271, 380; + iii., 19, 63, 119, 124, 129, 131, 135, 147, 151; + University of, i., 466; + ii., 405‒408, 410‒413; + iii., 390, 392, 393; + iv., 136, 178, 219, 220, 224. + + St. Bartholomew, massacre of, ii., 160, 161. + + St. Bridget, i., 131. + + St. Columba, i., 126‒131, 132‒135, 136. + + St. Cuthbert, i., 125, 126. + + St. Duthac, i., 436, 438. + + St. Fergus, i., 439. + + St. Fillan, relics of, i., 180, 439. + + St. Finnian, i., 127. + + St. Giles, i., 430, 431; + ii., 239. + + St. Kentigern, i., 124, 125. + + St. Maclou, i., 431. + + St. Monance, i., 430. + + St. Nicholas, i., 431; + ii., 239, 240. + + St. Ninian, i., 122, 123; + shrine of, 48. + + St. Regulus, i., 148. + + St. Serf, monastery of, i., 455. + + St. Servanus, i., 407. + + Sandlands, John, i., 358. + + Salt, export of, ii., 288, 289. + + Sang Schools, early, i., 245, 468; + ii., 421, 422. + + Sanquhar, Declaration proclaimed at, iii., 155. + + Sauchie Burn, battle of, i., 352. + + Saxons, i., 47, 112, 115, 116, 119, 141, 189. + + Scandinavia, i., 161, 190. + + Scandinavians, i., 47, 118. + + Schools, i., 245, 465, 466; + ii., 398‒405; + iii., 375‒388; + iv., 224‒327. + + Schrander, Dr., i., 41. + + Science, progress of, ii., 384‒391; + iii., 371‒374; + iv., 255‒323. + + Scolocs, i., 184. + + Scone, i., 119, 121, 137, 141, 204, 209, 213, 217, 221, 241, 260, + 262, 264, 283, 305, 313‒315, 319, 327, 353; + iii., 110, 223; + Monastery of, i., 201, 227, 239, 250; + ii., 94. + + Scots, i., 112, 116, 118, 120, 127. + + Scott of Tuschielaw, ii., 224; + John, 303, 372; + Walter, iii., 27; + Sir Walter, iv., 187‒189, 202‒204; + William B., 453. + + Scrymgeour, + Alexander, i., 366; + Sir James, iii., 19. + + Sculptured stones, i., 165‒174. + + Seaforth, Earl of, iii., 92, 110, 222. + + Selby, Sir William, iii., 21. + + Security of the Kingdom, Act for, iii., 205, 206. + + Segrave, Sir John, i., 275. + + Selkirk, i., 356; + ii., 189; + iii., 378; + iv., 371; + forest of, i., 223, 274, 287, 343. + + Semple, Robert, ii., 374. + + Serfs, i., 250, 380‒382. + + Seton, Sir Christopher, i., 283, 385, 453. + + Seton, Lord, ii., 138. + + Seton of Pitmedden, iii., 211. + + Severus, his campaign, i., 110, 111. + + Sharp, James, Archbishop of St. Andrews, iii., 118, 119, 120, + 124, 129, 135, 137, 143, 147, 148, 151, 152. + + Shawfield, iii., 218. + + Sherifmuir, battle of, iii., 223. + + Sheriffs, Sheriffdoms, i., 223, 261, 423‒426; + ii., 223. + + Shetland Isles, i., 22, 47, 174, 185, 215, 217, 346; + ii., 60; + iv., 372. + + Shipbuilding, i., 133, 240, 333, 363; + iv., 357‒363. + + Shipping, i., 239, 240, 241, 391‒393; + ii., 286‒289; + iii., 300‒303; + iv., 356‒357. + + Sibbald, Sir Robert, iii., 370. + + Sigurd, i., 138. + + Silver, ancient ornaments of, i., 177‒178. + + Siward, Earl of Northumberland, i., 140. + + Simpson, Sir James Y., iv., 313‒314. + + Simson, + Andrew, ii., 400, 403; + Robert, iv., 260; + William, 446. + + Sinclair, + Oliver, ii., 62; + Sir John, iv., 346. + + Skene, + Dr. Gilbert, ii., 392, 393; + Sir John, 383, 384; + iii., 18; + Dr. William F., iv., 161. + + Smith, + Adam, iv., 25, 43, 44‒59; + Alexander, 195, 196; + William R., 226, 227; + Robert A., 426. + + Smollett, Dr., iv., 150, 172, 173, 199. + + Social state of the People, i., 70, 71, 98‒103, 145‒157, 220‒254, + 366‒440; + ii., 222‒298; + iii., 232‒335. + + Solemn League and Covenant, iii., 85, 86. + + Solway Firth, 21, 26, 70, 105. + + Solway Moss disaster, ii., 62. + + Somerled, i., 205. + + Somerset, + Earl of, i., 326; + Duke of, ii., 76. + + Soulis, + John, i., 271, 274, 277; + Nicholas, 256. + + Southesk, Earl of, iii., 222. + + Spain, i., 357, 360, 363; + ii., 18, 19, 20, 131, 191, 192. + + Spear-heads, + flint, i., 50; + bronze, 76, 77. + + Spense, John, ii., 138. + + Spey, i., 150; + iv., 354. + + Spinoza, his method and ethics, iii., 418‒432. + + Spottiswood, + John, ii., 104, 108, 349, 350; + John, Archbishop, iii., 19, 26, 39, 63; + his writings, 357. + + Stair, Lord, iii., 223, 232, 235, 367, 368. + + Standard, battle of, i., 203, 204. + + Stephen, King, i., 202, 203. + + Stevenson, Professor, iv., 18, 75. + + Stevenson, Robert L., iv., 211, 212. + + Steward of Scotland, i., 214, 217, 218, 267, 274, 277, 292, 306, + 307, 308, 309, 312, 313. + + Stewart, Lord of Brechin, i., 321. + + Stewart, + Sir Walter, of Jedworth, i., 321, 384; + Sir Alexander, 328; + Sir James, 338; + Duncan, 319, 320; + Sir Walter, 327; + James, 360; + Captain James, iii., 235; + William, 236. + + Stewart, + Dugald, iv., 74‒84; + Matthew, 260. + + Stirling, i., 83, 116, 140, 151, 209, 233, 234, 238, 264, 276, + 386, 387, 391; + ii., 58, 93, 97, 99, 120, 124, 129, 140, 147, 152, 155, 179, + 181, 187; + iii., 59, 62, 123, 228; + iv., 369; + castle of, i., 206, 248, 277, 278, 291, 294, 307, 338, 341, + 352, 430; + ii., 140, 152, 181; + iii., 64, 228. + + Stirlingshire, i., 29, 119, 121, 265; + ii., 364; + iv., 341, 342, 343, 373, 378. + + Stirling, James, iv., 259, 260. + + Stirling, Earl of, iii., 366. + + Stone circles, i., 94‒96. + + Stone weapons and tools, i., 48‒53. + + Stone of Destiny, i., 119, 137, 264, 265. + + Stonehaven, i., 28, 106. + + Stormont, Earl of, iii., 222. + + Strachan, Colonel, iii., 106. + + Strafford, iii., 80. + + Strathbogie, i., 140, 284; + castle of, ii., 123, 124, 202. + + Strathclyde, i., 84, 85, 114, 139. + + Strathern, i., 136, 138. + + Strathern, Earl of, 203, 209, 213, 214, 217, 308, 317, 333. + + Strathmore, i., 28. + + Strathmore, Earl of, iii., 205. + + Strathspey, i., 27, 207, 267. + + Strathurd, lordship of, i., 378. + + Succession Acts, i., 296, 313‒315; + iii., 155. + + Stuart, Lord of Aubigny, i., 362. + + Stuart, + John, i., 68, 69; + Dr. Gilbert, iv., 151; + Dr. John, 162. + + Sugar works, iii., 330; + refining of, iv., 394, 395. + + Sunday, i., 158, 439; + observance of, enforced, ii., 247, 248, 251‒254; + iii., 269‒272. + + Superintendents, ii., 108. + + Surrey, Earl of, i., 264, 267, 268, 270, 364. + + Sutherland, Earl of, i., 306, 308, 318; + ii., 139; + iii., 53, 61. + + Sutherland, James, iii., 369. + + + Tables, institution of, iii., 56, 57. + + Tacitus, i., 106‒108. + + Tactics of the Scots, i., 412. + + Taverns, i., 415. + + Taxes in early times, i., 149, 150, 220, 221, 251, 386‒391. + + Tay, i., 27, 105, 106, 109, 110, 119, 264, 267, 287; + iv., 354. + + Test Act, iii., 158, 159. + + Teviotdale, i., 26. + + Thane, thanage, i., 152, 251, 252. + + Thrift, early laws touching, i., 128‒131. + + Thomas the Rhymer, i., 446‒448. + + Thomson, + James, iv., 167, 168; + Dr. Andrew, 219; + Dr. John, 309‒311; + Sir William, Lord Colvin, 266, 284; + George, 434. + + Thor, ii., 436. + + Thorburn, Robert, iv., 452. + + Thorfinn, i., 138, 139. + + Tithes, i., 243, 244; + ii., 40; + iii., 43, 44. + + Todd, Dr., i., 117. + + Torture, i., 276, 427; + ii., 195, 196; + iii., 134, 147, 148, 158, 177. + + Torwood, i., 291; + iii., 156. + + Traquair, Earl of, iii., 58, 59, 62, 77. + + Trent, Council of, ii., 79‒85, 161. + + Tucker, iii., 300, 301. + + Tullibardine, Marquis of, iii., 222. + + Tulloch, Dr. John, iv., 224, 225. + + Turgot, Bishop, i., 156, 200. + + Turnberry Castle, i., 286. + + Turner, + Sir James, iii., 134; + William, iv., 306. + + Tweed, i., 21, 138, 203, 363; + iii., 79, 86. + + Tweeddale, i., 26. + + Tweeddale, Marquis of, iii., 206, 210. + + Tyrie, James, ii., 353, 354. + + Tytler, + William, iv., 151; + Patrick F., 155. + + + Ulbster, i., 55. + + Umfraville, Sir Ingram, i., 274. + + Union of England and Scotland, + proceedings connected with, iii., 206‒215; + advantages of, 216, 217, 231. + + Universities, + institution of, i., 466‒468; + changes in, ii., 405‒419; + iii., 388‒393; + iv., 327‒330. + + Urns, i., 92, 93‒96. + + + Vane, Sir Henry, iii., 84, 85. + + Veitch, John, iv., 246, 247. + + Vesy, John, i., 258. + + Vienne, John de, i., 316, 317. + + ♦Vipont, i., 294. + + ♦ Printed out of alphabetic order. + + Vikings, i., 118. + + Vitrified forts, i., 90‒92. + + + Wade, General, iii., 224‒225. + + Wager of battle, i., 228‒229. + + Wake, Lord, i., 301, 315. + + Wales, i., 125, 174. + + Walker, + William, iv., 197, 198; + James, 425. + + Walls, Roman, i., 109, 110. + + Wallace, Sir William, i., 265‒272, 277, 278‒280. + + Wallace, + Adam, ii., 78; + William, iv., 253. + + Wanlock, lead mine, ii., 284. + + Wardlaw, Dr. Ralph, iv., 221. + + Warwick, iv., 342. + + Watson, Dr. Robert, iv., 152. + + Watt, James, iv., 272, 274‒281. + + Weapons, prehistoric, i., 49, 50, 75‒78. + + Webster, Dr. Alexander, iv., 214. + + Wedderburn, + Robert, ii., 319, 341; + James, 341, 343; + John, 343. + + Weights and measures, i., 239, 332, 401, 402. + + Wells, venerated, i., 128, 135, 260, 261. + + Welsh, + John, iii., 29; + Dr., iv., 483. + + Welwood, William, ii., 384, 385. + + Wemyss, glass work at, iii., 315. + + Westminster Assembly of Divines, iii., 85, 87‒89. + + Whig, early use of the word, iii., 155, 342, 350, 351. + + Whisky, ii., 192, 193; + iv., 396, 397. + + White Caterthun, i., 89, 90. + + William the Conqueror, i., 142, 143, 192, 193‒195, 196, 198. + + William the Lion, reign of, i., 205‒209, 222, 227, 230. + + William Rufus, i., 143, 196. + + William of Orange, iii., 171, 173, 174‒176, 178‒180, 183‒185, + 186‒190, 192, 201‒204. + + Willock, John, ii., 87, 97, 98, 101, 104, 108. + + Wilson, + John, iv., 105, 205, 206; + Alexander, 182. + + Wine, i., 393, 394, 415, 416, 432; + ii., 292. + + Winram, John, ii., 52, 104, 108, 158. + + Winzet, Ninian, ii., 349‒352. + + Wishart, + Bishop of Glasgow, i., 266, 273, 283, 285; + George, ii., 69; + seized and martyred, 69, 70. + + Witchcraft, ii., 9, 268‒277; + iii., 259‒264. + + Witherspoon, Dr. John, iv., 214, 215. + + Wool, i., 240, 333, 387, 388; + ii., 290; + iii., 306, 307, 308. + + Worcester, battle of, iii., 110. + + Wyntoun, Andrew, i., 455, 456. + + + York, Duke of, iii., 156, 157, 163. + + York, Archbishop of, i., 200, 201. + + Young, + Peter, ii., 403; + Dr. Thomas, iv., 267. + + Yule, i., 416, 417. + + + Zealand, i., 392. + + + FINIS. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78941 *** |