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 ^ma^na/ i/ra^yi'na 4'rt /^< A^fif-i^MOn ^^./fiyaf ^ir>e>ts^i^.v^i/'/'^^-
 
 MEMOIRS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 LIFE AND WRITINGS 
 
 OF 
 THE HONOURABLE 
 
 HENRY HOME OF KAMES, 
 
 ONE OF THE SENATORS OF THE COI LEGE OF JUSTICE, AND ONE OF 
 THE LOHDS COMMISSIONERS OF JUSTICIARY IN SCOTLAND: 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 SKETCHES 
 
 PROGRESS OF LITERATURE AND GENERAL IMPROVEMENT 
 
 IN SCOTLAND DURING THE GREATER PART OF 
 
 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 C'est pecher centre k PulUc que de taire la -vertu des Homines illustres : C'est envler 
 I'honnetir que nuritent let uiu, ci ravlr aux aulres le bonbeur de ks imiter. 
 
 Paneg. du D. de Sully, par le President De ChevrY. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 
 Vol. I. 
 EDINBURGH : 
 
 PRINTED FOR WILLIAM CREECH ; 
 AND T. CADELL AND W. DAVIES, LONDON. 
 
 1807.
 
 fRXNTfD CT A. Nf ILL AND CO. 
 £D1N&U&GU. 
 
 I
 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 A.S the history of the eminent Person, whose hfe is the 
 subject of the following Work, is intimately connected with 
 every species of improvement, whether of an intellectual or a 
 political nature, that took place in Scotland during his age, 
 the task incumbent on his biographer, will at once appear to 
 be much more comprehensive in its plan, and various in its 
 objects, than that which ordinarily belongs to this species of 
 writing. To fulfil his duty in its amplest form and measure, 
 the author ousht not onlv to delineate the life of an indivi- 
 dual Lawyer, Philosopher, Political Economist, and Critic ; 
 but to exhibit the moral and poUtical character of the 
 Times in which he lived, and to detail the progress of the 
 
 Litcrafiin'y 
 
 1C955S0
 
 VI PREFACE. 
 
 Literature, Arts, Maimers, and General Lnprovement of Scot- 
 land, during the greater part of the eighteenth century. 
 
 Aware of the magnitude and difficulty of the task thus 
 conceived in its utmost extent, the present writer dechned 
 engaging in it, for a long period of time, while there appear- 
 ed any probability of its falling into abler hands : — And 
 when at length, after a fruitless expectation of more than 
 twenty years, he took it upon himself, he Avas very far 
 from entertaining such confidence in his own abilitit s, as to 
 deem them at all etpial to its complete accomphshment. 
 A\ hat he proposed to execute, therefore, and what he has 
 executed, he wishes to be regarded in no other light than as 
 a very imperfect sketch of an interesting picture ; Avhich 
 neither his few hours of leisure, in the intervals of a laborious 
 public duty, permitted ; nor, as he is conscious, his powers 
 enabled him, to finish in its lull proportions, or with ability 
 equal to its importance. 
 
 Some circumstances, however, contributed to point out 
 this task to the writer in the light of a particular duty ; and, 
 
 at
 
 PREFACE. Vll 
 
 at the same time, gave him certain advantages for its exe- 
 cution, Avhich have not always been enjoyed by the biogra- 
 phers of distinguished men. He had the happiness, for 
 many years of his life, to be intimately acquainted with 
 Lord Kames, and to possess a very flattering share of liis 
 friendship and confidence. Patronized by him in his early 
 years, admitted to the freedom of a partner in his studies, 
 and even of an associate in some of his literary labours, he 
 had the best opportunity of discerning his character ; by 
 viewing it in all that variety of aspects, which are afforded 
 b}'^ familiar intercourse, where the temperament itself, (as 
 was peculiarly his nature), Avas altogether open, ingenuous, 
 and undisguised. Though more than fifty years younger 
 than his veneraV:)lc friend, who had been the companion and 
 friend of his Father, — he could say, as Cato of Quintus 
 Maximus, " Seneiii. adokscens ita dilexi lit aqiialem : crat 
 " enim in illo v'lro comitate condita gravitas ; 7iec senecius 
 " mores mutaverat." 
 
 To this personal advantage, was added, the most li- 
 beral and unreserv^ed communication of materials, from
 
 VUl PREFACE. 
 
 Mr DnuMMOND Home, the only son of Lord Kames ; Avho 
 furnished the writer, not only with a very ample epistolary 
 correspondence, of which abundant use has been made in 
 these Memoirs, — and which forms not the least valuable part 
 of the work, — but with many particulars relative to his Fa- 
 ther's life and character, which his own knowledge only, and 
 that of his family, could supply. 
 
 In addition to these sources of information, it would be 
 ingratitude in the author, were he to omit mentioning his ob- 
 ligations to a very learned and ingenious friend *, — an old 
 and intimate acquaintance of Lord Kames; for a variety 
 of curious matter, illustrative of his Lordship's character, 
 the characters of his cotemporaries, and the manners of his 
 aoe, which that gentleman had studied with the most dis- 
 criminating sagacity. 
 
 In digesting the plan of the following work, that easy 
 and convenient mode of writing Avhich the French term 
 
 Memoir es 
 
 John Ramsay, Esq; of Ochtertyre, in the county of Perth.
 
 PREFACE. IX 
 
 Menioires pour scrvir a rhistoire, and which they have very 
 happily employed in works of a similar nature, seemed the 
 best form for such an undertaking. It is not subjected to the 
 laws of regular history, or of biography, strictly so termed : 
 It admits easily of digressions, and is thus suited to the ut- 
 most variety of subjects : It professes not to exhaust the to- 
 pics of Avhich it treats ; but rather to open and introduce 
 them to the reader : — And above all, it allows a varied tone 
 of composition, and at times, a familiarity of style, which 
 greatly smooth the labour of a lengthened Avork. Of all 
 these privileges, it wdll be seen, that the writer has amply 
 availed himself; — greatly indeed to his own ease; 3^et, as he 
 would willingly hope, not often to the ofience of his readers. 
 
 With these few preliminary observations, he commits 
 the Avork implicitly to the candour and indulgence of the 
 public. 
 
 WooDHousELEE, > ALEX. FRASER TYTLER, 
 
 September 2-1. 1806. S 
 
 Vol. I. B CON-
 
 CONTENTS OF VOLUME I. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Page 
 Mr Homes birth — atid education. — Classical learning little culti- 
 vated at that time. — Causes of its decline in Scotland. — Air 
 Homes Jirst professional viezvs. — His ardour of study. — No re- 
 gular institution at that time for the study of the Law. — A more 
 laborious course of study then pursued. — Importance of general 
 erudition to the profession of the lazv. — Mr Home's attention 
 turned to Metaphysics. — His correspondence with Baxter — and 
 with Samuel Clarke. 1 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 State of the Scottish Bench in 1723. — President Dalrymple. — 
 Lauder of Fuuntainhall. — Pringle of Nexchall. — State of the 
 Bar in 1723—4. — Forbes of Culloden. — Dundas of Arniston. — 
 Dalrymple of Drummoix. — Fcrgusson of Kilkerrati. — Areskine 
 of Tinwald. — Grant of Elchies.— Grant of Prestongrange. — 
 Craigie of Glendoick. — Air Hom£s first zvork on the Law. — His 
 manner of pleading. — His Essays on subjects of Laxo. — Jus 
 Tertii. — Bencjicium cedendarum actionum. — Vinco viticentem. — 
 Prescription. 30 
 
 B 2 CHAP.
 
 KU CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Page 
 Air Homes social turn, and early friends. — Colonel Forrester. — 
 Hamilton of Bangour. — Authors of the Edinburgh Miscellany. 
 — Earl oj Findlater. — Oszvald of Dunikeir. — Letters from him 
 
 to Mr Home. — David Hume.— Letters from him. — Dr Butler. 57 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Mr Home married in 1741. — His mode of Ife in town. — His oc- 
 cupations in the country. — Dictionary of Decisions. — Mr Home's 
 early political opinions. — Essays on British Antiquities. — On the 
 Feudal Lazv. — On the Constitution of Parliament. — On Ho- 
 nour, Dignity, and Succession. — On Hereditary and Indefeasible 
 Right. — Correspondence with David Hume. 106 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Mr Homes metaphysical writings. — Essays on Morality and Na- 
 tural Religion. — O.bject and general scope of that woi'k. — David 
 Hume's System of Utility as the Foundation of Morals. — His 
 opinions concerning Cause and Effect. — Objections to Mr Homes 
 system. — His frequent reference to Final Causes. — His doctrines 
 keenly attacked. — Illiberal attempts to subject him to public cen- 
 sure. — The subject brought before the General Assembly — And 
 Presbytery of Edinburgh. — It is fnally quashed. — 3Ir Home 
 retracts some opinions as erroneous. 130 
 
 BOOK
 
 CONTENTS. Xlll 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Page 
 
 Mr Home appointed a Judge. — His character in that capacity. — 
 His patro7iage of literary merit. — State of Letters in Scotland 
 at this period. — Coim Maclaurin. — First writers who cultivated 
 Style. — Blackwell. — David Hume. — Dr Robertson. — Literary 
 Societies. — The Rankenian Club. — The Select Society. — Its in- 
 fluence in promoting the. literary spirit. — The Philosophical So- 
 ciety. — Lord Ka?)ies's Essays on the Laxvs of Motion. — His 
 friendship "with Adam Smith. — Dr Robert JVatson. — Dr Hugh 
 Blair. — Professor John Millar. 151 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Lord Karnes associated with the Trustees for Arts and Manifac- 
 tures, c^T. — His Abridgment of the Statute-Law. — His views 
 for the improvement of the Law. — His correspondence with Lord 
 Hardwicke. — Historical Laxo-Tracts. — History of the Criminal 
 Law. — History of Property. — Origin of Entails. — Principles 
 of Equity. — Lord Hardwicke s opinion of that work.— Sir JFil- 
 Ham Black-stones ideas of Equity. — Jlis censure of Lord Karnes's 
 work examined. 202 
 
 CHAP.
 
 XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Page 
 Lord Kcmies's various literary occupations. — Introduction to the 
 Art of Thinking. — Correspondence with Dr B. Franklin.- • • • 258 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 " Elements of Criticism.''— Origin and Progress of Criticism. — 
 Mr Harris's notions on that subject examined. — Aristotle's Cri- 
 tical and Rhetorical JVritings. — His Art of Poetry. — His Art 
 of Rhetoiic. — Demetrius Phalereus on Elocution. — Longinus. — 
 Lord Karnes's plan origitial, but the zvay paved by former xvri- 
 ters. — Dr Hutcheso)is Essay on Beauty and Virtue. — Aken- 
 side's Pleasures of Imagination. — Other writers, Gerard, Burke, 
 Sfc— -Scope and Object ff " Elements of Criticism." — Advan- 
 tages of such Disquisitions. — The Author's method of Discus- 
 sion. — Examples. — Utility of the work, independcfit of the recti- 
 tude of its theoretical Opinions. — Certain disadvantages of this 
 sort of Criticism. — Nature of the Author's Taste.— TVo7-ks pro- 
 ceeding from the school of Lord Kames. — Campbell's Philosophy 
 of Rhetoric. — Mr Alison's Essay on Taste. — Other Ziwks in 
 Philosophic Criticism. 272 
 
 APPEN-
 
 CONTENTS. XV 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 NO. I. 
 
 Biographical Notices of some. Scotsmen, eminent in Classical 
 Literature, who Jlourished in the period from the end of' the Six' 
 teenth to the beginning of the Eighteenth Century. 1 
 
 NO. II. 
 
 Letter from Mr Henry Home to the Reverend Dr Samuel 
 
 Clarke. 13 
 
 The Reverend Dr Samuel Clarke to Henry Home. 19 
 
 NO. III. 
 On Final Causes. 23 
 
 NO. IV. 
 Letter to Lord Kames,from the Reverend Dr John Macfarlan, 
 Minister of Canongate, Edinburgh, and Author of Inquiries 
 concerning the State of the Poor, ^c. sg 
 
 NO. V. 
 Letter fro?n Dr Thomas Reid, Professor of Moral Philosophy in 
 the University of Glasgow, to Loj^d Karnes, on the Influence of 
 the Doctrine of Necessity on Morals. Dated Glasgow College, 
 December 3. 1 772. 41 
 
 NO. VI. 
 Letter from David Hume, Esq; to the Author of the Delineation 
 of the Nature and Obligation of 3IorMty. 47 
 
 NO. VII.
 
 XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 NO. VII. 
 
 Page 
 
 A Character of Dr Thomas Blackwell, zt-ritten by Dr Alexander 
 Gerard. 4^ 
 
 NO. VIII. 
 
 A List of the Members of the Rankenian Club, furnished by 
 George Wallace, Esq; Advocate, one of the last surviving Mem- 
 bers. ; 50 
 
 NO. IX. 
 
 Letters from Thomas Reid, D. D. Professor of Moral Philosophy 
 in the University of Glasgow, to Lord Karnes. — On the Laws 
 of Motion 53 
 
 Fi^om Dr Reid to Lord Karnes. — On the use of Conjectures and 
 Hypotheses in Philosophical Lnvestigation ; and on the meaning 
 of Cause when applied to Natural Philosophy.— The distinct 
 Provinces of Physical and Metaphysical Reasoning pointed out. 58 
 
 From Dr Reid to Lord Kames. — On the Laws of Motion. — Pres- 
 sure of fluids, 8^'c. 68 
 
 From Dr Reid to Lord Kames. — On the accelerated Motion of 
 Falling Bodies. 71 
 
 NO. X. 
 
 On the Principles of Criminal Jurisprudence, as u) folded in Lord 
 Karnes's Essay on the History of the Criminal Law : with an 
 Examination of the Theory of Montesquieu and Beccaria, rela- 
 tive to Crimes and Punishments. 73 
 
 MEMOIRS
 
 MEMOIRS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 LIFE AND WRITINGS 
 
 OF 
 
 LORD KAMES. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Mr Home's birth — and education. — Classical learning little 
 cultivated at that time. — Causes of its decline in Scotland. — 
 Mr Home's first professional views. — His ardour of study. — 
 No regular institution at that time for the study of the 
 Law. — A more laborious course of study then pursued. — Im- 
 portance of general erudition to the profession of the Law. — 
 Mr Home's attention turned to Metaphysics. — His corre- 
 spondence with Baxter — and with Samuel Clarke^ 
 
 Henry Home, the son of George Home of Kames, in the Mr Home's 
 county of Berwick, North Britain, was bom at Kames, in 
 the year 1696- He was descended from an ancient and 
 honourable family; being, on his father's side, the great 
 Vol. I. A grandson
 
 2 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 ^ BOOK I. ^ grandson of Sir John Home of Renton, whose ancestor was 
 a cadet of the family of the Earls of Home, and who held 
 the office of Lord Justice-Clerk in the reign of King 
 Charles II. His mother w^as a daughter of Mr AValkin- 
 shaw of Barrowficld *, and grandaughter of ^Mr Robert 
 Baillie, Principal of the University of Glasgow, the author 
 of a learned work on History and Chronology, and of a very 
 curious Journal of his own Times, in a series of letters from 
 1637 to 1662 -j^. The father of Mr Home, a country gentle- 
 man of small fortune, though the heir of an estate which 
 had once been considerable, had never been bred to any 
 profession. He resided on his paternal lands, and dischar- 
 ged the duties of an active magistrate in the commission 
 of the peace ; but from the necessary expences of a nume- 
 rous progeny, and the indulgence of a taste for living be- 
 yond his income, he had considerably reduced his fortune ; 
 
 so 
 
 * Another daughter of Mr Walkinshaw was married to Mr Campbell of 
 Succoth, grandfather to the Right Honourable Hay Campbell, Lord President 
 of the Court of Session. Her brother, Mr Walkinshaw, having been engaged 
 in both the rebellions 1715 and 1745, was confined for some time in the Castle 
 of Stirling ; from whence he escaped by the courage and address of his wife, 
 a sister of Sir Hugh Paterson of Bannockburn, who exchanged clothes with 
 him, and remained a prisoner in his stead. This remarkable woman, splen- 
 dide mendax, ct in ovtne a:i)u?n nobilis, lived to the age of ninety, in the full 
 possession of her faculties, and of the esteem of all who knew her. 
 
 \ For a further account of Principal Baillie, see Appendix, NO. I., among 
 the notices of Scotsmen eminent for literature, in the period from the end of 
 the sixteenth to the beginning of the eighteenth century.
 
 AND WRITIXCS OF LORD KAMES. 
 
 SO that his son Henry, on entering tlie world, found that he vlH^^Lil 
 had nothing to trust to but his own abilities and exertions. 
 This circumstance, apparently unfavourable, was always most 
 justly regarded by him as the primary cause of his success 
 in life. If the remark of the satirist, Haud facile emergunt 
 quorum virtutibus obstat, Res (mgusfa donii, be true in one 
 sense, it is certain, that, in another, the converse of the maxim 
 is equally just. To a man of talents, and of moderate acti- 
 vity, the possession of a competence in early life is very far 
 fi'om being an advantage. In the annals, both of science and 
 literature, and the departments of professional emplo^'ment, 
 small is the proportion of those eminent men on whom for- 
 tune had bestowed hereditary affluence. 
 
 He was educated at home under a private tutor of the and educa- 
 name of Wingate ; of whose capacity for infusing know- 
 ledge he was never heard to say much in commendation ; 
 but an anecdote which he delighted to relate, shews that he 
 retained a lasting remembrance of his severity. AVingate 
 had by industry and parsimony made a little money, which 
 he employed in making a small purchase of land ; and be- 
 ing anxious to guard against any defects or insufficiency of 
 his title-deeds, he repaired for advice to his former pupil, 
 who was at that time in the height of his reputation as a 
 lawyer. Mr Home, after examining the parchments, and 
 turning them over again and again, addressed himself to 
 Wingate with great anxiety of countenance ; " Pray, Sir, is 
 
 A 2 " your 
 
 tion.
 
 4 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK I. 
 ^ ^ * 
 
 " your bargain finally concluded?" — " Not only so," said 
 Wingate, " but the price is paid." — " Good heavens \" said 
 Mr Home, " hoAv unlucky is this !" and here, with infinite in- 
 genuity, he began to point out numberless flaws, which would 
 lead to endless litigation ; till at length perceiving the sweat 
 distilling in large drops from the broAvs of the pedagogue ; 
 " Mr Wingate," said he, " you may remember how you made 
 " me smart in days of yore for very small offences : Now, 
 " I think, our accounts are cleared : Take up your parch- 
 " ments, and go home with an easy mind ; your titles are 
 " excellent." 
 
 The instruction which young Home received from Win- 
 gate was probably only elementary ; for it is certain that he 
 found it necessary, when he had chosen a profession connect- 
 ed with literature, to apply himself with great assiduity to 
 the study of the Latin and Greek languages : and in the 
 former of these at least, he arrived at as much proficiency as 
 is commonly attained by those who, with complete classical 
 education, are not just entitled to the rank of profound 
 scholars. The observations on classic authors which occur 
 in his critical writings, are much more directed to the senti- 
 ments, than to the language and style of their works ; and 
 the contempt with which he always treated the labours of 
 verbal commentators, affords a pretty certain presumption, 
 that he possessed but in a moderate degree that knowledge 
 which he so much undervalued. 
 
 It
 
 AND WRITINGS OF L0I!D KAMtS. 
 
 It must indeed be allowed, that a taste for classical learn- 
 ing was then at a very low ebb in Scotland. The Latin 
 Muses, from the date of the DelkicB Foetarum Scotorum, that 
 is, from the days of Arthur Johnston *, seem almost to 
 have deserted the northern part of our island. The learned 
 RuDDiMAN, piqued at a remark of Peter Burman, in 
 his Preface to an edition of Buchanan's Histori/, on the in- 
 considerable number of Latin writers, especially in poetry, 
 whom Britain had produced, in comparison with the conti- 
 nental kingdoms, endeavoured to vindicate his native coun- 
 try from its share in this degrading censure ; and, in tliat 
 view, published, in 1727? a small volume, entitled, Sekcta 
 Pocmata Archibaldi Fitcarnii et aliorum, S^-c. But this very 
 attempt affords a demonstration of the truth of the proposi- 
 tion it was meant to disprove ; for the poems of Pitcairne 
 comprise almost all that is of any merit in the volume : and 
 even these, from the nature of their subjects, temporary 
 political satire, the commemoration of local incidents, or al- 
 lusions 
 
 ClUP. I. 
 V J 
 
 Classical 
 learning 
 little cultiva- 
 ted at that 
 time. 
 
 * Arthur Johnston was born in lo87> five years after the death of Buchanan, 
 whom he had the courage to emulate as a translator of the Psalms : Nor was 
 the attempt greatly beyond his powers ; for although, taken as a whole, his 
 version is certainly inferior, (as indeed what modern has, in Latin poetry, 
 equalled Buchanan ?) ; yet, there are a few of his Psalms, which, on compari- 
 son, will, I think, be found to excel the corresponding paraphrase of his ri- 
 val. I would instance the 24th, 30th, 74th, 81st, 82d, 102d, and, above all, 
 the 137th. No man brings at all times the same spirits to his task ; but every 
 lengthened labour is a task ; and, in his happier moments, an inferior artist 
 may sometimes excel the work of a greater master, executed in a less fortu- 
 nate hour.
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIPE 
 
 ^BooK I. ^ lasions to private characters, have none of the requisites to 
 found either a general or a permanent reputation *. 
 
 Causes of its The gradual decline of classical learning in Scotland from 
 
 decline in • i i r- • i • i • i • n 
 
 Scotland. the period betore mentioned, is to be accounted tor chiefly 
 
 from the political circumstances of the country. The gloomy, 
 fanatical spirit which arose in the reign of Charles I. was 
 hostile to every elegant accomplishment. The seminaries of 
 learning were filled by the champions of the Solemn League 
 and Covenant, Avho were at much more pains to instil into 
 their pupils, the anti-monarchical principles of Knox, Bu- 
 chanan and Melvil, and to inculcate the independence of the 
 kingdom of the saints on all earthly potentates and powers, 
 
 than 
 
 * The poems of Pitcairne, which have the merit of excellent Latinity, and 
 easy and spirited numbers, must have had a poignant relish in his own age, 
 from the very circumstances which render them little interesting to ours. 
 They might yet be redeemed from oblivion by a good Commentary ; and their 
 merits entitle them to that mark of attention from the learned : but the task 
 would be a difficult one -, and the time is fast approaching when it may be al- 
 together impracticable. That most able antiquarian, and excellent critic, the 
 late Lord Hailes, amidst the great variety of his literary amusements, had 
 thought of publishing the Poems of Pitcairne, with such a Commentary ; and 
 he has given a specimen of it in the Edinburgh Magazine and Review for Fe- 
 bruary 1774, which excites our regret that he carried the design no further. 
 One qualification, however, his Lordship certainly wanted for that underta- 
 king, namely, a congeniality of opinions with his author. The strong Tory, 
 anti-Revolution, and anti-Union prejudices of the Poet, would have met with 
 no quarter from the zeal of the Critic, equally ardent on the opposite side of 
 the question, and there would have been a perpetual war betwixt the author 
 and his commentator.
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. f 
 
 than to point their attention to the energetic eloquence of 
 Cicero and Demosthenes, the simple majesty of Livy, the 
 ease and amenity of Xenophon, the playful wit and naivete 
 of Horace, or the chastened elegance of Virgil. The man- 
 ners of the Scots underwent not the same change at the Re- 
 storation, as those of their southern neighbours. The spirit 
 of the times was, if possible, more fanatical in the reign of 
 Charles II. than in that of his father ; and the disorderly 
 state of the country from the rebellion of the Covenanters, 
 was still further increased by the civil commotions conse- 
 quent on the Revolution *. In the succeeding age, Avhich 
 saw the Union of the kingdoms, a new spirit arose in Scot- 
 land, which, however favourable to national prosperity, in the 
 common acceptation of the term, had no tendency to pro- 
 mote the taste for ancient learning or classical studies. The 
 participation to which Scotland was now admitted in the 
 commerce of England with foreign States, and the free in- 
 terchange of the manufactures of the two countries, excited 
 a wonderful ardour for every species of commercial occupa- 
 tion. The Scottish gentry, forgetting that pride of family 
 which had hitherto been their characteristic, and which, as 
 in ancient Rome, interposed an impassable barrier between 
 the higher and lower classes of the community, instead of 
 
 bestowing 
 
 • A few instances, however, may be mentioned of Scotsmen of uncommon 
 erudition, who threw some lustre on this age of comparative darkness : Of 
 these the reader will find some short biographical notices in the Appendix, 
 NO. I. 
 
 CHAP. r.
 
 8 
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 bestowing on their sons a learned education, which was for- 
 merly the honourable badge of their condition, now threw 
 them into the Shop or the Counting-house, Avith no other pre- 
 paratory accomplishment than what was merely necessary 
 for the function of a clerk or a book-keeper. Classical learn- 
 ing was therefore confined to the few Avho were destined for 
 the learned professions ; of Avhich the number became daily 
 the more limited, as new, and easier, and shorter paths were 
 opened to Avealth and distinction. 
 
 Mr Home's 
 first profes- 
 sional views. 
 
 It was owing to these prevailing notions of the times, that 
 the father of Mr Home, who probabl}' had never felt the de- 
 fects of his own education, saw no necessity for bestowing 
 on his son the tedious and expensive discipline of an Uni- 
 versity. Young Home, with no other stock of learning than 
 what he had acquired from Mr Wingate, was, about the year 
 1713, bound by indenture to attend the office or chambers 
 of a writer to the Signet in Edinburgh. This profession, be- 
 ing of a liberal nature, was always filled by gentlemen of 
 good birth ; and it was deemed a very useful piece of edu- 
 cation, even for the sons of the first families, Avho were de- 
 stined to inherit large estates, to attend the Avriting-cham- 
 ber for- a few years, and thus qualify themselves for con- 
 ducting their own affairs Avith intelligence and discretion*. 
 
 This 
 
 * That this branch of education was a characteristic of the Scottish gentry, 
 in a former and not a distant age, we have the honourable testimony of Sir 
 William Blackstone ; and it were earnestly to be wished, that the praise were 
 
 equally
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 9 
 
 This discipline corresponded to that which is so earnestly re- ^chap. r. ^ 
 commended by the great Lord Clarendon *, as equally be- 
 neficial to an English gentleman with an University educa- 
 tion ; the attendance on the Inns of Court. With Mr 
 Home, however, it was preparatory to the profession of a 
 writer or solicitor before the Supreme Court, to which it ap- 
 pears that his views Avere at first directed ; when they re- 
 ceived, from a trifling incident, a bias to an ampler field of 
 occupation. One winter evening, Home's master sent him 
 
 with 
 
 equally merited in the present day, as we believe it to have been at the time 
 when it was given : " The science of the laws and constitution of our own 
 " country, is a species of knowledge in which the gentlemen of England have 
 " been more remarkably deficient than those of all Europe beside. In most 
 " of the nations on the Continent, where the civil or imperial law, under dif- 
 *' ferent modifications, is closely interwoven with the municipal laws of the 
 ♦' land, no gentleman, or, at least, no scholar, thinks his education is com- 
 " pleted till he has attended a course or two of lectures, both upon the Insti- 
 " tutes of Justinian, and the local constitutions of his native soil, under the 
 " very eminent professors that abound in their several Universities. And in 
 ♦' the northern parts of our own island, where also the municipal laws are fre- 
 •' quently connected with the civil, it is difficult to meet with a person of li- 
 •* beral education, who is destitute of a competent knowledge in that science, 
 " which is to be the guardian of his natural rights, and the rule of his civil 
 •' conduct." Blackstone's Comment, vol. i. Introd. § 1. 
 
 It is curious to remark, that among the many proofs of the liberal and en- 
 lightened policy of the Scottish Monarch James I. one is an edict mentioned 
 by Hector Boece, " N'e cuicj^uam insignem hcvrcditdtem adeundi jus esset, gut 
 " prorsus juris ci-uilis aut municipalis ignarus esset." BoET. flist. Scot. lib. 17. 
 
 * See his Dialogue on Education. 
 
 Vol. I. B
 
 10 MEMOIRS OF THE LIVE 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 Avith some papers to the house of Sii- Hew Dah'ymple, tlien 
 President ol" the Court of Session, avIio Uved in a sort of 
 suburban villa, at the end of Bristo Street. He was sIicm ii in- 
 to the parlour, a very elegant apartment, where a daughter of 
 the President, a beautilul young lady, was performing a 
 piece of nuisic on the harpsichord ; while the venerable 
 Judge sat b}' her, with his book on the table. The music 
 was suspended, and a short conversation ensued on the busi- 
 ness to which the papers related, in wliich the young man 
 acquitted himself so much to the President's satisfaction, as 
 to draw from him a very handsome compliment on his know- 
 ledge and proficiency in the law. The conversation then 
 turned to general topics, and Avas prolonged with much plea- 
 sure ; while the young lady made tea, and afterwards, at her 
 father s desire, sung, and played some Scots airs on the harp- 
 sichord. I'he youth Avas struck with every particular of the 
 scene in which he had borne a part ; and his ardent mind, 
 as he was Avont himself to relate, caught instant tire fi'om 
 the impression. " Happy the man," said he to himself, 
 " whose old age, crowned Avith honour and dignity, can thus 
 " repose itself after the usei'ul labours of the day, in the 
 " bosom of his family, amidst all the elegant enjcjyments 
 " that affluence, justly earned, can command ! Such are 
 " the fruits of eminence in the profession of the law." 
 From that moment, Mr Home determined to abandon the 
 more limited occupation of a Jhlfer, and cjualify himself for 
 the function of an Advocate bel'ore the Supreme Courts ; to 
 
 Avhich
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES, 11 
 
 which the employment of the past years ibrmed a very use- , ^"-'^ ^- ''• 
 ful preparation. 
 
 It was now, that, by the testimony of his co temporaries, His ardour 
 
 of study. 
 
 he began to apply himself with unwearied diligence to re- 
 pair the defects of his domestic education. He resumed the 
 study of the Latin and Greek languages, to which he added 
 French and Italian. Conscious that of all the liberal occu- 
 pations, the profession of a barrister is that Avhich rccjuires, 
 to the attainment of eminence, the greatest variety of know- 
 ledge, and the widest range of scientific acquirements, he ap- 
 plied himself to the study of Mathematics, Natural Philoso- 
 phy, Logic, Ethics, and ISIetaphysics. These pursuits, which 
 he followed at the same time with the study of the law, af- 
 forded, independently of their own value, a most agreeable 
 variety of employment to his active mind. 
 
 The sciences of the Roman law, and the municipal law of No reguhr 
 
 institution at 
 
 Scotland, were not, till the year 1710, taught by a regular that tim? for 
 institution or system of lectures, in any of the Scottish Uni^ the kw/ 
 versities. In that year, Mr James Craig, Advocate, was ap- 
 pointed Professor of Civil Law in the College of Edinburgh^ 
 with the endowment of a small salary from the Faculty of 
 Advocates. The civil law, which fonns a most essential part 
 of the education of a Scottish Advocate, as being the basis 
 of the municipal law in all matters not depending on feudal 
 principles, was, previously to that time, acquired either b}-^ 
 
 B 2 private
 
 12 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BooKi. private study, or by resorting to the foreign Universities, 
 particularly those of Utrecht, Ley den, Halle, and Groningen. 
 It Avas unsuitable to Mr Home's circumstances to prosecute 
 the latter plan : and, indeed, to a mind like his, the confine- 
 ment to a regular method and system of tuition is perhaps 
 less advantageous, than the exercise of its native and unas- 
 sisted efforts, Avhich, the greater are the difficulties it has to 
 surmount, are always the more vigorous and the more suc- 
 cessful. In fact, it has been frequently observed, that those 
 whom Nature has destined to be the teachers and instructors 
 of mankind, have not been the most willing pupils. They 
 receive with suspicion every thing that is announced in the 
 shape of a dogma : they have always a stronger propensity 
 to scrutinize and impugn, than to subscribe to the doctrines 
 of a preceptor ; and every task is either submitted to with 
 reluctance, or indignantly resisted as fettering the free pro- 
 gress of the understanding. In the character I am now de- 
 scribing, this was a predominant feature. He may truly be 
 said to have been his own instructor in all his mental acquisi- 
 tions ; and his common mode of study was not so much to 
 read what had been Avritten or taught upon the subject, as 
 to exercise his mind in earnest and patient investigation ; 
 tracing known or acknowledged facts to principles, and 
 thence ascending to general laws. On many subjects of spe- 
 culative inquiry, he is therefore justly entitled to the name 
 of a Discoverer ; as his tenets and opinions were truly the re- 
 sult of liis own investigation, unassisted by the researches of 
 
 others ;
 
 AND WKITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 15 
 
 others ; though, from this last circumstance, it has also fre- 
 quently happened, that he has announced as his own ^hat 
 had before been given to the world by preceding authors, 
 whose writings had not fallen under his observation. 
 
 The knowledge of the law of Scotland was, in those days, 
 usually acquired by private study * ; that is, by the perusal 
 of Lord Stair's Institutions, the useful compend under the 
 same title by Sir George Mackenzie, the statute laws, and 
 the reports or decisions of the Court of Session : and the 
 forms of judicial procedure were learned by the daily prac- 
 tice in the Supreme Court. It was likewise customary for 
 the student of law to attach himself to some one of the ablest 
 and best employed Advocates, who allowed him the privi- 
 lege of attending all his consultations, where he had the be- 
 nefit of hearing his patron's opinions on nice and intricate 
 cases, or on disputed points of law ; and was frequently em- 
 ployed by him in the arranging and analyzing of processes, 
 which it Avas but little customary at that time, as now, for 
 the solicitor or attorney to reduce into the form of memorial 
 or brief for the counsel. To which of the eminent Advocates 
 
 of 
 
 * Before the institution of a professorship of the Municipal Law of Scot- 
 land in the University of Edinburgh, which took place in 1710, some mem- 
 bers of the Faculty of Advocates gave lectures in their own houses to pupils, 
 on that science. Of these the most distinguished were Mr Robert Craigie, 
 who afterwards attained to the highest honour in his profession, the Presi- 
 dency of the Court of Session ; Mr John Spottiswoode, grandson of President 
 Spottiswoode ; Mr James Leslie, the pupil and correspondent of Voet, &c. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 >. u '
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 of those times Mr Home attached himself for this useful in- 
 struction, I cannot with certainty affirm, but have reason to 
 believe it was to Mr Patrick Grant, afterwards a Judge of the 
 Court of Session, by the title of Lord Elchies, one of the 
 ablest lawyers of his time, and in the greatest practice as a 
 barrister. 
 
 Amorelabo- 
 rious course 
 of study then 
 .pursued. 
 
 From the writings of the eminent Scottish lawyers of the 
 seventeenth century, as the Institutions of tlie Viscount of 
 Stair, the Doubts of Lord Dirleton, and the Decisions of 
 Durie and Fountainhall, we cannot fail to perceive that those 
 great Judges possessed a nuich more extensive acquaintance 
 with the foreign commentators on tlie Roman law, and with 
 the writers on the public law ^f Europe, than seems to have 
 been thought necessary by their successors to accomplish 
 them for the duties either -of an Advocate or of a Judge. 
 We should be apt to deem it pedantry in the present day, 
 cither from the Bench or the Bar, to quote the authorities of 
 Accursius, Bartolus, Alciatus, Cujacius, Zoesius, &c. who 
 were constantly in the mouths of the Judges and Lawyers 
 of the period before menticmed. It would certainly be very 
 presumptuous to affirm, that the knowledge gained by so 
 much study Avas of no real lulvantage, from the circum- 
 stance of a great part of the discussions which fill those pon- 
 derous volumes, being employed in frivolous and sophistical 
 distinctions, or in the accumulating of authorities, and the 
 laborious balancing of contending opinions : for even the 
 
 long
 
 AND WRITINCJS OF LORD KAMES. ] .j 
 
 long-continuccl exercise of the mind on the topics of juris- J^"ap. i. ^ 
 prudence, which tlie perusal of those vohnnes required, c-ou]d 
 not fail to impress more deeply on the memory the vari(>u.s 
 doctrines of the law, and to sharpen the understanding, and 
 render niDre perfect its discriminating power. So far the stu- 
 dies of our forefathers were certainly benehcial ; and it were 
 to be wisiied, that instead of treating them with ridicule, we 
 bestowed a greater portion of attention on the commentators 
 on the Pandects, and on tlie writers on General Jurisprudence. . 
 It was that species of instruction which formed those great 
 Judges I have mentioned ; whose opinions are now regarded 
 as grave and weighty authorities in the law; an eminence 
 and respect to which, in all probability, they had never at- 
 tained, but for that noAV so nuich neglected erutlition. 
 
 But, while we allow the usc^fulness of those studies to a importance 
 
 1 1 ■ 1 1 1 "^ general 
 
 certain extent, it must be admitted, that there are others no erudition to 
 
 , . , , ,. . . the profes- 
 
 less miportant ; and as the term ot preparatory mstruction sionofthe 
 for the profession of the laAV, as well as every other, is limit- 
 ed to a few years, it deserves seriously to be weighed, whe- 
 ther a considerable part of that time may not be more pro- 
 fitably employed in the acquisition of general knoAvledge ; 
 the elements of the sciences, as Physics or Natural History, 
 the principles of Mechanics and Mathematics, and in the 
 elegant studies connected with the Belles I>ettres and Criti- 
 cism. It is to entertain a most narrow and illiberal view of 
 the profession of a banister, to account a knowledge of the 
 
 laws. 
 
 law.
 
 16 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 laws, of cases and reports, and of the forms of judicial proceed- 
 ings, the sum of that learning wliich is necessary for the dis- 
 charge of his duties, or the attainment of eminence in his 
 vocation. This profession, more than any other, requires an 
 enlarged acquaintance, not only with human nature, in the 
 knowledge of the passions and affections of the mind, (a 
 knowledge not to be gained but by the study of philosophy) ; 
 but it demands an extensive information of the various arts 
 and sciences which constitute the occupations of mankind, 
 and of course give origin to a very great proportion of those 
 legal questions which occupy the courts of justice *. More- 
 over, the talent of elocution, on which the professional emi- 
 nence of a lawyer chietly depends, is incredibly improved 
 by an acquaintance with elegant literature ; which not only 
 instiTicts the student in the rules of rhetoric and of good 
 composition, and supplies him with inexhaustible stores of 
 apposite and beautiful illustrations of his subject, but pre- 
 sents the most con'ect and exquisite models for his iniita- 
 tiwi : And finally, what is far superior to every other advan- 
 tage 
 
 * " Aleci quidem sententid, (says Cicero), nemo pot er it esse omni laude cumu- 
 " latus orator, nisi erit omnium rerum magnarum atque artium scientiam consecu- 
 " tus. — Sic censeo neminem esse in oratorum numero habendum, qui non sit omnibus 
 " iis artibus qu<s sunt libera homine digme perpolitus." {^De Orator e,\\.h. 1.) 
 And again more fully : " ^loniam dicendifacultas non debet esse jejuna at- 
 " que nuda, sed aspersa atque distincta multarum rerum jucundd quadam iia- 
 " rietate, est loni orator is mult a auribus accepisse, mult a vidisse, mult a ani- 
 «' mo et cogitatione, multa ctiam legendo percurrisse, — nulla in re tironem ac 
 " rudem, nee peregrinum atque hospitem, in agendo esse debere," — Ibid.
 
 AXD WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 
 
 tage arising from those elegant stndies, and from a general 
 acquaintance with science, is the dignity and elevation of 
 mind which is the fruit of that knowledge ; an endowment 
 which raises its possessor above every mean and sordid feel- 
 ing incident to his profession ; which preserves vmvitiated 
 every moral distinction, amidst the daily exercise of an art 
 too often employed to confoimd and obliterate them ; and 
 is the parent of that ingenuous manliness of character which 
 asserts its own superiority, and compels respect from those 
 meaner souls, Avhom the tide of fortime has lifted up to ho- 
 nours, or exalted into stations to which their merits had no 
 pretensions *. 
 
 The professional occupations of the best-employed lawyer, 
 or the most distinguished judge, cannot fill up every interval of 
 his time. The useful respite of vacation, the horn's of sick- 
 ness, the surcease of employment from the infirmities of age, 
 all necessarily induce seasons of languor, against which a 
 wise man would do Avell to jmoa ide a store in reserve, and 
 an antidote and cordial to cheer and support his spirits. In 
 this light, the pursuits of science and of literature, afford an 
 unbounded field, and endless variety of delightful occupa- 
 tion : and even in the latest hours of life, the reflection on 
 the time thus spent, and the anticipation of an honourable 
 
 Vol. I. C memorial 
 
 * See, particularly, on this latter effect of a taste for literature in profes- 
 sional men, a very elegant and ingenious paper, from the pen of Mr Mac- 
 kenzie. Lounger, NO. 100.
 
 18 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 'J^'^^-Zlf memorial in after-ages, are sources of consolation of which 
 every ingenuous mind must fully feel the value. How me- 
 lancholy was the reflection uttered on deathbed, by one of 
 the ablest lawyers and judges of the last age, but whose 
 mental stores were Avholly limited to the ideas connected 
 with his profession, " My life has been a chaos of nothing \" 
 
 The man to whom these Memoirs relate, was in every pe- 
 riod of his progress secure against the miserable feeling of 
 such a retrospect. Independently of the discharge of his 
 professional duties, and the most active concern which he 
 took in numberless schemes for the public good, and the im- 
 provement of his country, his various writings bear evidence 
 of a mind perpetually employed, and which seems to have 
 known no other relaxation than a change of labour. 
 
 Mr Home's Before putting on the gown of an advocate, Mr Home's 
 
 turaed°to attention seems to have been considerably turned to meta- 
 Metaphysics. pj^ygjcal investigation ; and for that study, to which his in- 
 tellectual powers were peculiarly adapted, he entertained, 
 through the whole course of his life, a strong predilection. 
 It is not necessary here to enter deeply into the question, in 
 what degree of importance such researches truly stand in 
 the scale of human pursuits. Allowing them to be conver- 
 sant about the noblest part of our frame, the nature and 
 powers of the human soul ; and granting that they give the 
 most vigorous exercise to the understanding, b}^ trainmg the 
 
 mind
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 
 
 mind to an earnest and patient attention to its own opera- 
 tions ; still I fear, it must be admitted, that, as those ab- 
 stract studies are beyond the limits of the faculties of the 
 bulk of mankind, no conclusion thence derived can have 
 much influence upon Imman conduct *. Even the anxiety 
 
 C 2 shewn 
 
 * The following passage, containing an estimate of the comparative im- 
 portance and utility of the metaphysical mode of inquiry, when contrasted 
 with the more ordinary manner of treating the study of human nature, is well 
 deserving of attention, as proceeding from the pen of one of the ablest of the 
 metaphysical writers, and who therefore cannot be supposed to have under- 
 rated the value of his favourite species of research. " Moral philosophy," 
 (says Mr Hume), " or the science of human nature, may be treated after two 
 " different manners ; each of which has its peculiar merit, and may contri- 
 " bute to the entertainment, instruction and reformation of mankind. The 
 " one considers man chiefly as born for action ; and as influenced, in his mea- 
 " S'Ures, by taste and sentiment ; pursuing one object and avoiding another, 
 " according to the value which these objects seem to possess, and according to 
 " the light in which they present themselves. As virtue, of all objects, is 
 " allowed to be the most valuable, this species of philosophers paint her in 
 " the most amiable colours ; borrowing all helps from poetry and eloquence, 
 " and treating their subject in an easy and obvious manner, and such as is 
 " best fitted to please the imagination and engage the affections. They se- 
 " lect the most striking observations and instances from common life ; place 
 " opposite characters in a proper contrast ; and, alluring us into the paths of 
 " virtue, by the views of glory and happiness, direct our steps in these paths 
 " by the soundest precepts and most illustrious examples. They make us 
 " fe.el the difference between vice and virtue ; they excite and regulate our 
 " sentiments ; and so they can but bend our hearts to the love of probity and 
 " true honour, they think that they have fully attained the end of all their 
 '* labours. The other species of philosophers consider man in the light of a 
 
 " reasonable
 
 20 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK I. shewn by metaphysical writ rs to apologize for their fa- 
 vourite pursuits, by endeavouring, with great ingenuity, to 
 deduce from them a few practical consequences with respect 
 
 to 
 
 •' reasonable, rather than an active being, and endeavour to form his under- 
 " standing more than cultivate his manners. Thej regard human nature as 
 " a subject of speculation ; and, with a narrow scrutiny, examine it, in order 
 *' to find those principles, which regulate our understanding, excite our senti- 
 " ments, and make us approve or blame any particular object, action or be- 
 " haviour. They think it a reproach to all literature, that philosophy should 
 " not yet have fixed beyond controversy, the foundation of morals, reasoning, 
 " and criticism; and should for ever talk of truth and falsehood, vice and 
 •' virtue, beauty and deformity', without being able to determine the source 
 " of these distinctions. While they attempt this arduous task, they are de- 
 " terred by no difficulties ; but, proceeding from particular instances to gene- 
 " ral principles, they still push on their inquiries to principles more general ; 
 " and rest not satisfied, till they arrive at those original principles, by which 
 " in every science all human curiosity must be bounded. Though their spe- 
 " culations seem abstract, and even unintelligible to common readers, they 
 " aim at the approbation of the learned and the wise ; and think themselves 
 " sufficiently compensated for the labour of their whole lives, if they can dis- 
 " cover some hidden truths, which may contribute to the instruction of po- 
 " sterity. It is certain that the easy and obvious philosophy will always, 
 ♦' with the generality of mankind, have the preference above the accurate and 
 " abstruse; and by many will be recommended, not only as more agreeable, 
 " but more useful than the other. It enters more into common life ; moulds 
 " the heart and affections ; and, by touching those principles which actuate 
 " men, reforms their conduct, and brings them nearer to that model of per- 
 " fection which it describes. On the contrary, the abstruse philosophy, be- 
 " ing founded on a turn of mind which cannot enter into business and action, 
 " vanishes when the philosopher leaves the shade and comes into open day ; 
 
 " nor
 
 AND M'RITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 
 
 to life and manners, is strong proof of the native infertility 
 of the soil, on which so niuc;h labour is h(istowed to produce 
 so small a return. It is not much to the ])raise of this 
 science, that the most subtile and ingenious spirits have, for 
 above two thousand years, assiduously exercised themselves 
 in its various svd)jects of discussion, and have not yet arri- 
 ved at a set of fundamental principles on which the think- 
 ing world is aoreed*. Neither have the uses to which this 
 
 V sort 
 
 " nor can its principles easily retain any influence over our conduct and beha- 
 *' viour. The feelings of our heart, the agitation of our passions, the vehe- 
 " mence of our aiFections, dissipate all its conclusions, and reduce the pro- 
 " found philosopher to a mere plebeian. This also must be confessed, that 
 " the most durable, as well as the justest reputation, has been acquired by the 
 " easy philosophy ; and that abstract reasoners seem hitherto to have enjoy- 
 " ed only a momentary reputation from the caprice or ignorance of their own 
 " age, but have not been able to support their renown with more equitable 
 " posterity," &c. ; D. Hume's Inquiry concerning the Human Understanding, 
 sect. 1. 
 
 * " The number of ingenious theorists," (says an acute metaphysician), 
 " has in every age been great; that of sound philosophers has been wonder- 
 " fully small, or rather, they are only beginnuig now to have a glimpse of 
 " their way, in consequence of the combined lights furnished by their prede- 
 " cessors. — The last observation holds more strictly with respect to the phi- 
 " losophy of the human mind, than any other branch of science ; for there is 
 " no subject whatever on which it is so easy to form theories calculated to 
 " impose »n the multitude ; and none, where the discovery of truth is attend- 
 " ed with so many difficulties." Account of the Life und Writings of Thomas 
 Reid, D. D. by Mr DuGALD Stewart, p. 83. — But happily for man there is 
 
 no
 
 22 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK I. sQi^ Qf reasoning has sometimes been applied, tended to en- 
 hance its estimation. The attempts that have been made to 
 found morahty on metaphysical principles, have, for certain, 
 been prejudicial, on the whole, to the cause of vii-tue. The 
 acutest of the sceptical writers, availing themselves of Mr 
 Locke's doctrine of the origin of ideas, and the consequences 
 he has thence draAvn respecting morals, have done much 
 more harm, by weakening our belief in the reality of moral 
 distinctions, than the ablest of their opponents, combating 
 them on the same ground, and with the same weapons, have 
 found it possible to repair. The baneful industry of the for- 
 mer has, it is true, made the labours of the latter in some 
 degree necessary, and therefore useful : and it is in this 
 point of view, that the writings of those metaphysicians, who 
 are antagonists of the sceptical philosophy, are entitled to 
 
 attention 
 
 no truth which is of serious importance to him, that falls under this descrip- 
 tion, ^uicquid nos vel meltores, vel beatiores facturum est, aut in aperio, aut in 
 proximo posuit Natura. There is much sound sense in the following observa- 
 tions of a writer well entitled, from the singular variety of his own talents, to 
 estimate the comparative value of scientific and intellectual researches : «' Les 
 " notions sur lesquelles les homraes different si prodigieusement ne sont point 
 " necessaires aux hommes : il est meme impossible qu'elles nous soient neces- 
 " saires, par cette seule raison qu'elles nous sont cachees. II a ete indispen- 
 " sable que tous les peres et meres aimassent leurs enfans ; ainsi les aiment- 
 " ils. II etoit n^cessaire qu'il y eut quelques principes gendraux de morale, 
 « pour que la societe put subsister : aussi ces principes sont-ils les memes 
 " chez toutes les nations policees. Tout ce qui est un eternel sujet de dis- 
 " pute, est d'une inutilite ctemelle." — Lettre de Voltaire a Madame la 
 Marquise du Deffant.
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 23 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 attention and to praise. Among these we may justly rank 
 the subject of these memoirs. 
 
 It appears from several letters yet remaining, dated in His corre- 
 spondence 
 May, June, and July 1723, between Mr Home and Mr An- with Baxter. 
 
 DREW Baxter, the learned and acute author of A71 Inquiry 
 into the Nature of the Human Soul, and of Matho, sive Cosmo- 
 theoria inierilis, that the former was at that time earnestly 
 engaged both in physical and metaph3'sical disquisitions. 
 Mr Baxter, Avho was then employed in superintending the 
 education of a son of Mr Hay of Drumelzier, lived at Dunse 
 Castle, Avithin a few miles of Kames, Mr Home's paternal 
 residence ; and thus an intimacy had naturally taken place 
 between two men of talents, attached to the same species of 
 pursuits. Mr Baxter was probably at that time occupied in 
 those inquiries on Avhich he has founded the principal doc- 
 trines of the Treatise above mentioned ; a work which Dr 
 Warburton has characterized, in his Divine Legation of il/o- 
 ses demonstrated, as " containing the justest and most pre- 
 " else notions of God and of the soul, and as altogether one 
 " of the most finished of its kind ;" but which, though evin- 
 cing great metaphysical acuteness, certainly did not desei^e 
 this unqualified encomium *. The correspondence between 
 
 Mr 
 
 * The object of Mr Baxter's Treatise, is to prove the immateriality, and 
 consequently the immortality of the soul, from the acknowledged principle of 
 the vis inertice of matter. His argument is as follows : There is a resistance 
 
 to
 
 -V 
 
 24 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK I, -jyjj. j-{Qjjje and Mr Baxter took its rise from some doubts 
 whicli had occurred to the former, on considering the ac- 
 count given by Dr Keill, in his Introduction to Physics, of 
 
 the 
 
 to any change of its present state, either of rest or motion, essential to matter, 
 ■which is inconsistent with its possessing any active power. Those, therefore, 
 which have been called the natural powers of matter, as gravity, attraction, 
 elasticity, repulsion, are not powers implanted in matter, or possible to be 
 made inherent in it, but are impulses or forces impressed upon it ab extra. 
 The consequence of the want of active power in matter is, that all those effects, 
 commonly ascribed to its active powers, must be produced upon it by an im- 
 material being. Hence we discover the necessity for the agency of a constant 
 and universal Providence in the material world, who is God ; and hence we 
 must admit the necessity of an immaterial mover in all spontaneous motions, 
 which is the Sou/ ; for that which can arbitrarily effect a change in the pre- 
 sent state of matter, cannot be Matter itself, which resists all change of its 
 present state : and since this change is effected by willing, that thing which 
 wills in us is not matter, but an immaterial substance. From these funda- 
 mental propositions, the author deduces, as consequences, the necessary immor- 
 tality of the soul, as being a simple uncompounded substance, and thence in- 
 capable of decay ; and its capacity of existing, and being conscious when se- 
 parated from the body. — This argument, which excludes the operation of se- 
 cond causes in nature, and resolves all into the immediate agency of the First 
 Cause, has been justly censured by the best philosophers. It is chiefly in al- 
 lusion to this notion of Baxter's, inculcated in his Inquity into the Soul, and in 
 his Cosmotheoria puerilis, that Maclaurin thus admirably expresses himself, 
 in his Account of Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophy : — " As we cannot but conceive 
 " the universe as depending on the l''iru Cause and Chief Mover, whom it 
 " would be absurd, not to say impious, to exclude from acting in it ; so we 
 " have some hints of the manner in which he operates in nature, from the 
 " laws which we find established in it. Though he is the source of all effi- 
 
 " cacy,
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES, 
 
 the communication of motion. INIr Home conceived that 
 this philosopher had laid down as a principle, what could not 
 be granted him ; naincly, that motion once comnmnicated 
 to matter, would always contiime, till a new cause occurred 
 wh.ich induced an alteration ; whereas, according to Mr 
 Home's idea, motion is not one single effect, but a conti- 
 nued succession of etfects, each requiring a new cause, or a 
 successive repetition of the cause to produce it: i\s, suppo- 
 sing a body impelled by the touch of the hand to move for- 
 ward one inch, the motion ceases wiien the hand is removed, 
 
 and 
 
 " cacy, yet we find that place is left for Second Causes, to act in subordination 
 " to him ; and mechanism has its share in carrying on the great scheme of 
 " nature. The establishing the equality of action and re-action, even in 
 " those powers which seem to surpass mechanism, and to be more immedi- 
 " ately derived from him, seems to be an indication that those powers are, 
 " however, in a certain degree, circumscribed, and regulated in their opera- 
 •' tions by mechanical principles ; and that they are not to be considered as 
 " mere volitions of his, (as they are often represented), but rather as in- 
 " struments made by him, to perform the purposes for which he intended 
 " them. — They who hastily resolve those powers into immediate volitions of 
 " the Supreme Cause, without admitting any intermediate instruments, put an 
 " end to our inquiries at once, and deprive us of what is probably the most 
 " sublime part of philosophy, by representing it as imaginary and fictitious ; 
 <' by which means, they hurt those very interests which they appear so san- 
 " guine to promote ; for the higher we rise in the scale of nature towards the 
 *' Supreme Cause, the views we have from philosophy appear more beautiful 
 " and extensive." Account of Sh- Isaac Neivtou's Phil. Discov. B. iv. c. 9. 
 § 14. 
 
 Vol. J. D
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 and it requires the hand to be again apphed, to move it for- 
 ward another inch. This kind of reasoning is a proof that 
 Mr Home was at that time a mere novice in physics ; a 
 science in which, it must be allowed, he never attained to 
 any great proficiency. Mr Baxter endeavoured at first, with 
 much patience and good temper, to point out to him the 
 error of his argument ; but, teased at length with what he 
 conceived to be sophistry, purposely employed by his anta- 
 gonist, to shew his ingenuity in throwing doubt on principles 
 to which he himself annexed the greatest importance, and 
 on which he had founded what he believed a demonstration 
 of those doctrines, most material to the happiness of man- 
 kind, he broke off' the correspondence : " I shall return you" 
 (says he) " all your letters : mine, if not already destroyed, 
 " you may likewise return. We shall burn them and our 
 " philosophical heats together." 
 
 —with Sa- 
 muel Clarke. 
 
 In the same year 1723, Mr Home seems to have been de- 
 sirous of entering the lists of metaphysical controversy with 
 Dr Samuel Clarke ; having written a very long letter to 
 that eminent author, in which he criticises and impvigns seve- 
 ral of the arguments contained in his Dhcourse concerning the 
 Being and Attributes of God. This attack from " a young 
 " philosopher, and a stranger," as Mr Home terms himself, 
 was neither arrogantly contemned, nor indignantly repelled 
 by the venerable divine. He answered the objections of his 
 correspondent briefly, but pointedly, and with the most per- 
 fect
 
 AND WrilTINCS OF LORD KAMES. 2? 
 
 feet good temper ; yet in such a strain, as to prompt to no 
 further continuance of the controversy. (See Mr Home's 
 letter, and Dr Clarke's answer, in the Appendix, NO. li.) 
 The objections urged by Mr Home were afterwards more 
 fully stated in his Essajfs on the Principles of Morulilij and 
 JS'atural Religion. However inconclusive they may appear 
 when fairly canvassed, they serve as a strong evidence of the 
 inexpediency of resting the demonstration of so important a 
 proposition as the existence of the Deity, and the proof of 
 his moral attributes, on the argumenta a priori : for, inde- 
 pendently of the unfitness of those arguments, from their ab- 
 struseness and intricacy, to atfect the understanding of the 
 generality of mankind, their extreme subtilty will ever ren- 
 der them the subject of dispute and cavil, and therefore the 
 most favourite objects of attack with the sceptical writers *, 
 
 D 2 Among 
 
 * An anecdote told ]}y Mr Whiston, shews, that Dr Clarke himself was 
 Sensible of this strong objection to his mode of reasoning, and sought rather to 
 apologize for it than to obviate the objection. " When Clarke brought me his 
 '* book," (says Whiston), " I was in my garden against St Peter's College, 
 " Cambridge, where I then lived. Now, I perceived that in these sermons 
 " he had dealt a great deal in abstract and metaphysical reasoning. I there- 
 " fore asked him, how he ventured into such subtleties, which I never durst 
 " meddle with ; and showing him a nettle, or some contemptible weed in my 
 •'. garden, I told him that weed contained better arguments for the being and 
 " attributes of a God than all his metaphysics. Clarke confessed it to be so ; 
 •' but alleged for himself, that since such philosophers as Hobbes and Spi- 
 " noza had made use of those kind of subtleties against, he thought it pro- 
 
 " per 
 
 CHAP. I
 
 28 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 -^^JL/ Among the latter, it will be seen, from what I have already 
 said, that I am ver}' far from classing Mr Home ; although, 
 by the undisceming multitude, he has been frequently rank- 
 ed in that number. That on some points of Theology he 
 entertained opinions different from the particular tenets of 
 the Established Church, is indeed evident from his writings : 
 But the truth is, he was much more of a dogmatist than a 
 sceptic : his mind could never rest in doubt ; and he had 
 formed to himself a positive creed, not only in all matters of 
 Theology, of Philosophy and Science, but even of Taste. 
 He possessed that ardour in the search of truth, which never 
 stops in its pursuit, till it believes the object attained. 
 Hence all his researches terminate in what the inquirer be- 
 lieved to be a demonstration, or at least a proof so strong, as 
 to aflord a rational conviction of the truth of the proposition 
 he desired to establish. It is only the cold and phlegmatic 
 temperament that can rest satisfied under a suspension of 
 belief on those topics, on which the man of a warm imagi- 
 nation and strong affections feels it a misery to be unresol- 
 ved. Such as have accused Mr Home of scepticism, are 
 
 either 
 
 " per to shew, that the like way of reasoning might be made better use of 
 " on the side o/" religion ; which reason or excuse 1 allowed to be not inconsi- 
 " derable." Whiston's Historical Memoir s. — The respectable author of the 
 Life of Dr Francis Hutcheson, (Dr Leechman), has made some very just obser- 
 vations on the dangerous consequences of attempting a strict demonstration in 
 subjects which, from their nature, are incapable of that proof. See Preface, 
 to Hutcheson' s System of Moral Philosophy, vol. i. p. o-
 
 AND WRIT^INCxS OF LORD KAME.S, 29 
 
 either is:norant of his Avritings, or iiavc foroottcn a most ma- . ^"^^- ^• 
 terial distinction. Jt ought ever to ho remembered, tliat 
 there is a wide difference between tliose who labour to inva- 
 hdate the fundamental principles of religion and morality, 
 and to inculcate the wisdom of universal doubt and indeci- 
 sion ; and those who, firmly convinced of the reality and 
 truth of such fundamental principles, are dissatisfied vvith 
 the particular arguments that have been used to demon- 
 strate them, and are anxiously desirous to found them on a 
 basis, which, to their apprehension, should be proof against 
 all attempts to shake or undermine them. i\s 1 am most 
 thoroughly convinced, that the eminent person A\'ho is the 
 subject of these Memoirs, falls under the latter of tliese de- 
 scriptions, as Avill be evident to all who impartially consider 
 the scope and tenor of his philosophical writings, (and is 
 more particularly known to myself, Avho had nmch oppor- 
 tunity of being acquainted with his free and sincere opi- 
 nions), I cannot too earnestly request, that, in forming a 
 judgment of those Avritings, the candid reader will constant- 
 ly keep in view tliis important distinction. 
 
 CHAP.
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LITE 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 State of the 
 Scottish 
 Bench in 
 1723. 
 
 President 
 Dalrymple. 
 
 State of the Scottish Bench in 1723. — President Dalrymple. — - 
 Lauder of Fountainhall. — Fringle of Newhall. — State of 
 the Bar in 1723-4. — Forbes of Cnlloden. — Dundas of Ar- 
 niston. — Dalrymple of Druinmore. — Fergusson of Kilker- 
 ran.—Areskine of Tinwald. — Grant of Elchies. — Grant of 
 Frestongrange. — Craigie of Glendoick. — Mr Home's first 
 work on the Law. — His manner of pleading. — His Essays on 
 subjects of Law. — Jus Tertii. — Benefcium cedendarum ac- 
 tionum. — Vinco vincentem. — Prescription. 
 
 Mr Home was called to the Bar in January 1723-4. Sir 
 Hew Dalrymple of North-Berwick was then President of 
 the Court of Session ; and among the most eminent of its 
 Judges at that time Avere the Lords Fountainhall and New- 
 hall. The President, if he inherited not the distinguished 
 talents of his father, the Viscount of Stair, and his elder bro- 
 ther, the Secretary, was free from that turbulent ambition 
 and crafty policy which marked the characters of both ; and 
 with sufficient knowledge of the laws, was a man of unim- 
 
 peached 
 
 /
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. St 
 
 peached integrity, and of great private worth and amiable ^^_!^ 
 manners. 
 
 Sir Jon n Laude r of Fonntainhall was a profound lawyer, Lauder of 
 
 Fountain* 
 
 and a man of considerable learning and knowledge of lui- hall. 
 man nature ; having read much, and studied the characters 
 of mankind. As a Judge, he applied himself with indefa- 
 tigable assiduity to the discharge of his official duties ; and 
 has left a very honourable memorial of his talents and in- 
 dustry in his Collection of Decisions, which record the pro- 
 ceedings of the Court of Session from l6"78 to 1712 ; and 
 incidentally note the transactions of the Privy Council of 
 Scotland, with those of the Courts of Justiciary and Exche- 
 quer : a work compiled with so pleasing a mixture of the 
 anecdotes of the times, and so much characteristic ingenuity 
 of observation, as to render its perusal agreeable even to the 
 general reader, and valuable to the historian, independent of 
 its utility to the professional lawyer. 
 
 Sir Walter Pringle of Newhall shone with conspi- Pnngleof' 
 cuous lustre in all the most essential qualities of a Lawyer 
 and of a Judge. His great knowledge of jurispmdence and 
 distinguished eloquence, rendered him for many years a prin- 
 cipal ornament of the Bar ; and his high sense of honour, 
 immaculate probity, and dignified deportment as a Judge, 
 accompanied at the same tmie with the most engaging mo- 
 desty and diffidence in his own opinions, while they enhanced 
 
 in
 
 32 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 , °°°^ ^-j in the pviblic mind the respect and avxthority of the Court of 
 which he was a member, have given him a permanent name 
 in the annals of Scottish jurisprudence *. 
 
 State of tlie The Bar, at the same time, afforded a very great display, 
 
 Bar in , 
 
 1723-4. and exhibited an unconmion variety of professional abilities. 
 
 I 
 
 * Sir Walter Pringle of Newhall was admitted Ad ocate in iGts; ; aid 
 after thirty-one years practice at the Bar, was raised to the Bench in 1718. 
 He died in 1736 ; and a tribute of honour was conferred on him by his bre- 
 thren which had never before been paid to any of the ordinary Judges of the 
 Court; his funeral was attended by the Lords of Session in their robes 
 of ofEce. The Faculty of Advocates, upon that occasion, engrossed in 
 their records a testimonial of their respect for the memory of Lord New- 
 hall, (penned by their Dean, afterwards Lord Arniston, and President of 
 the Court), in which the following passage is worthy of notice : " His 
 " ability, candour, and careful discharge of the duties of his former em- 
 " ployment, added to his moral character, had celebrated his name : he 
 " was marked out by the unanimous suffrage and voice of the subjects, as 
 " a person whose knowledge and integrity would render their lives and pro- 
 " perties secure in his hands ; and, as such, was nominated by their gracious 
 " Sovereign to execute so high a trust. The Faculty do acknowledge, with 
 " gratitude and honour to his memory, that his after-conduct gave no disap- 
 " pointment to so great expectations. His integrity proved a shining orna- 
 " ment to his learning and knowledge ; and these, with his other distinguish- 
 " ing qualities of steadiness and unbiassed resolution, enabled him to applj 
 " his principle of integrity to useful practice, and to do justice, not by acci- 
 " dent, biit because he knew it to be so : And if at any time human frailty, 
 " and an over-jealousy of himself, led him into smaller mistakes, yet the vir- 
 " tuous principles from which he acted, even in those cases, and the extensive 
 " habit of justice he had acquired, overshadowed these lesser failings, and 
 " gave a becoming lustre to the whole course of his judgments."
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAME3. 33 
 
 I shall mention a few of the most distinguished Advocates ^^"•^''; "^^ 
 who then divided the practice of the Courts, and who rose 
 by their merits to the highest honours of the law. 
 
 Duncan Forbes of Culloden was in all respects one of Duncan For- 
 
 bes of Cullo- 
 
 the most eminent men of his time. His learning was cxten- den. 
 sive and profound, reaching even to the oriental languages ; 
 and he had that acuteness and subtilty of parts, which is pe- 
 culiarly fitted for the nice discriminations of the hn\^ ; but 
 which was always regulated in him by the prevailing prin- 
 ciples of his nature, probity, candour, and a strong sense of 
 the beauty of virtue and moral excellence. His warmth of 
 heart made him a man of religion ; and as all his feelings 
 were ardent, his piety, of course, was fervent and habitual. 
 This disposition co-operating with a lively imagination, led 
 him to become an admirer and disciple of the Hutchinsonian 
 scheme of Theology, Avhirh professes to find in the Holy 
 Scriptures, when interpreted according to the radical import 
 of the Hebrew expressions, a complete system of natural 
 philosoph}^ as well as of religious instruction. He had not 
 enough of physical science to detect the absurdities with 
 wliich the scheme of his favourite author abounds ; but it 
 delighted his imagination, and coincided with his religious 
 propensities ; and in the writings which he published in sup- 
 port of that scheme, (his Letter to a Bishop, and his Thoughts 
 <:.oncerning Religion, Natural and Revealed), he is allowed to 
 be the ablest of all the expositors of the Hutchinsonian Theo- 
 Vol. I. E logy.
 
 34 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK. I. 
 
 logy. — In the eloquence of the Bar, Forbes outshone all his 
 cotemporaries ; for he united to great knowledge of jurispini- 
 dence, a quickness of comprehension that discovered to him 
 at once the strong ground of argument which he was to 
 press, or the weakness of the doctrine he wished to assail. 
 When raised to the Presidency of the Court, the vigour of 
 his intellect, his patience in the hearing of causes, his promp- 
 titude in the dispatch of business, the dignity of his deport- 
 ment, and above all, the known probity and integrity of his 
 mind, gave the highest weight to the decisions of that tribu- 
 nal over which he presided. When to these qualifications 
 we add an extensive acquaintance Avith human nature, ac- 
 quired and improved in a most active public life, and uni- 
 formly directed to the great ends of promoting the welfare 
 and prosperity of his fellow-citizens, and discharging his duty 
 to God and to his country, we shall have some faint idea of 
 the character of Duncan Forbes *. 
 
 Robert 
 
 * It is well known, that the firm, but temperate conduct of the President 
 Forbes, his extensive influence with his countrymen, and his patriotic exer- 
 tions, even to the sacrifice of his private fortune, were the main instruments 
 of the suppression of the Rebellion in Scotland in 1745-6 ; and that had his 
 enlightened counsels been attended to, and his provident precautions adopted, 
 tlie seeds of rebellion had in all probability never sprung to light, and the 
 country had been spared the misery which it actually endured. It is need- 
 less, and perhaps might be invidious, to enter into the reasons why the emi- 
 nent services of this great and good man, were treated on the part of Go- 
 vernment with a neglect, ingratitude, and injustice, which leave a stain upon 
 the annals of the times.
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 
 
 35 
 
 Robert Dundas of Arniston, whose father and grand- 
 father had successively discliarged the duty of Judge in the 
 Court of Session, and who afterwards rose by his merits to 
 the i^rcsidency of the Court, (an otiice which his son, of the 
 same name, was destined to fill with still increasing reputa^ 
 tion), was at this time in the height of his practice as a bar- 
 rister. He had great natural abilities, and a ready and ani- 
 mated elocution, which fitted him to excel in extempora- 
 neous pleading, and particularly in reply. A fine specimen 
 of his argumentative powers was given on the remarkable 
 trial of Carnegie of Finhaven, indicted for murder^ but guilty 
 only of homicide or manslaughter, in having unintentionally 
 killed the Earl of Strathmore *. In that memorable trial, 
 Dundas had the merit not only of saving the life of the pri- 
 soner, but of establishing a point of the utmost consequence 
 to the security of life and liberty, the power of a jury, at 
 that time questioned in Scotland, of returning a general ver- 
 dict on the guilt or innocence of the person accused -f-. The 
 
 E 2 elder 
 
 CHAP. n. 
 
 Dundus of 
 Arniston. 
 
 * James Carnegie of Finhaven wa5 tried before the Court of Justiciary, for 
 the murder of Chartes, Earl of Strathmore, in 1728. At a meeting in the 
 country, where the company had drunk to intoxication, Carnegie having re- 
 ceived the most abusive language, and sustained a personal, outrage of the 
 grossest nature from Lyon of Bridgcton, drew his sword, and staggering for- 
 ward to make a pass at Lyon, killed the Earl of Strathmore, a person for 
 whom he had the highest regard and esteem, and who unfortunately came be- 
 tween him and his antagonist, apparently with the view of separating tl\em. 
 
 f See a Biographical Account of the President Arniston in Transactions of 
 the Rojal Society of Edinburgh, vol. ii.
 
 MEMOIRS OP THE LITE 
 
 elder Arniston, -with great quickness of parts, inherited nei- 
 ther the ample stores of various knowledge, nor the enlarged 
 and philosophic mind of his predecessor Forbes ; but he pos- 
 sessed a sound and discriminating judg-nient ; and the man- 
 ner in which he filled the high offices of the law in times of 
 much difficulty, from the prevalence of party-spirit, reflects 
 great honour on his moderation and humanity. 
 
 Dalrymple 
 of Drum- 
 
 more. 
 
 Hew Dalrymple of Drumniore, son of the President 
 North-Berwick, and grandson of the Viscount of Stair, in- 
 herited the talents and genius of his forefathers. He was 
 an acute and sound lawyer ; and possessed a ready, distinct 
 and forcible, though not a polished elocution. He had a 
 great command of wit and humour, Avhich equally enhvened 
 his conversation, and gave interest and spirit to his public 
 harangues ; but these qualities were tempered with such 
 sAveetness of disposition, that he never employed them to 
 wound or to mortify his antagonist. The great urbanity of 
 his manners, and a keen relish of social enjoyments, endear- 
 ed him to his friends ; and his eminent Avorth and proliity, 
 together with a high feeling of honour, and a noble and in- 
 genuous boldness of countenance and deportment, gave un- 
 common force and authority to all his arguments and opi- 
 nions. 
 
 Fergusson of 
 Kilkerran. 
 
 Sir James Fergusson of Kilkerran was imdoubtedly 
 one of the ablest laAvyers of his time. His knowledge was 
 
 founded
 
 AND WRITINCiS OF LOUU KAMES. 
 
 fouiulcd on a thorough iicquaintaurc whh the Roman jm-is- 
 prudcncc, imbibed from the best commentators on the Pan- 
 dects, and with tiie recondite learning of Craig, who has laid 
 open the fountains of the Scottish law, in all that regards the 
 S3'stem of Feudalism. Of his manner as a barrister, we lune 
 no other record than the printed ])apers of his composition, 
 which evince a skilful arrangement of his matter, a judicious 
 selection of his ground of argument, and a nervous brevity 
 of expression, which admits of no rhetorical embellishments. 
 Tiie probity and integrity of his moral character, entitled him 
 to respect and veneration. The decisions wliich he has re- 
 corded during the period when he sat as a Judge of the Su- 
 preme Court, exhibit the clearest comprehension, and the 
 soundest views of jurisprudence, and Avill for ever serve as a 
 model for the most useful forms of Law Reports. 
 
 CnARLF.s Aresictvf. of Tinwald, a younger son of an AresTcine of 
 ancient and honourable family *, had probably been educa- 
 ted with a view to the Church. In 1700, when only twenty 
 years of age, he presented himself a candidate, and, on a 
 comparative trial with several competitors, gained his elec- 
 tion to the office of one of the four Regents, or Philosophy 
 Professors in the University of Edinburgh ; whose function 
 it then was, to conduct their pupils through a quadriennial 
 
 course 
 
 * He was grandson of Sir Charles Areskine of Alva, a younger son of 
 John, 7th Earl of Mar, by Mary Stewart, daughter of Esme, Duke of Len- 
 nox.
 
 38 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK r. 
 
 course of study, comprehending the sciences of Logic, 
 Ethics, Metaphysics, and Natural Philosophy, to the high- 
 est academical degrees ; an office, therefore, requiring great 
 ability, and a very general acquaintance with science and li- 
 terature. The reputation he gained as a public speaker, 
 was probably his inducement to turn his views to the pro^ 
 fession of the laAV. He entered Advocate in 1704 ; and a 
 few years afterAvards, being appointed Professor of Public 
 Law, which released him from the more strict and regular 
 academical duty, he spent some years in foreign travel ; 
 and, on his return to Scotland, applied himself with great 
 diligence to practice as a barrister. He rose to high enir 
 ployment : He was appointetl Solicitor-General in 1725 ; 
 and in 1737, through the favour of Archibald, Duke of Ar- 
 gyle, then Minister for Scotland, he obtained the office of 
 King's Advocate : In 1744, he was promoted to a seat on 
 the Bench, by the title of Lord Tinwald ; and, a few years 
 afterwards, to the office of Justice-Clerk, or President of the 
 Court of Justiciary *. In all these departments, he dischar- 
 ged his duty with honour and integrity. As a lawyer, he 
 was esteemed an able civilian : he spoke with ease and 
 gracefulness^ and in a dialect which was purer than that 
 
 of 
 
 * The Lord Justice-General is, strictly speaking, the President of the High 
 Court of Justiciary ; but, as of late years it has not been customary for that 
 officer to sit in judgment, the actual function of President of the Court is 
 exercised by the Lord Justice-Clerk.
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 39 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 of most of his cotemporarics : As a Judge, liis demeanour 
 was grave and decorous, and accompanied with a gentleness 
 and suavity of manners that were extremely ingratiating. 
 
 Patrick Grant of Elchies owed his most extensive Gram of 
 
 rjlcnies-v 
 
 practice as a barrister to the pure force of his natural abili- 
 ties. He had a head peculiarly fitted for the investigation 
 of the most intricate points of the law, which his genius de- 
 veloped as by a species of intuition ; reducing every que- 
 stion to some great and leading principle, and thence shew- 
 ing its derivation, either as a necessary corollary, or account- 
 ing for its departure from the general axiom upon some ob- 
 vious ground of exception. It was from him that ]\Ir Home 
 (as I have heard him frequently acknowledge), learned that 
 habit of logical investigation, which he found of the utmost 
 advantage in the daily practice of hiu profession as a barrister, 
 and which he carried into all his researches on the subject of 
 law as a science. Assuming it as a fixed position, that every 
 case is governed by some general principle, (unless it be taken 
 out of the rule by its special circumstances), the only mat- 
 ter of exercise to the mind is the discovery of that principle. 
 When once that is attained, every argument ranges itself in 
 order, as a regular corollary from the proposition, and every 
 objection admits of an easy solution. In this habit lay the 
 chief talent of Elchies ; and, conscious of the great advan- 
 tage which this subjection of all his stores of the law to a 
 few great and ruling principles, gave him over his less scien- 
 tific
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 tific competitors, his manner as a barrister Avas too warm 
 and overbearing to his opponents ; a defect which tarnished 
 his great abihties, and attending him even on tlie Bench, 
 impaired liis dignity as a Judge ; yet, in that character, his 
 perfect probity, and sincere regard for justice, were confes- 
 sed by all. 
 
 Grant of 
 Preston- 
 grange. 
 
 Of a character very different in respect of temper, and 
 of abihties, if not so profoundly scientific, yet more various, 
 and more extensively useful, was his namesake, and succes- 
 sor on the Bench, William Grant of Prestongrange. 
 There was in him a rectitude of moral feeling, and a prin- 
 ciple of virtuous integrity, which regulated the whole of his 
 conduct ; and these, accompanied with a candour of judg- 
 ment, a liberality of sentiment, and a winning gentleness of 
 manners, which were the pure offspring of a warai and be- 
 nevolent heart. These qualities shone conspicuously in his 
 discharge of the office of King's Advocate, which he held for 
 six years, soon after the Rebellion 1745-6. In that situa- 
 tion, his conduct, in the adjustment of the claims on the 
 forfeited estates, merited universal approbation. It was re- 
 gulated by a principle of equity, tempering the strictness of 
 the law ; and indicated a mind superior to all the illibe- 
 ral prejudices that are the offspring of party-spirit. In the 
 prosecution of criminals, if at any time he allowed his pas- 
 sions to influence his conduct, it was ever on the side of 
 mercy and humanity. His eloquence was clear, correct, and 
 
 copious,
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 
 
 copious, and seemed to be the result of his natural feehngs, 
 and the fruit of his own persuasion of what was just and 
 right. The promotion of this excellent man to a seat in 
 both the Supreme Courts was attended with the universal 
 approbation of the public ; for his talents equally command- 
 ed the respect, and his virtues the esteem of his fellow-ci- 
 tizens "*. 
 
 Mr Robert Craigie of Glcndoick, united to a very pro- 
 found knowledge of the laws, and an understanding pecu- 
 liarly turned to the unfolding of the systematic intricacies of 
 the feudal doctrines, the most persevering industry and in- 
 tense application to business ; Avhich introducing him to 
 notice in some remarkable causes Avhere those talents were 
 peculiarly requisite, were the foundation of a very extensive 
 practice at the Bar. LI: rise to eminence, however, was 
 
 sloAv, 
 
 Craigie of 
 Glendoick. 
 
 • Lord Prestongrange was a man of general reading, and a correct and able 
 writer. He was author of one of the best political pamphlets that appeared 
 on occasion of the Rebellion 1745-C. It is entitled, The Occasional Writer : 
 being an Answer to the Second Manifesto of the Pretender's eldest Son : contain- 
 ing Refections f Political and Historical, upon the last Revolution and the Pro- 
 gress of the present Rebellion in Scotland. London 1746. The arguments con- 
 tained in this pamphlet are dictated by good sense and sound political wis- 
 dom ; and are urged in a strain of such temperance and moderation, as to con- 
 ciliate the favour even of those whose party prejudices were most strongly in 
 opposition to the doctrines it inculcates. ■ 
 
 Vol. 1. F
 
 42 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK L slow, as he had none of the exterior accompUshments that 
 attract attention ; and though an acute and able reasoner, 
 his manner of pleading was dry, prolix, and deficient both 
 in grace and energy. In the earlier part of his life, he had, 
 for several years, given private lectures in his chambers to 
 students of the law, before he had any considerable employ- 
 ment as a barrister ; but his industry, and the gradually pre- 
 vailing opinion of his deep acquaintance v/ith jurisprudence, 
 overcame at length every obstacle ; and he rose to the first 
 rank among the counsel who were his cotemporaries. He 
 was appointed King's Advocate in 1742, and Avas promoted 
 to the presidency of the Court in 1754, on the death of the 
 elder Lord Arniston *. 
 
 From the preceding enumeration, it may fairly be suppo- 
 sed, that the state of the Bar was this time extremely favour- 
 able 
 
 * On the subject of the characters of these eminent men, the Judges and 
 the Lawyers of the last age, besides the information derived from my Father, 
 ■who was the cotemporary of the greater part of them, I am particularly in- 
 debted to my very learned and ingenious friend John Ramsay, Esq; of Och- 
 tertyre ; a gentleman who, in the course of many years spent in philosophic 
 retirement, has found a pleasing exercise for his talents, and knowledge of 
 mankind, and has most usefully employed his leisure, in recording the cha- 
 racters, manners and habits of the preceding times, and the progress of im- 
 provement in Scotland. To his ample stores of information, most freely and 
 liberally communicated, I owe the greatest obligation in various departmenti 
 of this work.
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 
 
 43 
 
 able to the excitement of that emuhition which is a princi- 
 pal source of excellence in every profession : but, on the 
 other hand, it was a natural consecjuence, that the circum- 
 stance of so many men of eminent talents enj^rossing the 
 practice of the courts, should render the progress of a novice 
 extremely slow, however great his abilities, his industry, or 
 his ambition. In the first yearsof Mr Home's attendanc:e at 
 the bar, he found abundant leisvu'e to store his mind with 
 miscellaneous learning, as Avell as to increase his knowledge 
 of the law. His first appearances may have given evidence 
 of his talents as an ingenious reasoner ; but as he never pos- 
 sessed those shining powers of oratory which have frequent- 
 ly raised into notice, and brought at once into high employ- 
 ment, young men who were much his inferiors in solid abili- 
 ties, it Avas not till after the publication of his first work on 
 the law, that we find him enjoying even a moderate share of 
 practice as a barrister. He published, in 1728, a folio volume 
 of the Remarkable Decisions of the Court of Session, from 
 1716 down to that period. His merits had gained him the 
 patronage of the President ; and in the Preface to this work, 
 he mentions with becoming expressions of his gratitude, that 
 he owed to that Judge not only the first hint of the under- 
 taking, but a continued encouragement and aid in the prose- 
 cution of it. 
 
 CHAP II. 
 
 Mr Home's 
 first work, oa 
 the law. 
 
 These reports, which are executed Avith gi'eat judgment, 
 and contain a very faithful statement of each cause on its 
 
 F 2 proper
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 proper merits, rejecting all the rubbish and chafF which 
 usually load the arguments of the counsel, brought the au- 
 thor deservedly a very considerable share of reputation. He 
 began to be regarded as a young man of talents, who had 
 his profession at heart, and who would spare no pains to ac- 
 quit himself Avith honour in the most intricate causes in 
 which he might be employed. 
 
 His manner 
 of pleading. 
 
 Mr Home's manner as a barrister was peculiar to himself. 
 He never attempted to speak to the passions, or to captivate 
 his hearers by the graces of oratory ; but addressing him- 
 self to the judgment, and employing a strain of language on- 
 ly a little elevated above that of ordinary discourse, which, 
 even by its familiar tone and style, fixed the attention of the 
 Judge, while it awakened no suspicion of rhetorical artifice, 
 he began by a very short and distinct statement of the facts 
 of the cause, and a plain enunciation of the question of 
 law thence arising. Having thus joined issue with his adver- 
 sary on what he conceived to be the fau' merits of the case, 
 he proceeded to dcvelope the principle on which he appre- 
 hended the decision ought to rest, and endeavoured, with all 
 the acuteness of which he was master, to shew its application 
 to the questipn in discussion. He knew that if the principle 
 were once conceded, and its application demonstrated, the 
 cause was gained ; the arguments of his opponent needed 
 no deliberate examination, for they fell of necessity to the 
 ground. It was therefore, in general, much more an object 
 
 with
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAML3. 45 
 
 with him to rear his own structure of argument upon a sohd 
 basis, than to cavil with or iuipugn the reasoning of his an- 
 tagonist : the one task almost always superseded the other ; 
 and the scornful neglect with which the latter was treated, 
 (where, in truth, no formal refutation was necessary), served 
 to precipitate its downfal. It must be owned, however, 
 that such a mode of argument and pleading is not adapted 
 to every cause ; nor to that part which it is often incumbent 
 on the pleader to discharge. It may be, in many cases, as 
 necessary to assail and demohsh a structure of argument, as 
 to frame and build it up : and it is occasion alone, (as whe- 
 ther the pleader is called upon to open his cause, or to re- 
 ply), that determines the propriety of the one method or of 
 the other. But the same talents are, in general, alike im- 
 portant to either duty. I should, however, be led to con- 
 ceive, that Mr Home's ability lay more in the devising of in- 
 genious argument to support his own side of the question, 
 as an opening or leading counsel, than in reply. Thouo-h 
 possessing the utmost ingenuity and subtilty of discrimina- 
 tion, and thus most readily descrying the weakness or fal- 
 lacy of any reasoning, he wanted that command of copious 
 elocution which is necessary for an extemporaneous discus- 
 sion of a laboured argument. One peculiarity, however, ex- 
 tremely Avorthy of notice, (we perceive from his law papers), 
 attended his mode of reply ; which Avas the fair concession 
 and abandonment of all the Aveaker points of his cause. 
 Yielding these at once to his antagonist, and before the con- 
 cession 
 
 CHAP. II.
 
 46 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK I. cession was demanded, he gained the manifold advantage of 
 creating the most favourable impression of his own candour, 
 and a persuasion of the strength of his cause ; while, with 
 admirable good policy, he frustrated all attack on those 
 weak parts, which would have furnished matter of triumph 
 to his opponents, and prejudiced his more solid ground of 
 support or defence. — ^A most estimable quality this in a 
 pleader ; but rare, as it should seem, in proportion to its va- 
 lue. 
 
 But the main excellence of Mr Home as a pleader, lay in 
 the faculty which he possessed, above all his cotemporaries, 
 perhaps above all that had gone before him, of striking out 
 new lights upon the most abstruse and intricate doctrines of 
 the law ; of subjecting to a strict scrutiny those rules and 
 maxims, venerable only from inveterate usage, and having 
 no claim to respect on any solid ground of reason : a faculty 
 by which he frequently prevailed, in spite of that prejudice, 
 in general salutary, which leads us to resist all innovations, 
 and, in opposition to a long train of precedents, which often 
 makes the law, to bring about an entire change of opinion, 
 and to establish a new practice, more consonant to rational 
 principles. Of some of those instances of improvement of 
 the law which we owe to his penetrating genius, I shall af- 
 terwards have occasion to take notice. At present, I shall 
 only observe, that the uncommon ingenuity which he dis- 
 played, and the success Avhich attended his efibrts, in over- 
 turning,
 
 AND WRITINGS OP LORD KAMES. 47 
 
 CHAP. 11. 
 
 turning, in a few remarkable cases, the opinions hitherto 
 prevalent, and sanctioned by the most wciglity of our old 
 writers on tlie law, gained him a great accession of reputa- 
 tion, and brought him now, by a rapid progress, to the very 
 first eminence as a practitioner at the bar. 
 
 In 1732, Mr Home published a small volume, under the Essays on 
 
 subjects of 
 
 title of Essays upon several Subjects in Law, viz. Jus Tertii, law. 
 Beneficium cedendarum actiomim, Vinco vincentem, and Pre- 
 scription. The subjects handled in this volume, had been 
 suggested by his employment as a counsel in several causes 
 of importance, in which he had found it necessary to can- 
 vass those particular topics with great attention ; and per- 
 ceiving, in the course of that discussion, a wider field open- 
 ing to his view than what fell properly within the limits of 
 his cause, and a prospect presented of curious and import- 
 ant juridical investigation, it was his employment, in the 
 course of a summer's vacation spent in the country, to di- 
 gest his thoughts on those topics into the form of Essays. 
 
 From the logical and systematic method which Mr Home 
 pursues in all his juridical disquisitions, it is in general ex- 
 tremely easy to analyse, and present a vicAv of them in ab- 
 stract. I do not mean, however, to prescribe to myself a 
 task of this nature, which, if discharged in its full extent, 
 would swell this work beyond all moderate bounds : But, as 
 these Essays afford an excellent example of the mode of rea- 
 soning
 
 48 MEMOIRS OF THE IIFE 
 
 ' ^°".- ^L' soning which the author pursues in most of his jurispruden- 
 tial writings, and fumisli, as I think, an useful model for 
 that species of investigation, some short account of the train 
 of reasoning which the}' contain, without aiming at any re- 
 gular analysis, may perhaps not be deemed altogether out of 
 place, in a work which professes soinetliiii^ more for its ob- 
 ject than mere amusement. 
 
 jfusTertii. EssAY 1. — No man is allowed to plead a point, in the 
 
 gaining of which he has not a legal interest: However just 
 and equitable the plea, it isj'ws tertii to him. The difficulty 
 lies in determining Avhat is a legal interest. The law does 
 not allow any accidental or eventual benefit, which may or 
 may not result to the plaintiff, to be such an interest. It 
 must be a positive and certain advantage ; although it may 
 not be direct and inunediate, but only indirect and conse- 
 quential. Another requisite is, that the interest be founded 
 in justice : a possessor may hold a subject of value, without 
 a shadow of title : his interest to continue his possession is 
 positive and certain ; but he Avill not be admitted to contend 
 with those who have a colourable title to the property. 
 A debtor has a legal interest to question the right of an as- 
 signee to the debt ; because, till assured of that right, he 
 cannot pay with safety : but a creditor has no title to ob- 
 ject, that the party avIio offers him payment is not truly the 
 debtor ; for his only just interest is to receive payment of 
 his debt. It is easy to see, that under this doctrine of the 
 
 law.
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 49 
 
 CHAP. ir. 
 
 law, which is strongly founded, both in the principles of ju- 
 stice, and in sound political wisdom, there may be ranged a 
 great variety of cases, involving the most nice and subtile 
 distinctions ; and of these the author gives many apposite 
 examples, from the reports of questions decided in the Court 
 of Session, which are to be found in the Collections of Stair 
 and FountainhaH, and likewise from cases occurring in the 
 recent practice of that court 
 
 Essay 2. — It is a rule of law, that where a creditor has Bnufidum «- 
 
 dendarum ac- 
 
 different persons bound, or subjects impignorated to him for tionum. 
 the security of his debt, he cannot make an arbitrary use of 
 these securities, by loading one, and exempting another from 
 the burden ; unless it shall be manifestly for his interest to 
 prefer the draAving of his payment from one source rather 
 than another : for such arbitrary preference may materially 
 injure his fellow creditors ; and the law obliges every man to 
 use his property in the way least hurtful to his neighlxjur. 
 The Roman law obliged the creditor, in cases where his in- 
 terest allowed him to exercise this preference, to assign over 
 to his co-creditors the separate securities, of which he had 
 made no use ; a regulation termed the Beneficium cedenda- 
 rum actionum ; and it allowed the co-creditors to avail them- 
 selves of those securities for their payment, to the extent of 
 the shares which his debt might have drawn out of them. 
 The law of Scotland goes a step farther ; for it allows this 
 benefit to operate ipso jure, and without the necessity of an 
 Vol. I. G assignation.
 
 50 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 assignation, unless in a few special cases. This is a doctrine 
 manifestly founded in justice, but of which the application 
 is often extremely difficult, from the intricacies arising, both 
 from the nature of the securities, and the order of preference 
 in the different classes of creditors. In his Essay on this 
 subject, the author, with great ingenuity, analyzes the doc- 
 trine in all its branches ; reducing it to a series of distinct 
 propositions, all flowing from the general maxim ; and illus- 
 trating these propositions, partly by fictitious cases, and 
 partly by the recorded judgments of the Court. 
 
 Finco vinceti' 
 ftm. 
 
 Essay 3. — The Essay which follows, under the title of 
 Vinco Vincent em, is founded on the doctrine established in 
 the two preceding dissertations : and as the principal object 
 of the latter of these two, was to lay down the loiles by 
 which creditors, universal and secondary, are entitled to 
 draw their payment from the several persons and subjects 
 burdened with their debts, the design of this Essay is to 
 trace out those rules which regulate the order and prefe- 
 rence of creditors entitled to draw payment from the same 
 subject. 
 
 Prescription. EssAY 4.— The voluuic is closcd by a Treatise on the 
 
 Doctrine of Prescription, which is strongly characterized by 
 that philosophical turn of thought, which was congenial to 
 the mind of its author ; but his ingenuity has here, as 
 sometimes happened, led him into error. It has been cu- 
 stomary
 
 AND WRITINGS OP LORD KAMES. bl 
 
 stomary with most writers, to consider Prescription as pure- ^"-'^p- "■ 
 \y the creature of positive law, and as liaving no fecundation 
 in the law of nature. We naturally receive an opinion of 
 this sort with an unfavourable prejudice ; for it is a painful 
 consideration, that law and justice should in any instance 
 stand in opposition. It was a prevailing desire of Mr 
 Home, to seek, in the principles of human nature, for the 
 foundation of every rule of wisdom and expediency ; and 
 hence he was led to controvert, as he has done with great 
 acuteness, and certainly with some plausibility, this opinion 
 of Grotius, Puft'endorf, and the writers on natural law. He 
 puts the case, that a man loses a jewel of value : For some 
 time he regrets his loss, and tries all means to recover his 
 property. While that feeling continues, the jewel is as much 
 his property as ever. But time weakens this affection : he 
 abandons his endeavours for the recovery ; and the loss at 
 length wears out of his mind. The author's position is, that 
 with the cessation of that affection and consciousness, tlie 
 connection of the former owner with that which was once 
 his property, is as completely dissolved, as if he had volun- 
 tarily relinquished it. A specimen of Mr Home's manner 
 of discussion, and of his style, at this early period, when few 
 ■writers in Scotland (as I shall afterwards more particularly 
 notice) seem to have turned their attention to the cultiva- 
 tion of style, may be properly taken from the Essay we are 
 now considering. 
 
 G 2 « Let
 
 52 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 *' Let us now put the case, that the jewel is found, b}' a 
 " person, who, after using all the proper means for discover- 
 " ing an owner, takes it up vipon the footing of dereliction. 
 " To make the case stronger, instead of a jewel, let us sup- 
 " pose a piece of ground, or something else, that the finder 
 " may possibl}^ imagine had never been appropriated.. He 
 " continues to possess as a proprietor. He lays out money, 
 " builds a house, and makes great embellishments. The 
 " estate descends from father to son. The natural affec- 
 " tion increases by time to this paternal inheritance, which 
 " has been now in the same family, if you will, for se- 
 " veral centuries. At last, the former proprietor comes, 
 " and claims the ground ; he shews after what manner his 
 " predecessors were led to forsake their country and posses- 
 " sions. During all that interval, they had been abroad in 
 " another land, where they fixed their heart and residence, 
 " without the least view or prospect of ever revisiting their 
 " native soil ; till, by some accident, like the former, fortune 
 " led them back to the country from whence they originally 
 " sprung. Let any man consider seriously this case, and 
 " consult his own heart about it, he will find this claim to 
 " be against nature and reason. The demand has no other 
 " foundation but a quondam property, long ago deserted, 
 " and given over for lost. 'Tis directed against a person 
 " whose predecessors have been bonujide in possession time 
 " out of mind, and justly esteemed themselves truly pro- 
 ♦' prietors. A demand of this kind is obviously against na- 
 
 " ture.
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 53 
 
 " ture. The first proprietor deserted his possession, lost his ^"^^ "■ 
 
 *' aftection to it, whereby, as to all real effects, the case 
 
 *' comes to be the same as if" it had never been his. Ano- 
 
 " ther person is suffered peaceably and honestly to take up 
 
 " the deserted possession : he has no reason to be suspi- 
 
 " cious ef this, more than of any other vacant spot of 
 
 " ground. His affection grows to the subject as his own 
 
 " property ; it becomes as strong as he had bought it, nay, 
 
 " we may suppose he actually bought it, or obtained it by 
 
 " some other the most indisputed title. If the law there- 
 
 " after take it from hiin, it takes it from a man who cannot 
 
 " help thinking it unjustly tore from him, and who is thcre- 
 
 " by made a real sufferer, to be given to another whose pre- 
 
 " tensions are quite worn out by course of time, and who 
 
 " is thiis made locupletior alienil jacturu. It can never be 
 
 " in the law of nature to indulge such hardships. It will 
 
 " be granted to be perfectly agi-eeable to human nature, 
 
 " that a man indulge his affection in such acquisition. At 
 
 " first, indeed, it is reasonable to have some doubts ; these 
 
 " must wear off necessarily by the course of time, till at the 
 
 " long run, the possessor acquires the most solid affection 
 
 " to, and security in, the thing as his own. After so good a 
 
 *' foundation built in human nature, it never can be asree- 
 
 " able to the laws of that nature, to overturn such a founda- 
 
 " tion, by wresting the property from him ; which were in 
 
 *' other words to say, that nature dictates to be secure, and 
 
 " insecure at the same time. 
 
 " The
 
 54 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 .^°°^^'f " The matter comes here in one word, the longer a man 
 
 " possesses bondjide, the greater is his security in the thing, 
 
 " and afFection to it, till at length both become extreme. 
 
 " The laws of nature ought to protect every possessor in 
 
 " reasonable security and afFection, which are of nature's 
 
 " growth, and not prefer him who has neither security nor 
 
 " affection. And thus, bi/ the law of nature, a long conti- 
 
 " niied bona fide possession, is a good title for acquiring pro- 
 
 " pei'ty." 
 
 We may allow to this reasoning the praise of ingenuity, 
 but it will not bear a strict examination. The conclusion is 
 evidently draAvn from false principles; and the argument 
 contains more than one error in its premises. The feeling of 
 afFection is here made the criterion of property : whereas 
 constant experience shews us, that there may be the strong- 
 est afFection where there is no propert}^ and, on the contrary, 
 a very weak feeling or none, of afFection, where the right of 
 property is indisputable. Were afFection a title of property, 
 it would prove the better right to be in the robber, who risk- 
 ed his life to demonstrate his afFection to his neighbotir's 
 purse, than in the latter, Avho parted with it to avoid his per- 
 sonal danger. The man who, having lost a jewel, ceases af- 
 ter some time to seek for it, does not by so ceasing give any 
 evidence that he voluntarily relinquishes it, from having lost 
 his afFection to it. It is against his will, and with regret, that 
 he feels himself compelled to abandon the search. He loses 
 
 not
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 55 
 
 not the desire, but the ho})e of finding it ; and he quits the 
 pursuit, only as choosing the least of two evils, the loss of 
 his jewel ; in preference to the loss of his time and labour in 
 a hopeless exertion. On the other hand, the finder of the 
 jewel, whatever may be his aflection, which we may grant to 
 be extremely strong, can never acquire the right of proj)erty, 
 while he wants that honajides which is essential to that right : 
 but the finder can never have that honajides; for a costly 
 gem, bearing evidence of property, is never to be presumed 
 res nuUius. The same may be said of a piece of ground, 
 which never can be presumed to be res nuUius in a civilized 
 country. Should it be said that the heir of the finder or the 
 occupier, who knew not the mode of acquisition, may have 
 tliat honajides; the answer is, his honajides is founded on a 
 presumption, namely, of purchase or of gift in the person of 
 his ancestor ; but every presumption must yield to truth, 
 and when the right owner appears, the presumption is at an 
 end. What then, it may be asked, is the foundation of a 
 prescriptive title.'* Plainly this, which Grotius, PuffendorfF, 
 and all the jurists have assigned ; and which even Mr Home 
 himself involuntarily resorts to in his subsequent reasoning, 
 though unwilling to allow it its due place as a principle * : 
 It is exj^edient for the good order of society, that a long 
 continued possession should not be disturbed on slight pre- 
 tences : 
 
 * •' As from the nature of the thing, titles to property are extremely un- 
 " certain, it is the interest of mankind, that they be keeped secure against 
 *• after-reckonings of this nature."— £wfly on Prtscrii>tiort, p. 105. 
 
 CHAP. II.
 
 56 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE ^ 
 
 ^°"fjj tences : and that claim must be presumed a slight one, which, 
 in a long period of time, has never been moved : the direct 
 evidence of property may have perished through neglect or 
 natural decay, and false evidence might easily be substituted 
 in its stead. It is political expedience, therefore, which is 
 the foundation of prescription ; and prescription can no 
 otherwise be said to be consonant to the law of nature, than 
 as it is agreeable to that law, that the best precautions should 
 be taken to ensure the good order and peace of society. 
 
 But although in the foregoing Essay the author may have 
 erred in speculating abstractly on the origin and foundation 
 of prescription, the doctrine itself is handled in a masterly 
 manner in all its principal branches. Its partial coincidence 
 with the Roman Usucapio, and the points in which it differs, 
 are distinctly noted ; and the most material positions are 
 illustrated by examples from the recorded judgments of the 
 Court. 
 
 These Essays * procured to their author the character of 
 
 a profound and scientific lawyer ; and from the period of 
 
 their publication, we find Mr Home engaged in most of 
 
 the causes of importance which occurred in the Court of 
 
 Session. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 * The substance of the Essay, entitled, Benejicium cedendarum actionum, 
 was afterwards inserted by the author into his work, entitled, Principles of 
 Equity ; and the other three Essays were republished. In an amended form, ia 
 his Elucidations respecting the Law of Scotland.
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 
 
 57 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Mr Home's socio! turn, and early friends. — Colonel Forrester. 
 — Hamilton of Bangour. — Authors of the Edinburgh Mis- 
 cellany .-^-Earl of Findlatcr. — Oswald of Dunikeir. — Letters 
 from him to Mr Home. — David Hume. — Letters from him:. 
 — Dr Butler. 
 
 Mr Home, in every period of his life, was fond of social in- 
 tercourse ; and, with all his ardour of study, and variety of 
 literary and professional occupations, a considerable portion 
 of his time was devoted to the 'enjoyments of society, in a 
 numerous and respectable circle of acquaintance. In his 
 earlier days, the warmth of his affections, a happy flbw of 
 animal spirits,, which disposed him to enter keenly hito 
 every innocent frolic, and a great power of animated and 
 sprightly conversation, made his acquaintance be eagerly 
 courted by the gay young men of fashion, who acquired 
 some consequence in their own esteem, from being the 
 friends and companions of a man of science and a philoso- 
 pher : Nor can we doubt the beneficial eftect of such a pat- 
 VoL. I. H tern 
 
 CHAP nr. 
 
 Mr Home's 
 social turn 
 and early 
 friends.
 
 $B MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK r. j_QfYi on the seneral circle with Avhich he associated *. But, 
 on his side, attachment and real friendship were always the 
 result of a discriminating choice. His familiar companions 
 were men of talents, of wit, and of polished manners, in 
 whose conversation he found a pleasing relaxation from the 
 fatigues of study, or the irksomeness of professional labour ; 
 and. Avhose congenial minds fitted them at once to relish and 
 improve the enjoyments of the social hour. 
 
 There was a time when, (as we of the present age have 
 heard from our fathers), the fashionable circles in the Scottish 
 metropolis were adorned by a class of men now unknown and 
 utterly extinct ; or whom, if their successors in the world of 
 fashion have ever heard of, they seem at least to have no 
 desire to revive, or ambition to emulate : men who, under 
 the distinguishing title of Beaux, or Jine gentlemen, united 
 
 an 
 
 * To this purpose is the following just rerjiark of an ingenious and learned 
 friend, to whom I owe much valuable information on the subject of these Me- 
 moirs. " The influence of Mr Home's conversation upon his friends and 
 " companions who had a turn for letters, was, from all I have been able to 
 ** collect, great and powerful. We, who only knew him in the evening of 
 •" his life, may easily figure how brilliant and persuasive must have been his 
 •" wit and eloquence in the ardour of youth, when he wished to impress 
 " young men, ambitious of treading in his steps, with a passion for Polite 
 *' Literature, or what he considered as Divine Philosophy. No man in his time 
 " did more to disseminate the seeds of science among his countrymen, even 
 " at the time when he was immersed in business and professional studies."— 
 Letter from Mr Ramsay ofOchtertyre.
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMF.S. 
 
 an extensive knowledge of literature, and a cultivated taste, 
 to the utmost elegance of" manners, of dress, and of acconi- 
 plisbments : men whose title to he leaders of the mode was 
 founded on an acknowledged superiority, both in exterior 
 graces, and in mental endowments. Such men were Colonel 
 Forrester, author of a valuable little tract, entitled, The 
 Polite Philosopher *, and of whom Dr Samuel Johnson em- 
 phatically said. 
 
 '^9 
 
 CHAP. HI. 
 
 Colonel For- 
 rester. 
 
 " He was himself The Great Polite he drew : 
 
 Lord Binning, who wrote some of the most tender and ele- 
 gant of the Scottish songs; Hamilton of Bangour, whose 
 
 H2 
 
 poetical 
 
 * Forrester's Polite Philosopher is of a species of composition of which 
 we have very few examples in the English language. The subject is handled 
 in an easy, rhapsodical, and desultory style, intermixing alternately prose and 
 poetry, in the manner which has been successfully practised among the French 
 by Chapelle and Bachaumont, and in a few instances by Voltaire ; and which, 
 seems to have been adopted in imitation of the mixed composition of Petro' 
 nius Arbiter. The Polite Philosopher professes indeed to have taken the lat- 
 ter author for his model : 
 
 When gay Petronius, to correct the age 
 Gave way, of old to his satirick. rage, 
 This motely form he for his writings chose 
 And chequer'd lighter verse with graver prose. 
 When with just malice he design'd to show 
 How far unbounded vice at length would go.. 
 
 la
 
 60 MEMOIRS OP THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK. I. poetical merits have deservedly assigned liim a place among 
 the British Classics ; and the Club of Wits who frequented 
 Balfour s Coffeehouse, (the miniature of IVill's or Button's), 
 in the earlier part of the eighteenth century. These were 
 the favourite companions of Mr Home ; and with some of 
 them, as appears from his correspondence yet presei-ved, he 
 
 seems 
 
 In prose we read the execrable tale 
 
 And see the face of sin without a veil : 
 
 But when his soul, by some soft theme inspir'd 
 
 The aid of tuneful poetry requir'd, 
 
 His numbers with peculiar sweetness ran, 
 
 And in his easy verse we see the man, 
 
 Learpi'd wiihont firide, of "Taite correct, yet free 
 
 Alike from niceness and from pedantry ; 
 
 Careless of wealth, yet liking decent show ; 
 
 In fine, by birth a Wit, by trade a Beau. 
 
 Freely he censur'd a licentious age ; 
 
 Aqd him I copy, though with chaster page ; 
 
 Expose the evils in which brutes delight. 
 
 And shew how easy 'tis to be polite ; 
 
 Exhort our erring youth — to mend in time ; 
 
 And lectures give — for memory's sake — in rhime : 
 
 Teaching this art to pass through life at ease, 
 
 Pleas'd in ourselves, while all around we please. 
 
 To the wisdom of the didactic precepts contained in this Essay, we cannot 
 give a praise beyond their merits ; for they are the result of much good sense 
 and knowledge of the world : but the style, it must be owned, is rather be- 
 neath the importance of the matter, and bears evident marks of a hand un- 
 practised in composition. It is somewhat singular that the poetical parts arc 
 more happily turned, and in better taste, than the prose.
 
 AND WRITINGS OF tORD KAMES. 6l 
 
 seems to have maintained the strictest friendship, and to 
 have indulged in the most intimate comnmnication of sen- 
 timents and opinions. 1 know not precisely at what pe- 
 riod his accpiaintance commenced with Colonel Forrester j 
 but I fmd, amidst the correspondence I have mentioned, 
 (and from Avhich I shall occasionally draw some valuable 
 materials for these Memoirs), a letter, (without a date, but 
 which I conjecture to have been written between 1730 and 
 1735), from Afhicli 1 shall make an extract; trusthig that 
 my reader will not be displeased to sec what were the topics 
 which then engaged the attention of our Scottish men of 
 fashion. 
 
 Mr Forrester to Mr Home. 
 
 " My dear Home, I hope, will no longer doubt of his en- 
 tire command of Forrester, when, to obey him, I quit the 
 alacrity of the Fetit-maitrc for the phlegmatic panegyric of 
 a Dutchman. I shall send you an elaborate poem to prefix 
 to the Opera liomiana, and which I shall conclude with a 
 saying from Apollo himself: 
 
 Quid fatigas teque nosque? Homio prfeconium 
 Maximum est favere linguis, nee loqui de Homio ; 
 Quippe ut hie, et ille, et iste euneta dixerit, 
 Homium laudare nemo quiverit nisi Homius *. 
 
 " My 
 
 * The writer had probably in his mind the refined eulogium of Cicero by 
 
 Livy : " Vir acer, memorabilis, et in cujus laudes persequendas, Ci- 
 
 " cerone laudatore opus fuerit." — Livii Fragmenta. 
 
 CHAP. nr.
 
 62 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 -^f-Li " '^'^y ^^^^ Home has rightly pitched on the most flagrant 
 
 piece of prudery that is to be met with in all story : and I 
 am truly surprised, that we should ever have instanced Lti- 
 cretia, as the model of chastity, whom you have made ap- 
 pear so very a prude ; since she gave the reality to presers^e 
 the reputation of it. She has been, I suppose, of opinion 
 with some of our moderns, who say, Reputation is the soul 
 of virtue : and indeed, hke the soul, I believe it often lives 
 when the body's dead ! If this was her notion, she would 
 be acquitted by the Christian system, which teaches the sa- 
 crifice of the body for the preservation of the soul. 
 
 " Your other disquisition, I believe, may lead you far- 
 ther back ; and I am apprehensive you will find coquetry to 
 have been one of the first things discovered even in the first 
 of women. For I think the surprise Eve shews upon seeing 
 herself reflected in the watery mirror, has a strong dash of 
 the coquet : 
 
 As I bent down to look, just opposite 
 
 A shape within the wat'iy gleam appear"cl 
 
 Bendhig to look on me ; I started back ; 
 
 It started back ; — but pleas'd I soon return'd ; 
 
 Pleas'd, it return'd as soon, with answering looks 
 
 Of sympathy and love.' ■ — *. 
 
 But 
 
 * Mr Forrester is not the first who has given to female coquetry an 
 origin of such high antiquity. The following epigrammatic sonnet of Sa- 
 
 razin,
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 6S 
 
 But. as I can say notliiiig new to you on any subject you 
 have thought of, I shall quit the prude and the coquet, to 
 entertain you with a person, who, without the smallest 
 tendency to cither of these characters, has ever been suc- 
 cessful in what they both aim at, and whilst she is in rea- 
 lity the best of women, is undesignedly the wish of every 
 man. I send you her last letter to me, with one also from 
 the lady who is the channel of our correspondence. I 
 hope they Avill amuse you, and I am sure they would give 
 you pleasure, did you know the pleasure they gave your 
 humble servant. I shew a greater conlidence in trusting 
 
 you 
 ^1. ~~ — • — .^-— ^-^-^— — — — ^^.^^^^^^^-^__-_^.^^^.^^^^^_-^. 
 
 razin, is as remarkable for its wit as for the naive simplicity of its lan- 
 guage : 
 
 Lorsqu' Adam vlt cette jeune beaute 
 Faite pour lui d'une main immortelle, 
 S'il aima fort, elle de son cote 
 Dont bien nous prend, ne lui fut pas cruelle. 
 
 Mes chers amis, alors en verite 
 Je crois qu'il fut une femme fidelle; 
 Mais comme quoi ne I'auroit elle ete ? 
 Elle n'avoit qu'un seul homme avec elle. 
 
 Or, en cela nous nous trompons tous deux, 
 Car bien qu' Adam fut jeune et vigoureux, 
 Bien fait de corps, et d'esprit agrtable ; 
 Elle aima mieux, pour s'en faire conter, 
 Preter I'oreille aux fleurettes du diable, 
 Que d'etre femme, et ne pas coquetter. 
 
 CHAP. in.
 
 ^4 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 you with these letters than Budington could in sending 
 
 you originals of Raphael. But judge yourself, and return 
 
 them by the first opportunity ; for I am not yet cej'tain 
 whether I can come your way. If I can, 3'ou may be sure 
 I will ; since I should lay in pleasure enough with you to 
 entertain me all the rest of my journey. — 1 blotted out the 
 names in the letters, and may mine be so served in the Book 
 of Life, if I don't wish your happiness, as I do that of 
 
 James Forrester " 
 
 Hamilton of With the elegant and accomplished William Hamilton 
 
 Bangour. 
 
 of Bangour, Avhose amiable manners were long remembered 
 with the tenderest recollection by all who knew him, Mr 
 Home lived in the closest habits of fi'iendship. The writer 
 of these INIemoirs has heard him dwell with delioht on the 
 scenes of their youthful days ; and he has to regret, that 
 many an anecdote to which he listened with pleasure, 
 was not committed to a better record than a treacherous 
 memory. Hamilton's mind is pictured in his verses. They 
 are the easy and careless effusions of an elegant fancy and 
 a chastened taste ; and the sentiments they convey are 
 the genuine feelings of a tender and susceptible heart, which 
 perpetually owned the dominion of some favourite mi- 
 stress ; but whose passion generally evaporated in song, 
 and made no serious or permanent impression. His poems 
 had an additional charm to his cotemporaries, from be- 
 ing commonly addressed to his familiar friends of cither 
 
 sex,
 
 J 
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. Oj 
 
 sex, by name. There are few minds insensible to the sooth- .^"^^: ™\ 
 
 ing flattery of a poet's record. I (lucstion whether his friend 
 
 Home was ever more highly gratified by the applause he 
 
 gained for his talents on the suceess of a legal argument, 
 
 than by the elegant lines addressed by Hamilton, To H. H. 
 
 in the Aasembli/. 
 
 While crow4i'd witli radiant charms divine, 
 
 Unnumber'd beauties round thee shine, 
 
 When Erskine leads her happy man, 
 
 And Johnston shakes tlie flutt'ring fan ; 
 
 When beauteous Pringle shines confest, 
 
 And gently heaves her swelling breast, 
 
 Her raptur'd partner still at gaze 
 
 Pursuing thro' each winding maze; 
 
 Say, Harry, canst thou keep secure 
 
 Thy heart, from conquering Beauty's power ? &c. 
 
 Hamilton's letters are, like his verses, the transcript .of his 
 feehngs. Mr Home had sent him a few remarks on Horace ; 
 of the same tenor, as it would seem, with those observations 
 which, many years afterwards, he gave to the world in his 
 Elements of Criticism*. In a letter, dated September 1738, 
 
 to 
 
 " In Horace there is no fault more eminent than want of connexion : in- 
 " stances are without number. In the first fourteen lines of Ode 7. lib. i. he 
 " mentions several towns and districts which by some were relished more 
 
 " than 
 
 Vol. I. I
 
 66 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 to Mr Home, then passing the autumn vacation at Kames, 
 Hamilton thus writes : 
 
 " I am entirely of your opinion with respect to your 
 observations on Horace. He certainly Avanders from his 
 
 text, 
 
 " than others : in the remainder of the Ode, Plancus is exhorted to drown his 
 " cares in wines. Having narrowly escaped death by the fall of a tree, the 
 ** poet takes occasion properly to observe, (lib. ii. Ode 13.), that while we 
 " guard against some dangers, we are exposed to others we cannot foresee : 
 •' he ends with displaying the power of music. The parts of Ode l6. lib. ii. 
 " are so loosely connected, as to disfigure a poem otherwise extremely beau- 
 «' tiful. The 1st, 2d, 3d, 4th, 1 1th, 24th, 27th Odes of the 3d book, lie open, 
 " all of them, to the same censure. The first satire. Book i. is so defonned 
 " by want of connexion, as upon the whole to be scarce agreeable : It com- 
 " mences with an important question, How it happens that people, though 
 " much satisfied with themselves, are seldom so with their rank or condition? 
 " After illustrating the observation in a sprightly manner by several ex- 
 " amples, the author, forgetting his subject, enters upon a declamation against 
 •' avarice, which he pursues till the line 108 : there he makes an apology for 
 " wandering, and promises to return to his subject; but avarice having got 
 " possession of his mind, he follows out that theme to the end, and never re- 
 " turns to the question proposed in the beginning." — Elements of Criticism, 
 vol. i. ch. 1. 
 
 This censure of Lord Kames has given occasion to an ingenious vindica- 
 tion of the poet by C. D. Jani of Leipzig, who, in his excellent edition of the 
 Odes of Horace, has shown, that the apparent want of connexion which the Eng- 
 lish critic has reniarked, and which has been noticed by Dacier and others of 
 the commentators, arises from not taking into view the historical circumstances 
 
 which
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. Gj 
 
 text, — but still they arc the wanderings of Horace. Why chap, nr 
 we are never contented with our lot, but still envy the con- 
 dition of others, was a noble subject; and it were to be wish- 
 ed he had adorned it, as well he could, from his own expe- 
 rience; satisfied, as he seems to have been, with his own 
 pursuits, and the fame they had acquired him. Let me 
 put Horace's question to myself, Why don't I acquiesce 
 in the determination of Heaven, to Avhich I have mj'self 
 so much contributed ? Why don't I rest contented with 
 
 I 2 that, 
 
 which gave occasion to the several odes thus censured ; whence their scope and 
 tendency, and the connexion of their parts, have not been fully perceived. 
 Thus, in the first of the odes alluded to, lib. i. Ode "■ when we are informed, 
 that Plancus, from grief at losing the favour of Augustus, to whom his versa- 
 tile and intriguing temper had become suspected, had determined to leave his 
 beautiful villa at Tibur, quit Italy, and retire to some of the Grecian cities or 
 isles, we discern immediately the whole connexion of the ode, and admire the 
 art and delicacy of the poet, who, in this elegant composition, endeavours to 
 dissuade his friend from his purpose, and prevail with him to abandon a public 
 life, and devote his time to social enjoyments in his beautiful retreat on the 
 banks of the Anio. With similar ingenuity and judgment, the learned com- 
 mentator removes the ground of Lord Karnes's censure of the other odes above 
 mentioned. The edition of Horace's Odes by Jani, is entitled to the highest 
 praise. It is not the work of one of those dull commentators, i^ui acumen fri- 
 gidumpro ntsu po'etico, delicatulas suhtilitates pro ingressu ingenii, art em rheto- 
 ricam et grammaticam pro poeticd intulerint, — copiosi scilicet et ad fastidium 
 docti ; but of a kindred genius, who feels the true spirit of his author, kindles 
 with his enthusiasm, and sympathizes with his tone of mind in all its varied 
 emotions. It is much to be regretted, that this valuable edition has never 
 been completed, extending no farther than to the four books of Odes.
 
 6s MEMOIRS or THE LIFE 
 
 "\r 
 
 ^""^/- , that, small perhaps indeed, but sincere portion of happi- 
 ness furnished by my poetry, and a few kind friends? 
 Why concern m3'self to please Jeanie Stenart, or vex my- 
 self about that happier man to whom the lottery of life 
 may have assigned her? Qui Jit, Mecanas, qui Jit ? Whence 
 comes it ? Alas, whence indeed ? 
 
 Too long by love, a wand'ring fire, misled, 
 My better days in vain delusion fled : 
 Day after day, year after year withdrew, 
 And beauty blest the minutes as they flew. 
 Those hours consum'd in joy, but lost to fame, 
 With blushes I review, but dare not blame ; 
 A fault which easy pardon might receive, 
 Did lovers judge, or could the wise forgive i 
 But now to wisdom's healing springs I fl}-, 
 And drink oblivion of each charmful eye ; 
 To love revolted, quit each pleasing care, 
 Whate'er was witty, or whate'er was fair. 
 
 " Yours," &c. 
 
 To seek the aid of wisdom for the cure of love, is no doubt 
 a prudent resolution ; but here the question may be put, (as 
 of Gkndower s spirits), Will wisdom come when the lover 
 calls for her? His friend Home, who had a deeper know- 
 led ne of human nature, saw a better cure for a frivolous and 
 idle passion. The lady mentioned in the letter above quo- 
 ted, had complained to Mr Home, that she was teased with 
 
 Hamilton's
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. GQ 
 
 Hamilton's dangling attentions, M'liich she Avas convinced 
 had no serious aim, and hinted an earnest wish to get rid of 
 him : " You arc his friend," said she : " tell him he exposes 
 " both himself and me to the ridicule of our acquaintance." 
 • — " No, Madam," said Mr Home, " you shall accomplish 
 " his cure yourself; and by the simplest method. — Dance 
 " with him at to-night's assembly, and shew him eveiy mark 
 " of your kindness, as if you believed his passion sincere, 
 " and had resolved to favour his suit. Take my word for 
 " it, you'll hear no more of him." The lady adopted the 
 counsel, and the success of the experiment was complete. 
 
 It appears from Hamilton's letters, that he communicated 
 his poems to his friends for their critical remarks, and Avas 
 easily induced to alter or amend them by their advice. He 
 had sent the piece entitled Contemplation, one of the most 
 laboured of his productions, to Mr Home, Avho suggested 
 some alterations. In a letter from Hamilton, in July 1739, 
 he saySj " I have made the corrections on the moral part of 
 " Contemplation, and in a post will send it to Will. Craw- 
 " FORD, who has the rest, and will transmit it to you. I 
 " shall Avrite to him fully on the subject." It is pleasino- to 
 remark, that the AVill. Crawford here mentioned, was the 
 author of the beautiful pastoral ballad of Tzceedside, which, 
 with the aid of its charming melody, Avill probably live ns 
 long as the language is understood. 
 
 Hamilton 
 
 CHAP. III.
 
 ro 
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 Authors of 
 the Edhi- 
 burgh Mis- 
 cellany. 
 
 Hamilton may be reckoned among the earliest of the- 
 Scotch poets who wrote EngUsh verse with propriety and 
 taste, and with any considerable portion of the poetic spirit. 
 Thomson", Mallet and he were cotemporaries. The preced- 
 ing Avriters of English verse among the Scotch, are scarcely 
 entitled to the name of poets. A very inditferent collection 
 of English verses, under the title of The Edinhursih Miscel- 
 lanif * was published in 1720, among which are some of the 
 earliest productions of Thomson and Mallet , and, in parti- 
 cular, a piece by the former, " Of a Country Life, by a Stu- 
 " de7it in the University" in which it is curious to mark the 
 hand of the author of The Seasons, and to trace in some faint 
 degree the rudiments of that immortal poem. In this col- 
 lection are a few small pieces, which, on the authority of 
 Lord Hailes, I am led to believe, were written by Mr 
 
 Home : 
 
 * Of this publication, Mallet gives the following account : " The Edin- 
 " hurgh Miscellany was undertaken by an Athenian Society here, who received 
 " the poems, and published all they thought worthy of seeing the light. 
 " The gentleman to whom I inscribed my Pastoral is one of their number. 
 " His name is Mr Joseph Mitchel, author of the Luguhres Cantus, a poem to 
 
 " the memory of Mr Ford. Mr Callander, who is written C r, is an 
 
 " ingenious young gentleman, and is author of the second part of the Lugu- 
 " bres Cantus. Who the ladies are, scarce any one knows. The gentleman 
 " in the University whose productions are marked with an S, is one Mr 
 " Symmers, a boy of fifteen, and very sprightly." — Dr Anderson's Life of 
 Mallet.
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 
 
 Home*: They are of no considerable merit; and their au- 
 thor, as Lord Hailcs properly remarked, " had the good 
 ** sense very soon to perceive that poetry was not his fort." 
 
 Among the early friends of Mr Home, were some men 
 whose talents, of a superior order and graver cast, fitted 
 them to discharge Avith honour the most important duties in 
 the State, or have ranked them high in the annals of litera- 
 ture. The late Earl of FiNDLATER, then Lord Dcskfoord, 
 whose benevolent mind and truly patriotic spirit Avere inde- 
 fatigably exerted in every scheme which had for its end the 
 improvement of his country, Avas assiduous in courting a 
 correspondence with Mr Home, on various topics of politics, 
 national economy and jurisprudence ; and many letters from 
 that nobleman are yet preserved, Avhich reflect the highest 
 honour both on the qualities of his head and heart. 
 
 EarlofFindi 
 later. 
 
 With the late Mr Osavald of Dunikeir, Avhose great 
 knoAvledge of political economy rendered him one of the 
 most useful, as his disinterested patriotism, one of the most 
 respectable of the Scottish Members, during the many years 
 he sat in Parliament, Mr Home Avas connected by the closest 
 bond of friendship. It Avas OsAvald's custom to Avrite to his 
 friend Home on the daily business that occurred in Parlia- 
 ment, 
 
 Oswald of 
 Dunikeir. 
 
 * The name prefixed is spelled Hume ; but the surnames are identicallj 
 the same, and are pronounced alike.
 
 7:2. MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 « u—~-J 
 
 ment, and to consult with him on any point of difficulty on 
 which his mind was undecided. I shall insert here a few of 
 these letters, which, while they are strongly characteristic of 
 the writer, are interesting, from the nature of the subjects to 
 Avhich they relate, and the persons Avhom they mention. 
 
 From Mr Oswald to Mr Home. 
 
 ■" Dear Harry, London, 14th Dec. 1741. 
 
 " According to the promise in my last, I would have sent 
 you the Secoiid Night of the Complaint*, though I don't 
 think it so good as the first : but I understand Sir Hugh has 
 sent it to ^\'illy Hamilton, and by this time you must have 
 seen it. It is the only tolerable new thing that has appear- 
 ed this winter, except in politics; in which the Case of the 
 
 Hanover Troops, by Lord ]\1 1, and Miscellaneons 
 
 Thoughts, by Lord Harvey, are both esteemed. If you have 
 them not in Edinburgh, let me know, and I will send you 
 them. Since my last, the most important point of this ses- 
 sion has been pretty fully discussed, and is, this night, en- 
 tirely determined : I mean, that of the 16,000 Hanoverians 
 taken into British pay. The Ministry endeavoured to shew, 
 that this measure was a necessary consequence of the advice 
 given last year to the Crown, of assisting the Queen of Hun- 
 gary : that it was become a necessary measure, by the send- 
 ing 
 
 * Dr Young's.
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 73 
 
 ing abroad of 16,000 British troops ; and that Hanover 
 troops, under these circumstances, were the most expedient. 
 They were opposed on each of these points." (Here follows 
 a detailed account of the debate). " This question has been 
 agitated in three different debates. On the first day Muii- 
 «AY was introduced to support the Court, which he did in 
 a set speech, extremely methodical, with great perspicuity, 
 and very fine colouring. He was replied to by Pitt, who, 
 in the most masterly manner, laying hold of the weakest 
 parts of his speech, with the greatest strength of expression, 
 and in the most manly style 1 ever witnessed, turned almost 
 all his colours against him. Murray had laid a good deal 
 of stress on exposing the inconsistency of advising one thing 
 the one year, and the next abusing it, merely through a spi- 
 rit of opposition. Pitt sho^ved how the object was varied ; 
 but varied by the Ministers, and then turned every argu- 
 ment Murray had employed against himself. The one spoke 
 like a pleader, and could not divest himself of a certain ap- 
 pearance of having been employed by others. The other 
 spoke like a gentleman, like a statesman, who felt Avhat he 
 said, and possessed the strongest desire of convej'ing that 
 feeling to others, for their own interest, and that of their 
 country, Murray gains your attention by the perspicuity of 
 his arguments, and the elegance of his diction. Pitt com- 
 mancls your attention and respect, by the nobleness, the 
 greatness of his sentiments, the strength and energy of his 
 expressions, and the certainty you are in of his always rising 
 Vol. L K to 
 
 CHAP. in.
 
 74 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 , ^""^ ^- to a greater elevation both of thought and style : For this 
 talent he possesses beyond any speaker I ever heard, of ne- 
 ver falling, from the beginning to the end of his speech, 
 either in thought or in expression. And, as this session, he 
 has begun to speak like a man of business, as well as an 
 orator, he will, in all probability, or rather at present, is 
 allowed to make as great an appearance as ever man did in 
 that House. Muri'ay has not spoke since, on the other two 
 debates, where his rival carried all before him, being very 
 unequally matched with Pelham, Young, and Winnington. 
 I dare say you will scarce be able to read this scrawl, which 
 I have drawn to an immeasurable length, from the difficulty 
 I find in having done, when Pitt is the subject ; for I think 
 him, sincerely, the most finished character I ever knew." 
 
 From Mr Oswald to Mr Home. 
 
 " Dear Harry, 24<th December 1741. 
 
 " I received your letter, and opinion, Avhich gives me very 
 great pleasure. It corresponds with my own notion, and 
 may, 1 hope, be useful to my friend Sir Hugh ; for I shall 
 now be able to assert with confidence, if necessary, what I 
 must otherwise have urged with the utmost diifidence. You 
 will see by the printed votes, that the Westminster election 
 has been declared void. I dare assure you, if you will tmst 
 my opinion, with the greatest justice. The High Bailiff, 
 
 who
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 75 
 
 who is the returning officer, closed the poll, by shutting up chap^ir 
 the books, on pretence of a riot, when several voters present 
 were demanding to poll : and aftei'Avards, on pretence of 
 the same riot, a party of soldiers were called in ; in whose 
 presence the declaration of the poll was made. The point 
 in debate, you Avill see, was, whether the poll was legally 
 sliut or not. If legally closed, the appearance of the sol- 
 diers could not be said to have influenced the election. If 
 not legally closed, it was an act of violence, which the mi- 
 litary force was called in to support. It was urged on the 
 Court side, that the poll is over, when the books are shut 
 by the proper pfiicer ; and that this Avas not done, till the 
 crier had made three proclamations : but by their own evi- 
 dence, it appeared, that only five minutes had intervened 
 between each proclamation ; so that the interval of ten mi- 
 nutes had frustrated many of their votes who had a right 
 to poll. You will easily see that this ai'gument might have 
 been turned against them. An injustice done under form 
 of law, is more impatiently suffered than an act of violence : 
 So says Thucydides : It is in reality more unjust ; for it is 
 an insult on a man's understanding, as well as on his right. 
 This maxim might have been confirmed in a particular man- 
 ner from the English history. What was it that lost King 
 Charles his head ? What, King James his Crown and glory ^ 
 It was not that the one raised money without laAV, and that 
 the other suspended the penal statutes : but that both those 
 unhappy princes procured judgments in their favour by the 
 
 K 2 Courts
 
 76 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK I. 
 > , 
 
 Courts of Westminster. — These topics came into m}' head- 
 duiing the debate : but it was late before the counsel had 
 done ; the House called for a division, and even the ablest 
 speakers were heard Avith impatience. So, I chose to be si- 
 lent, rather than from any reluctancy to speak. The vote 
 was carried against the Court by 220 against 2l6. Never 
 Avas a case better opened, nor a reply made in a stronger 
 manner, than was done by Murray in this case. The man 
 is a miracle. No argument was missed ; none urged but 
 with the greatest precision : no circumstance omitted Avhich 
 could create an impression ; none throAvn in, but with the 
 greatest propriety that judgment could suggest, or fancy 
 improve. The Courtiers are in the utmost consternation, — 
 the Patriots inflexible : What the holidays Avill produce is 
 left to fate. Yours, 
 
 James Oswald." 
 
 From Mr Oswald to Mr Home. 
 
 -" Since my last, we have had nothing before us but 
 
 questions concerning elections : Yet these have produced 
 both debates and divisions, Avhich to us have apj^eared of 
 some importance. The first question Avas concerning a 
 borough election in CornAvall. The Court party quo- 
 ted precedents. Five of these were from Scotland, and not 
 quite Avell understood by either side, at least by the ma- 
 nagers : so I thought I had a lucky enough opportunity 
 
 of
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 77 
 
 of mixing in the debate ; and one of the precedents being '^"'^''- '"• 
 from Dysart, was a sufficient excuse for my intrusion. I 
 endeavoured to set the precedents in what 1 thought their 
 proper hght, and was heard with attention : no doubt, ow- 
 ing to the indulgence which the House always has for young 
 speakers. What I said seemed to hit the point, and was 
 very well received : No precedent was urged afterwards, and 
 the arguments, from the reason of the thing, were certain- 
 ly the weakest. I have got some small degree of reputa- 
 tion, which I'm afraid it will be extremely difficult for me to 
 maintain ; for you will plainly observe by the account I 
 have given you, that it was chiefly owing to circumstances, 
 and a sort of lucky hit, — partly perhaps to this, that some 
 value is generally put upon what comes from a quarter 
 whence it is least expected." 
 
 From Mr Oswald to Mr Home. 
 
 " Dear Harry, 7th Januarij \14!'2. 
 
 " Your last letter gives me the strongest testimony of 
 that lively friendship which I shall ever esteem as one of 
 the greatest advantages I ever enjoyed in life. The con- 
 cern you express for any false step I may fall into, will, I 
 believe, be one of the strongest motives I can possibly 
 have to be upon my guard. Your opinion as to general 
 reflections is certainly just ; yet if short, and sparingly used, 
 
 I
 
 78 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 , ^^°^ ^- I observe they meet with very great approbation even from 
 the youngest speakers ; especially it' drawn from English 
 history, or if relative to the constitution. These topics are 
 so familiar, and yet so interesting, that they always strike, 
 and are never heard without pleasure. A young man, who 
 shews but a very small knowledge on these subjects, is al- 
 most adored. Flowers of rhetoric, especially in style and 
 expression, are a good deal more dangerous ; and I could 
 name several, whom their attachment to this sort of speak- 
 ing has absolutely spoilt : for ornament without matter is of 
 all things I know the most disgusting. And I look upon 
 attempts of this kind as the more foolish, that I am con- 
 A'inced whoever makes it a mle never to speak without a 
 knowledge of his subject, must by degrees acquire as much 
 of rhetoric and ornament as is necessary ; and am satisfied, 
 that what leads into the other preposterous method, is mere 
 laziness and aversion to business. But whatever may be 
 in this, the surest way of becoming remarkable ho^e is cer- 
 tainly application to business ; for whoever understands it, 
 must make a figure." : 
 
 From Mr Oswald to Mr Home. 
 
 " 4tk Februarj/ 1742. 
 
 " 1 wrote you last post, that parties were in some 
 
 measure come to a crisis, and that we were in expectation 
 
 of
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 79 
 
 of a debate upon the supplies, which would probably de- chap, m^ 
 termine the dispute about power. The aflair is now over. 
 Sir Robert, on the night of our division upon the Chippen- 
 ham election, divested himself of all his employments ; and, 
 the next day, the King, coming to the H. of Peers, signi- 
 fied his pleasure that the tAvo Houses should adjourn for a 
 fortnight. The intention of this was to give his IMajesty 
 time to choose his new Ministry. You may guess what a 
 scramble there is like to be about places, &c. Perhaps our 
 new Ministry may continue honest men even after they 
 get power : but I would not have the safety of my country 
 depend upon a chance ; and such, a virtuous Ministry is, 
 and always must be." 
 
 From Mr Oswald to Mr Home. 
 
 " 6th March 1742. 
 As to the two dilferent plans of administration. 
 
 though I am a profest sceptic as to political events, yet I 
 don't know how, I have become a sort of dogmatist in fa- 
 vour of the broad bottom ; it seemed to me to be the only 
 proper plan of settling both the constitution and admini- 
 stration on a solid and formidable foundation : And as to 
 its reverse, I always abhorred it ; because 1 saw it must 
 necessarily have been carried on by a much Avider system 
 of corruption than that employed by^the last administra- 
 tion.
 
 80 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 ^""'^ ^-^ tion. But this you will say, though it might be a good 
 reason enough for not approving it, yet it might not per- 
 haps be quite so good to infer its want of success. Cor- 
 ruption is at all times a powerful engine ; but how much 
 more powerful must it prove, Avhcn it is to be employed 
 by the ablest ; and the scheme for which it is to be em- 
 ployed, is, from a strange fatality, to be patronized by the 
 honestest and most disinterested men in the nation? Yet, 
 notwithstanding of these apparent difficulties, I continued . 
 firm to my opinion ; and the narrow bottom, in my judg- 
 ment, remained still both a wicked and impracticable plan. 
 You will remember how your friend David Hume and you 
 used to laugh at a most sublime declamation I one night 
 made, after a drunken expedition to Cupar, on the impo- 
 tency of cormption in certain circumstances : how I main- 
 tained, that on certain occasions men felt, or seemed to feel 
 a certain dignity in themselves, which made them disdain to 
 act on sordid motives ; and how I imagined it to be ex- 
 tremely possible in such situations, that even the lowest of 
 men might become superior to the highest temptations. 
 What those circumstances, occasions, and situations are, I 
 feel nuich better than I can express. The cause of this I am 
 not philosopher enough to determine ; but the phenomenon 
 is certain : And in some such circumstances or situation, the 
 generality of a great assembly were, I think, obviously, late- 
 ly ; and are, in my opinion, in some degree still." 
 
 From
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 
 
 From Mr Oswald to Mr Home. 
 
 " Dear Harry, 
 
 " Nothing can be more agreeable to me, than either to 
 recommend our friend Hume or his book. In either of 
 these cases, the person who recommends, does himself, in my 
 opinion, an honour, as he becomes, in some degree, a sharer 
 of that merit which is in both. But you cannot imagine 
 what a difficult matter it is here at present, to fix any man's 
 
 attention, but for a moment, upon any abstract subject. 
 
 Such is the general indolence of mind, that one flashy, lively 
 thing, whether in thought or expression, though in the midst 
 of trash, is more greedily swallowed than the most elegant 
 
 piece of reasoning. However, there are some of the 
 
 young people about the Prince who seem to have a good 
 taste. I go to no Court myself; but, as 1 have an oppor- 
 tunity of seeing some of these gentlemen, I will do what I 
 can to excite their curiosity, and shall afterwards let you 
 
 know their sentiments. 1 met yesterday in a bookseller's 
 
 shop with three new parts of Marianne, which I don't know 
 if you have yet got at Edinburgh. If not, let me know, and 
 I will send you them down. A ninth part came out some 
 time ago, but was spurious. The others I fancy are by 
 your friend Marivaux. The pictures I think are entirely in 
 his style, and the reflections both natural and delicate. I 
 will no further anticipate your pleasure in reading them." — 
 
 Vol. L L From
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFB 
 
 Fro7n Mr Oswald to Mr Home. 
 
 " April 1742. 
 
 " You write me, that it is said in Scotland I 
 
 tibsented myself on the Triennial Bill. It is true, I did so ; 
 for I thought it an extreme doubtful point, so far as from 
 information I could form any judgment. My not having 
 such sufficient infbnnation as I could have wished, concur- 
 red to confirm me in thinking it most proper not to give 
 any judgment upon it at all. The nation has now had near- 
 ly a pretty equal trial of Triennial and Septennial Parlia- 
 ments. Neither of them can be called more constitutional 
 than the other. Whichsoever, thei-efo/e, by experience may 
 be said to answer best the purposes of a representation of 
 the people, ought to be, singly from that consideration, pre- 
 ferred. During Triennial Parliam.ents there was not so much 
 corruption, but there was more canvassing in elections, and 
 business was transacted with greater confusion. Controvert- 
 ed elections generally engrossed the first session; and the 
 last was deserted by all who found it necessary to go down 
 to support their interests in the country. The Crown had 
 as great influence by places and promises ; and that more 
 money was not then employed, ought not perhaps to be 
 ascribed so much to the difference betwixt a Triennial and 
 Septennial duration, as to this obvious cause, that cormp- 
 tion was not then so general. In a word, it was doubtful, I 
 
 thought,
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 83 
 
 thouglit, Avlicthcr the triennial term would lessen con'uption. 
 It Avas obvious it would increase the expcnce, and might 
 possibly ruin country gentlemen. A place bill, properly ba- 
 lanced, would have done infinite service. Such a bill a\ ould 
 answer all the good purposes proposed by the 'i'riennial 
 Bill, and be liable to none of its bad consccjuences. On 
 the other hand, in the abstract nothing appears more clear, 
 than that a free people ought as often as possible to have 
 the liberty of changing their representatives. But all ab- 
 stract propositions in politics are to be guarded against^ 
 since the good of the State, in its present circumstances, is 
 or ought to be the ultimate object. In short, there was 
 such a variety of circumstances to be taken into that que- 
 stion, which I had not full opportunity of considering, and 
 the question itself was of such importance, that I thought it 
 most consistent with my duty to give no judgment at all : 
 and this I performed in as public a manner as I was capable 
 of; by making a very low bow to the Cliair, after hearing 
 the debate on both sides." • 
 
 It were to pay an ill compliment to my readers, should I 
 suppose any apology were necessary for the length of the 
 preceding extracts from a correspondence illustrative of a 
 character so truly respectable ; and one who, in his public 
 capacity, as a member of the Legislature, can never be too 
 strongly recommended as a model of a virtuous and enlight- 
 ened statesman. 
 
 L 2 Mr 
 
 CHAP. III.
 
 ■f*r 
 
 84 
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 Mr Home's acquaintance with his namesake, the celebra- 
 DavidHume, ted Daa'id Hume, appears not to have been of a much 
 earher date than 1737- In the latter part of that year, Mr 
 Hume went to London to pubUsh his first work, the Treatise 
 of Human Nature. In answer to some inquiries relative to 
 the plan of that work, he thus writes to his friend Mr Home, 
 at Edinburgh : 
 
 To Mr Henry Home, Advocate, Edinhunfh. 
 
 " Dear Sir, London, Dec. 2. 1737- 
 
 " I am sorry I am not able to satisfy your curiosity, by 
 giving you some general notion of the plan upon which I 
 proceed. But my opinions are so new, and even some 
 terms I am obliged to make use of, that I could not propose, 
 by any abridgment, to give my system an air of likelihood, 
 or so much as make it intelligible. 'Tis a thing I have in 
 vain attempted already, at a gentleman's request in this 
 place, who thought it would help him to comprehend and 
 judge of my notions, if he saw them all at once before him. 
 I have had a greater desire of communicating to you the 
 plan of the whole, that 1 believe it will not appear in pubhc 
 before the beginning of next winter. For, besides that it 
 would be difficult to have it printed before the rising of the 
 Parliament, I nmst confess, I am not ill pleased with a little 
 delay, that it may appear with as few imperfections as pos- 
 sible.
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 85 
 
 aible. I have been here near three months, always within a cf?AP^iir. 
 week of agreeing with my printers ; and you may imagine 
 I did not forget the work itself during that time, where I 
 began to feel some passages weaker for the style and diction 
 than I could have wisht. The nearness and greatness of 
 the event roused up my attention, and made me more diffi- 
 cult to please, than when I was alone in perfect tranquil- 
 lity in France. But here I must tell you one of my foibles. 
 I have a great inclination to go down to Scotland this spring 
 to see my friends, and have your advice concerning my phi- 
 losophical discoveries ; but cannot overcome a certain shame- 
 facedness I have to appear among you at my years, with- 
 oyt having yet a settlement, or so much as attempted any. 
 How happens it, that we philosophers cannot as heartily 
 despise the world, as it despises us? I think in my con- 
 science the contempt were as well founded on our side, as 
 on the other. 
 
 " Having a frankt letter, I was resolved to make use of 
 it ; and accordingly inclose some Reaso7iings concerning Mi- 
 racles, which I once thought of publishing with the rest, but 
 ■which I am afraid will give too much oflence, even as the 
 world is disposed at present. There is something in the 
 turn of thought, and a good deal in the turn of expression, 
 which will not perhaps appear so proper, for want of know- 
 ing the context : but the force of the argument you'll be 
 judge of, as it stands. Tell me your thoughts of it. Is not 
 
 the
 
 86 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 the style too diffuse ? Though, as that was a popular argu- 
 ment, I have spread it out much more than the other parts 
 of the work. I beg of you to shew it to nobody, except to 
 Mr Hamilton, if he pleases ; and let me know at your lei- 
 sure that you have received it, read it, and burnt it. Your 
 
 thoughts and mine agree with respect to Dr Butler, and I 
 Avould be glad to be introduced to him. I am at present 
 castrating my work, that is, cutting oif its nobler parts ; that 
 is, endeavouring it shall give as little offence as possible, be- 
 fore which, I could not pretend to put it into the Doctor's 
 hands. This is a piece of cowardice, for which I blame my- 
 self, though I believe none of my friends will ])lame me. 
 But I was resolved not to be an enthusiast in philosoph}', 
 Avhile I was blaming other enthusiasms. If ever I indulge 
 myself in any, 'twill be when I tell that I am, Dear Sir, 
 yours, 
 
 David Hume " 
 
 Dr Butler. In Compliance with the wish expressed in this letter, Mr 
 
 Home gave his friend a letter of introduction to Dr But- 
 ler, whose reputation as a metaphysician was then very 
 high. A correspondence with this eminent man had begun 
 on Mr Home's part, from an earnest desire to have some 
 doubts removed, that occurred to him when first turning his- 
 mind to the consideration of the Evidences of Natural and 
 Revealed Religion. Those difficulties, which he justly con- 
 sidered as of the most serious importance, he stated in a let- 
 ter
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 87 
 
 ter to Dr Butler, "wiLli whom he had no previous acquaint- ^"'^^^ "^■ 
 ance ; and earnestly entreated that he might be allowed a 
 personal interview ; which, notwithstanding the distance that 
 separated them, he was willing at his own cost alone to ac- 
 complish. Dr Butler answered his letter with the utmost 
 poUteness, and endeavoured as far as he could, by writing, 
 to satisfy Mr Home's inciuiries ; but modestly declined a per- 
 sonal meeting, on the score of his own natural diffidence and 
 reserve, his being unaccustomed to oral controversy, and his 
 fear that the cause of truth might thence suffer from the un- 
 skilfulness of its advocate. However to be rescretted that 
 these letters have not been preserved, (possibly from being 
 lent to some of his philosophical friends), there is reason to 
 believe the correspondence Avas most satisfactory to JMr 
 Home ; as lie retained through life the greatest regard for 
 Dr Butler, and, though diftering from him in some specu- 
 lative points, entertained the highest respect for his abi- 
 lities *. 
 
 The 
 
 * Dr Butler's talent for philosophical reasoning was first displayed in his 
 Sermons preached at the Rolls' Chapel, and published in a single volume in 
 1726. The scope of argument in these sermons the author himself thus ex- 
 plains : " There are two ways in which the subject of morals may be treated; 
 " one begins from inquiring into the abstract relations of things ; the otlier 
 " from a matter of fact, namely, what the particular nature of man is, its se- 
 •' veral parts, their economy or institution ; from whence it proceeds to deter- 
 " mine what course of life it is which is correspondent to this whole of nature. 
 " In the former method, the conclusion is expressed thus : That vice is contrary 
 
 " to
 
 88 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 ^ BOOK I. ^ rpjjg friendly office of introducing Mr David Hume to Dr 
 
 Butler, was thus warmly acknowledged : 
 
 To Mr Henry Home, Advocate. 
 
 « Sir, London, March 4. 1737-8. 
 
 " I shall not trouble you with any formal compliments or 
 thanks, which would be but an ill return for the kindness 
 
 you 
 
 " to the nature and reason of things ; in the latter, that it is a violation of our 
 " own nature : they both lead to the same thing, our obligations to the practice 
 " of virtue ; and thus they exceedingly strengthen and support each other. The 
 " first seems the most direct formal proof, and, in some respects, the least liable 
 *' to dispute ; the latter is in a peculiar manner adapted to satisfy a fair mind,. 
 •' and is more easily applicable to the several particular relations and circum- 
 •' stances of life. The following discourses proceed chiefly in this latter me- 
 " thod ; the three first vfholly. They were intended to explain what is meant 
 *' by the nature of man, when it is said that virtue consists in following, and 
 " vice in deviating from it. — Though there seems no ground to doubt but that 
 *' the generality of mankind have the inward perception expressed in that man- 
 " ner by the antient moralists ; yet it appeared of use to unfold that inward 
 ♦' conviction, and lay it open in a more explicit manner than I had seen done."" 
 In the year 1736, Dr Butler published his principal work, "Toe Analogy of 
 Religion, Natural and Revealed, to the Constitution and Course of Nature, a 
 treatise of which he had laid the foundation in his Sermons, and which fol- 
 lows out the same train of reasoning. He argues, that probable evidence, or 
 that which admits of degrees of belief, must of necessity be our guide in all 
 matters which do not admit of demonstrative evidence ; " for a man is as 
 *' really bound in prudence to do what upon the whole appears, according to 
 
 " the
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 89 
 
 yovx have done me in writing in my behalf to one you are so 
 httle accjuainted with as Dr Butler ; and I am afraid, streteli- 
 ing the truth in favour of a friend. . I have called upon tiic 
 Doctor, with a design of delivering him your letter, but find 
 ho is at present in the country. I am a little anxious to 
 
 have 
 
 " the best of his judgment, to be for his happiness, as what he certainly 
 " knows to be so." Reasoning from analogy is reasoning from probability, 
 arising from the resemblance of one thing to another in some qualities or cir- 
 cumstances ; and, from the constitution of our minds, we are led to give weight 
 to analogical reasoning when direct evidence is wanting. Origen has saga- 
 ciously observed, " That he who believes the Scripture to have proceeded 
 " from him who is the Author of Nature, may well expect to find the same 
 " sort of difficulties in it, as are found in the constitution of nature :" And 
 Dr Butler adds, that in the like way of judging, he who denies the Scripture to 
 have been from God, upon account of those difficulties, may for the very same 
 reason deny the world to have been formed by him. On the other hand, if there 
 be an analogy between that system of things, and that dispensation which Re- 
 velation informs us of, and the visible system of things and dispensation which 
 we all observe in Nature, a presumption thence arises, that they have both 
 the same Author and origin. The scope of Dr Butler's work is therefore to 
 shew, that there is such analogy : that both the system of Nature and the 
 scheme of Revelation have the same ends and objects : that the several parts 
 principally objected to in the Moral and Christian dispensation, including its 
 scheme, its publication, and the proof which God has afforded us of its truth, 
 are analogous to what is experienced in the constitution and course of Nature, 
 always supposing an Author and Moral Governor of the universe : that the 
 chief objections urged against the one may with equal justness be urged 
 against the other, where they are found in fact to be inconclusive : and, there- 
 fore, that this argument from analogy is of the greatest weight and importance 
 on the side of religion. 
 
 Vol. I. M 
 
 CHAP. III.
 
 90 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK. I. have the Doctor's opinion. My own I dare not trust to ; 
 
 111 i"^ VI mU 
 
 both because it concerns myself, and because it is so va- 
 riable, that I know not how to fix it. Sometimes it elevates 
 me above the clouds ; at other times, it depresses me with 
 doubts and fears ; so that Avhatever be my success, I cannot 
 be entirely disappointed. Somebody has told me that you 
 might perhaps be in London this spring. I should esteem 
 this a very lucky event ; and notwithstanding all the plea- 
 sures of the town, I would certainly engage you to pass 
 some philosophical evenings with me, and either correct my 
 judgment, where you differ from me, or confirm it Avhere we 
 agree. I believe I have some need of the one, as well as the 
 other ; and though the propensity to diffidence be an error 
 on the better side, yet 'tis an error, and dangerous, as well as 
 disagreeable. I am. Dear Sir, yours, 
 
 David Hume." 
 
 " I lodge at present in the Rainbow Coflfeehouse, Lan- 
 caster Court." 
 
 Soon after the publication of the Treatise of Human Na- 
 ture, Mr Hume again writes : — 
 
 To Mr Home. 
 
 «' Sir, London, Feb. 13. 1739. 
 
 *' I thought to have wrote this from a place nearer you 
 than London, but have been detained here by contrary 
 
 winds,
 
 AND WHITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 9> 
 
 winds, which have kept all Berwick ships from sailing. 'Tis 
 now a fortnight since my book was published ; and besides 
 many other considerations, I thought it would contribute 
 very much to my tranquillity, and might spare me many 
 mortifications, to be in the country, while the success of the 
 work was doubtful. I am afraid 'twill remain so very long. 
 Those who are accustomed to reflect on such abstract sub- 
 jects, are commonly full of prejudices ; and those Avho are 
 unprejudiced are unacquainted with metaphysical reasonings. 
 My principles are also so remote from all the vulgar senti- 
 ments on the subject, that were they to take place, they 
 would produce almost a total alteration in philosophy : and 
 you know, revolutions of this kind are not easily brought 
 about. I am young enough to see what will become of the 
 matter * ; but am apprehensive lest the chief reward I shall 
 have for some time will be the pleasure of studying on such 
 important subjects, and the approbation of a few judges. 
 Among the rest, you may believe I aspire to your approba- 
 tion ; and next to that, to your free censure and criticism. 
 I shall present you with a copy as soon as I come to Scot- 
 land, and hope your curiosity, as well as friendship, will 
 
 make you take the pains of perusing it -f . 
 
 M 2 « If 
 
 * Mr David Hume was then in the 28th year of his age. 
 
 + We shall see with what attention the work here alluded to was perused 
 by Mr Home, and the fruits of that perusal. 
 
 ciTP rii.
 
 92 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK I. « jf yQy know any body that is a judge, you would do 
 
 me a sensible pleasure in engaging him to a serious perusal 
 of the book. 'Tis so rare to meet with one that Avill take 
 pains on a book, that does not come recommended by some 
 great name or authority, that I must confess, I am as fond 
 of meeting with such a one, as if I were sure of his appro- 
 bation. I am, however, so doubtful in that particular, that 
 I have endeavoured all I could to conceal my name ; though 
 I believe I have not been so cautious in this respect as I 
 ought to have been. 
 
 " I have sent the Bishop of Bristol * a copy ; but could 
 not Avait on him with your letter after he had arrived at that 
 dignity : At least I thought it would be to no purpose after 
 I begvm the printing. You'll excuse the- frailty of an au- 
 thor in writing so long a letter about nothing but his own 
 performances. Authors have this privilege in common with 
 lovers, and founded on the same reason, that they are both 
 besotted with a blmd fondness of their object. I have been 
 upon my guard against this frailty ; but perhaps this has ra- 
 ther turned to my prejudice : The reflection on our cavition 
 is apt to give us a more implicit confidence afterwards, 
 
 when 
 
 * Dr Butler was consecrated Bishop of Bristol, 3d December 1738, and was 
 afterwards translated to the see of Durham, l6th October 1750. He died 
 l6th June 17 ji2, in the GOth year of his age.
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAAIES. 93 
 
 when we come to form a judgment. I am, Dear Sir, yours ^f^^l^ 
 sincerely, 
 
 David Hume." 
 
 It was well for Mr Ilumc, that his hopes of the success of 
 his first work were not sanguine. The reception it met with, 
 he fairly acknowledges to have been most unpropitious. 
 " Never literary attempt, (says he, in the account of his 
 " life), 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." It was then Mr Hume's object, as in the fore- 
 going letter is explicitly owned, to bring about nothing less 
 than an entire revolution of opinions in matters of specula- 
 tive philosophy ; and in what particular department he 
 trusted chiefly to attract the notice of the public, we learii 
 from the single proof which he specifies of his disappoint- 
 ment. His next letter to Mr Home gives an interesting pic- 
 ture of his feelings. 
 
 To Mr Henry Home, Advocate, at his Lodgi7igs, Edin- 
 burgh. 
 
 " Dear Sir, Ninewells, June 1. 1739.. 
 
 " You see I am better than my word, having sent you 
 two papers instead of one. I have hints for tAvo or three 
 more, which I shall execute at my leisure. I am not much 
 
 ia
 
 94 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK r. 
 
 in the humour of such compositions at present, having re- 
 ceived news fi-om London of the success of my philosophy, 
 which is but indiiTerent, if I may judge by the sale of the 
 book, and if I may believe my bookseller. I am now out of 
 humour with mj'self ; but doubt not, in a little time, to be 
 only out of humour with the world, like other unsuccessful 
 authors. After all, I am sensible of my folly, in entertain- 
 ing any discontent, much more despair, upon this account ; 
 since I could not expect any better from such abstract rea- 
 soning ; nor indeed did I promise myself much better. IMy 
 fondness for what I imagined new discoveries, made me 
 overlook all common rules of prudence ; and having enjoy- 
 ed the usual satisfaction of projectors, 'tis but just I should 
 meet with their disappointments. However, as 'tis observed 
 with such sort of people, one project generally succeeds an- 
 other, I doubt not, but in a day or two I shall be as easy as 
 ever, in hopes that truth will prevail at last over the indiffe- 
 rence and opposition of the Avorld. 
 
 " You see I might at present subscribe myself your most 
 humble servant with great propriety : but notwithstanding, 
 shall presume to call myself your most affectionate friend, 
 as well as humble servant, 
 
 David Hume." 
 
 Another letter, written just a month after, verifies the pro- 
 mise of the last with regard to the state of the writer's mind, 
 
 the
 
 AND WRITINGS OT LORD KAMES. 95 
 
 the very slight eifect of this first mortification, and the speedy cu.\p ju. 
 resumption of his Uterary projects. 
 
 To Mr Henry Home, <^c. 
 
 " My Dear Sir, Ninewelh, Sundai/, July 1. 1739. 
 
 " I hope you always esteem yourself more obliged to me 
 when I send you papers I do not approve of, than Avhcn I 
 send yoii those I think more tolerable ; since there may be 
 a share of vanity in the latter case, which can have no part 
 in the former. I have a strong suspicion against the pre- 
 sent packet. One of the papers Avill be found very cold ; 
 and the other be esteemed somewhat sophistical. However, 
 I communicate them to you ; because I may possibly be mis- 
 taken. I remember Boileau enumeratins; the advantages 
 which may be met with in consulting a judicious friend, 
 concerning a man's performances, says, among other things, 
 
 Lui seul ^claircira vos doutes ridicules, 
 
 De votre esprit treniblant levera les scrupules. 
 
 I thank you for your manuscript, which I have scarce had 
 time to look into, being very late at Red-braes Castle last 
 night, and being obliged to dispatch away this in the morn- 
 ing. 1 have committed some mistakes in former pa- 
 pers by tnisting to my memory. I have met with the story 
 of Diogenes in Cicero told in a better way. I suppose, that 
 
 instead
 
 96 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 B"o^^ t. ^ instead of the Hydrogenes, I should have said the Andro- 
 gynes of Plato. I suppose our friends have been lazy the 
 last vacation, that I have not heard of them. I am yours 
 sincerely, 
 
 David Hume." 
 
 A chasm of more than two years occurs in this correspon- 
 dence, though there is no reason to believe it to have been 
 discontinued. Yet it might have been less frequent, from 
 Mr Hume's having passed that interval among his friends in 
 Scotland. Alluding to his mortification as an author, he 
 says, " Being naturally of a cheerful and sanguine tempera- 
 " ment, I very soon recovered the bloAV, and prosecuted 
 " with great ardour my studies in the country. In 1742, I 
 " printed at Edinburgh the first part of my Essays : the Avork 
 " was favourably received, and soon made me entirely forget 
 " my former disappointment *." We learn from the follow- 
 ing letter what were in part those studies which occupied 
 him in the country ; and the remarks which it contains will 
 naturally suggest a feeling of regret, that this most acute 
 and learned man had not more frequently turned his atten- 
 tion to subjects of elegant literature, in Avhich he seems to 
 have been peculiarly qualified to instruct and to delight, 
 than to such unprofitable researches as terminated only in 
 doubt and uncertainty ; as led to no consequence of import- 
 ance 
 
 f Mr David Hume's Li/e by Himself,
 
 AXD AVRITINGS OF LORD KAMTS. 97 
 
 ance to the conduct of human life ; as tended, according to chap^iii. 
 his own mehmcholj avowal, to separate him as a solitary 
 being from the rest of his species, and to render him an ob- 
 ject of enmity, calumny and detraction, while conscious at 
 the same time, that the public approbation Avas essential to 
 his happiness *. 
 
 To 
 
 * This very striking and memorable avowal is to be found at the conclu- 
 sion of the First Book of his T^recitise of Human Nature. " Methinks I am 
 " like a man, who having struck on many shoals, and having narrowly 
 " escaped shipwreck in passing a small frith, has yet the temerity to put out 
 " to sea in the same leaky, weather-beaten vessel, and even carries his ambi- 
 " tion so far as to think of compassing the globe under these disadvantageous 
 " circumstances. My memory of past errors makes me diffident for the fu- 
 " ture. The wretched condition, weakness, and disorder of the faculties I 
 " must employ in my inquiries, increase my apprehensions. And the impos- 
 " slbility of amending or correcting these faculties, reduces me almost to de- 
 " spair, and makes me resolve to perish on the barren rock, on which I am 
 " at present, rather than venture myself upon that boundless ocean which 
 " runs out into immensity. This sudden view of my danger strikes me with 
 " melancholy ; and as 'tis usual for that passion, above all others, to indulge- 
 " itself, I cannot forbear feeding my despair with all those desponding re- 
 " flections, which the present subject furnishes me with in such abundance. I 
 " am first affrighted and confounded with that forlorn solitude, in which I 
 " am placed in my philosophy, and fancy myself some strange uncouth mon- 
 " ster, who, not being able to mingle and unite in society, has been expelled 
 ♦• all human commerce, and left utterly abandoned and disconsolate. Fain 
 '* would I run into the crowd for shelter and warmth ; but cannot prevail 
 «' with myself to mix with such deformity. I call upon others to join me, in; 
 
 " order 
 
 Vol. I. N
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 To Ml' Henuy Home. 
 
 " June 13. 1742. 
 
 " I agi'ee AAnth you, lliat Cicero's reasonings in his Orations 
 are very often loose, and what we should think to be wan-- 
 
 ■• dering 
 
 " order to make a company apart ; but no one will hearken to me. Every 
 " one keeps at a distance, and dreads that storm which beats upon me from 
 " every side. I have exposed myself to the enmity of all metaphysicians, 
 " logicians, mathematicians, and even theologians ; and can I wonder at the 
 " insults I must suffer ? I have declared my disapprobation of their systems ; 
 *' and can I be surprised if they should express a hatred of mine, and of mjr 
 " person ? When I look abroad, I foresee on every side, dispute, contradic- 
 " tion, anger, calumny and detraction. When I turn my eye inward, T find 
 " nothing but doubt and ignorance. All the world conspires to oppose and 
 " contradict me ; though such is my weakness, that I feel all my opinions 
 " loosen and fall of themselves, when unsupported by the approbation of 
 *' others. Every step I take is with hesitation, and every new reflection 
 " makes me dread an error and absurdity in my reasoning. For with what 
 " confidence can I venture upon such bold enterprises, when, beside those num- 
 «' berless infirmities peculiar to myself, I find so many which are common to 
 " human nature? Can I be sure that in leaving all established opinions, I am 
 ■«' following truth ; and by what criterion shall I distinguish her, even if for- 
 " tune should at last guide me on her footsteps ? After the njost accurate 
 ■" and exact of my reasonings, I can give no reason why I should assent to it ; 
 " and feel nothing but a stro/ig propcnsitj to consider objects strongly in that 
 
 " view, under which they appear to me." And a little after : " Expe- 
 
 " ricnce is a principle which makes us reason from causes and effects ; and 
 " 'tis the same principle which convinces us of the continued existence of cx- 
 
 " ternal
 
 AND WRITINGS OP LORD KAMF.S. 
 
 dering from the point ; insoimicli, that now-a-days a lawyer, 
 who should give himself such liberties, would be in danger 
 of meeting with a reprimand from the Judge, or at least 
 
 N2 of 
 
 " ternal objects, when absent from the senses. But though tliese two opera- 
 •* tions be equally natural and necessary in the human mind, yet in some 
 •' circumstances they are directly contrary ; nor is it possible for us to reason 
 " justly and regularly from causes and effects, and at the same time believe 
 ♦' the continued existence of matter. How then shall we adjust those prin- 
 " ciples together ? Which of them shall we prefer ? Or in case we prefer 
 " neither of them, but successively assent to both, as is usual among phila- 
 " sophers, with what confidence can we afterwards usurp that glorious title, 
 *' when we thus knowingly embrace a manifest contradiction ? This contra- 
 " diction would be more excusable, were it compensated by any degree of so- 
 " lidity and satisfaction in the other parts of our reasoning. But the case is 
 " quite contrary. When we trace up the human understanding to its first 
 " principles, we find it to lead us into such sentiments as seem to turn into ri- 
 ♦' dicule all our past pains and industry, and to discourage us from future in- 
 ** quiries. Nothing is more curiously inquired after by the mind of man, than 
 " the causes of every phenomenon ; nor are we content with knowing the 
 " immediate causes, but push on our inquiries till we arrive at the original 
 •' and ultimate principle. We would not willingly stop before we are ac- 
 " quainted with that energy in the cause by which it operates on its effect ; 
 " and how must we be disappointed, when we learn that this connection, tie, 
 •♦ or energy lies merely in ourselves, and is nothing but that determination of 
 " the mind which is acquired by custom, and causes us to make a transition 
 " from an object to its usual attendant, and from the impression of one to the 
 ** lively idea of the other ? Such a discovery not only cuts oS"all hope of ever 
 " attaining satisfaction, but even prevents our very wishes ; since it appears,. 
 " that wh«» we say we desire to know the ultimate and operating principle, 
 
 " as
 
 100 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 of being admonished of the point in question. His Orations 
 against Verres, however, are an exception; though that plun- 
 derer was so impudent and open in his robberies, that there 
 
 IS 
 
 " as something which resides in the external object, we either contradict our- 
 
 " selves, or talk without a meaning. The intense view of these mani- 
 
 " fold contradictions and imperfections in human reason has so wrought upon 
 
 " me, and heated my brain, that I am ready to reject all belief and reasoning, 
 
 " and can look upon no opinion even as more probable or likely than another. 
 
 " Where am I, or what ? From what causes do I derive my existence, and to 
 
 " what condition shall I return ? Whose favour shall I court, and whose 
 
 " anger must I dread ? What beings surround me ? and on whom have I any 
 
 " influence, or who have any influence on me ? I am confounded with all 
 
 " these questions, and begin to fancy myself in the most deplorable condition 
 
 *' imaginable, environed with the deepest darkness, and utterly deprived of 
 
 " the use of every nieniber and faculty." 
 
 Ajid is this the fruit of those boasted philosophical discoveries ? this the 
 only end to which the most penetrating intellect could employ its powers ? 
 this the final result of his laborious speculations ? It is, by the philosopher's 
 own confession. But observe the conclusion, and remark there the disclama- 
 tion of those very opinions as pure chimeras, which, though he found his rea- 
 son insufficient to dispel them, (reason thus sophisticated), were put to flight 
 at once by his natural feelings, and the return of common sense. " Most for- 
 " tunately, (continues he), it happens, that since reason is incapable of dis- 
 •' pelling these clouds, nature herself suffices to that purpose, and cures me 
 " of this philosophical melancholy and delirium, either by relaxing this bent 
 " of mind, or by some avocation, and lively impression of my senses, which 
 " obliterate all these chimeras. I dine, I play a game of back-gammon, I 
 " converse, and am merry with my friends ; and when, after three or four 
 
 " hours
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMTS. 101 
 
 • 
 
 is the less merit in his conviction and condemnation. How- p"'^'' ™-. 
 ever, these orations have all a very great merit. The Ora- 
 tion for Milo is commonly esteemed Cicero's masterpiece, 
 and indeed is, in many respects, very beautiful ; but there 
 are some points in the reasoning of it that surprise me. The 
 true story of the death of Clodius, as we learn from the Ro- 
 man Historians, was this. It was only a casual rencontre 
 betwixt Milo and him, and the squabble Avas begun hj their 
 servants, as they passed each other on the road. Many of 
 Clodius's servants were killed, the rest dispersed, and himself 
 wounded, and obliged to hide himself in some neighbouring 
 shops ; from whence he was dragged out b}^ JNIilo's orders, 
 and killed in the street. These circumstances must have 
 been largely insisted on by the prosecutors, and must have 
 been proved too, since they have been received as truth by 
 all antiquity. But not a word of them in Cicero, whose 
 oration only labours to prove two points, that Milo did not 
 way-lay Clodius, and that Clodius was a bad citizen, and it 
 was meritorious to kill him. If you read his Oration, you'll 
 agree with me, I believe, that he has scarce spoke any thino- 
 to the (piestion, as it would now be conceived by a court of 
 judicature. 
 
 The 
 
 " hours amusement, I would return to these speculations, they appear so cold 
 " and strained and ridiculous, that I cannot find in my heart to enter in- 
 " to them any farther." — Treatise of Human Nature, vol. i. p. 457. et seq.
 
 103 MEMOIRS OP THE LIFE 
 
 ^°°^ ^- , " The Orations for Marcellus and Ligarius, as also that 
 
 for Archias, are very fine, and cliielly because the subjects 
 do not require or admit of close reasoning. 'Tis worth your 
 while to read the conclusion of the Oration for Plancius, 
 where I think the passions are very well touch'd. There are 
 inany noble passages in the Oration for Mur-tena, though 'tis- 
 certain that the prosecutors (who, hoAvever, were Servius, 
 Sulpicius and Cato), must either have said nothing to the 
 purpose, or Cicero has said nothing. There is some of that 
 oration lost. 
 
 " 'Twould be a pleasure to you to read and compare the 
 two first Philippics, that you may judge of the manners of 
 those times, compared to modern manners. When Cicero 
 spoke the first Philippic, Antony and he liad not broke alt 
 measures with each other; but there were still some remains- 
 of a very great intimacy and friendship betwixt them : and 
 besides, Cicero lived in a close correspondence with all the 
 rest of Caesar's captains ; Dolabella had been his son-in-law ; 
 llirtius and Pansa were his pupils; Trebatius was entirely 
 his creature. For this reason, prudence laid him under 
 great restraints at that time in his declamations against An- 
 tony ; there is great elegance and delicacy in them ; and 
 many of the thoughts are very fine, particularly Avhere he 
 mentions his meeting Brutus, who had been obliged to leave 
 Rome : I was ashamed, says he, that I durst return to Borne 
 after Brutus had left it, and. that I could be in safett/ where 
 
 he
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LOnD KAMES. 105 
 
 he could not. In short, the whole oration is of such a strain, ^chap. in. 
 that tlie Duke of Argylc might have spoke it in the House 
 of Peers against my Lord Orford ; and decency would not 
 now allow the greatest enemies to go farther. But this ora- 
 tion is not much admired by the ancients. The Divine Phi- 
 lippic, as Juvenal calls it, is the second, where he gives a fidl 
 loose to his scurrility ; and without having any point to gain 
 by it, except vilifying his antagonist, and without support- 
 ing any fact by witnesses, (for there was no trial or accusa- 
 tion), he rakes into all the filth of Antony's character ; re- 
 proaches him with drunkenness and vomiting, and coAvardice, 
 and every sort of debauchery and villany. There is great 
 genius and wit in many passages of this oration ; but I 
 think the whole turn of it would not now be generally ad- 
 mired. 
 
 " I thank Mrs Home for her intelligence, and haA'e much 
 employ 'd my brain to find out the person she means. It 
 eou'd not be the widow : for she toasts always the Duke of 
 Argyle or Lord Stair, and never would name a 3'oung man 
 whom she may reasonably enough suppose to be in love with 
 lier. 1 shall therefore flatter myself it was Miss Dalrymple. 
 It is now Exchequer term : Slie is among the few very Jine 
 ladies of Mrs Home's acquaintance, whom I have the hap- 
 piness of knowing: In short, many circumstances, besides 
 my earnest wishes, concur to make me believe it was she 
 who did me that honour. I will persevere in that opinion ; 
 
 unless
 
 104 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 ^°°5^ unless you think it proper to disabuse me, for fear of my- 
 being too much puft up with vanity by such a conceit. 
 
 " I am obhged to you for Vaugelas and the pamphlets. 
 I flmcy I have been misinformed with regard to Kincaid. 
 The Essai/s are all sold in London, as I am informed by two 
 letters from English gentlemen of my acquaintance. There 
 is a demand for them ; and, as one of them tells me, Innys, 
 the great bookseller in Paul's Churchyard, Monders there is 
 not a new edition, for that he cannot find copies for his 
 customers. I am also told that Dr Butler has every where 
 recommended them, so that I hope they will have some suc- 
 cess. They may prove like dung with marl, and bring for- 
 ward the rest of my philosophy, which is of a more durable, 
 thouo;h of a harder and more stubborn nature. You see I can 
 talk to you in your own style. Adieu. Yours, &c. 
 
 David Hume." 
 
 The estimate which I\Ir Hume here makes of the compa- 
 rative merit of his Political Essays and his Metaphysical Spe- 
 culations, is one of the strongest examples of the mistaken 
 judgments which authors are apt to form of their own wri- 
 tings. His Political Dissertations, published above sixty 
 years ago, enjoy at this day an extensive and permanent re- 
 putation : they abound with the most solid instruction ; and 
 have served as the basis of that enlarged sj'stem of policy,, 
 which comiects the Avelfare of every nation with tlie prosjie- 
 
 rity
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 10.5 
 
 rity of all its surrounding states. To his Fhilosophi/, deem- ^^- "^■ 
 ed by him of a more durable nature, we sec no reasonable 
 grounds for assigning a more lasting empire, than has been 
 the lot of the once equally celebrated systems of Malc- 
 branche, Leibnitz, and Berkeley. 
 
 Vol. T. O chap.
 
 106 
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 il/r Homv ynarried in 1741. — His mode of life in town. — His 
 occupations in the country. — Dictionary of Decisions. — Mr 
 Home's early political opinions. — Essays on British Antiqui- 
 ties. — On the Feudal Law. — On the Constitution of Parlia- 
 ment. — On Honour, Dignity, and Succes.sion. — On Heredi- 
 tary and Indefeasible Right. — Correspondence with David 
 Hume. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 ' ^ ' 
 
 Mr Home 
 married ia 
 1741. 
 
 Mr Home was married in 1741, to IMiss Agatha Drum- 
 MOND, a younger daughter of James Drummond, Esq; of 
 Blair, in the count}^ of Perth. Their union was the result of 
 mutual esteem, and a perfect knowledge of each other's cha- 
 racter, founded on a long and intimate acquaintance. JSIrs 
 Home was endowed with an excellent understanding, and an 
 enlightened and solid judgment in the conduct of life, with 
 much sweetness of temper and gentleness of manners. With 
 a remarkable diifidcnce in her own abilities, she possessed 
 a natural good taste ; and though superior to the affecta- 
 tion of shining as a wit, she had an uncommon share of 
 humour, an acute discernment of characters, and was not in- 
 disposed
 
 AND WRITINGS Or LORD KAMES. 107 
 
 disposed in the company of intimate friends to indulge a c^hap . iv.^ 
 playful vein of satire on the lighter weaknesses, or ludicrous 
 absurdities that came under her view. But this talent was 
 rarely displayed, and ever under the regidation of good man- 
 ners, and the better restraint of a humane and benevolent 
 heart. In the management of her household, where it was 
 the more becoming in her to attend to economy, that her 
 husband's turn for hospitality, and her own sense of what 
 was suitable to the rank tlu>y occupied in life, rendered it 
 necessary to maintain a handsome and liberal establishment, 
 Mrs Home's conduct was a model of propriety. Abridging 
 every superfluous expence, indulging in none of the frivolous 
 gratifications of vanity, but studious alone of uniting the real 
 comforts of life with that modest measure of external show 
 which the station of a gentleman demands, she kept an ele- 
 gant but simple table, at which the guests of her husband 
 met always with a cheerful welcome. In the earlier period 
 of Mr Home's married life, attention to economy Avas a ne- 
 cessary duty : and he found in his partner that excellent 
 good sense and discretion, which felt it no sacrifice to con- 
 form their mode of living to the just bounds of their income. 
 I have from Mr Drummond Home the following anecdote, 
 which, as he justly observes, is illustrative of the characters 
 both of his father and mother. " Mrs Home, who had a 
 " taste for every thing that is elegant, was passionately fond 
 " of old china ; and soon after her marriage, had made such 
 *' frequent purchases in that way, as to impress her husband 
 
 2 " with
 
 108 TVIF.MOIKS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 " with some little a{)preliensions of her extraxngance. But 
 " how to cure her of this propensity was the question. Af- 
 " ter some consideration, he devised an ingenious expedient. 
 " He framed a Avill, bequeathing to liis spouse the whole 
 " china that should be found in his possession at his death ; 
 " and this deed he immediately put into her own hands. 
 " The success of the plot was complete : the lady was cured 
 " from that moment of her passion for old china. This little 
 " pious fraud Mr Home was Avont frequently to mention 
 " with some exultation ; but it was not so much the effect, 
 " as the ingenuity of the stratagem, that touched him. For, 
 " as it commonly happens that Ave value ourselves most on 
 " those talents Ave least possess, it Avas amusing to see a 
 " person of his artless character pique himself on his Jinesse, 
 " though, in fact, nothing Avas more foreign to his na- 
 " ture*." 
 
 But 
 
 * The observation of Mr Drummond Home on this little anecdote is per- 
 fectly just, if hy Jinesse we understand that species of selfish artifice ■which is 
 the main constituent of the character of a worldly politician ; for there cer- 
 tainly never existed a character more completely free of that dishonourable 
 ingredient than the person here alluded to : but I differ from the opinion of 
 my respectable friend, in deeming the ingenuity of the artifice here mention- 
 ed, to be foreign to Mr Home's nature ; for it appears to me to be a happy il- 
 lustration of his father's intimate knowledge of the human mind, and his dis- 
 cernment of the power of the passions to balance and restrain each other's 
 operation ; qualities on which he might be allowed to pique himself with 
 good reason.
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD ICAMKS. 109 
 
 But M-ith this laudable attention to economy, Mr Home's 
 
 CH\P. IV. 
 
 mode of living Avas consistent with every rational enjoy- His mode of 
 ment of social and polished life. He had accustomed him- 
 self from his earliest years to a regular distribution of his 
 time ; and, in the hours dedicated to serious occupation, it 
 was no light matter that ever made him depart from his or- 
 dinary arrangements. The day was devoted chietly to ])ro- 
 fessional duties. He had always been in the habit of rising 
 early ; in summer between five and six o'clock ; in winter, 
 generally two hours before day-break. This time was spent 
 in preparation for the ordinary business of the Court ; in 
 reading his briefs, or in dictating to an amanuensis. The 
 forenoon was passed in the Court of Session, which, at that 
 time, commonly rose soon after mid-day ; thus allowing an 
 hour or two before dinner for a walk with a friend. In town, 
 he rarely either gave or accepted of invitations to dinner ; 
 as the afternoon was required for business and study. If 
 the labovu's of the day Avere Carly accomplished, and time 
 was left for a party at cards before supper, he joined the 
 ladies in the drawing-room, and partook with great satisfac- 
 tion in a game of whist, which he played well ; though not 
 always with perfect forbearance, if matched Avith an unskil- 
 ful partner : yet even these little sallies of temper were 
 amusing, and seasoned with so nmch good humour, that they 
 rather pleased than offended the person who was their ob- 
 ject. At other times, he was not unfrequently seen of an 
 evening at the theatre, the concert, or assembly-room ; 
 
 and.
 
 110 
 
 SOOK I. 
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 and, possessing to a wonderful degree the power of dischar- 
 ging his mind of every thing that was not in consonance 
 with his present occupations, he partook Avith the keenest 
 rehsh in the annisements of the gay circle which surrounded 
 him. It was delightful to see the man of business and the 
 philosopher mingling not only with complacence, but with 
 ease, in the light and trivial conversation of the beau monde, 
 and rivalling in animation and vivacity the sprightliest of the 
 votaries of fashion, whose professed object is pleasure, and 
 the enjoyment of the passing hour. The evening was gene- 
 rally closed by a small domestic party ; Avhere a few of his 
 intimate friends, assembled for the most part without invita- 
 tion, found a plain but elegant little supper ; and where, en- 
 livened often by some of Mrs Home's female acquaintance, 
 the hours were passed in the most rational enjoyment of sen- 
 sible and spirited conversation, and easy social mirth, till af- 
 ter midnight. — Such was the tenor of Mr Home's life, while 
 engaged in the most extensive business as a barrister ; and 
 such, with little variation in the distribution of his time, it 
 continued to be after his promotion to the Bench. 
 
 His occupa- 
 tions in the 
 country. 
 
 The seasons of vacation were usuall}^ spent in the coun- 
 try; and with no other interruption to his hours of study, 
 than his favourite agricultural pursuits, and rural improve- 
 ments demanded. Inheriting a paternal estate, which, from 
 the indolence of his predecessors, he found in a very waste 
 and unproductive condition, he began early to turn his at- 
 tention
 
 AND Writings of lord kames. Ill 
 
 tention to agriculture as a science : and living in a quarter 
 of the country bordering on England, he had the opportu- 
 nity of observing the effects of a better system of farming, 
 which he was among the first of the Scottish gentry to emu- 
 late in his own practice, and endeavour to luring into general 
 use. In these pursuits he found a pleasing variety of em- 
 ployment, and an useful recreation from his sedentary occu- 
 pations ; and prosecuting with ardour, as was the turn of his 
 mind, every thing in which he engaged, it Avas his custom 
 to oversee in person the operations of his fann-servants, and 
 to spend every day some hours with them in the fields in di- 
 recting, and even aiding their labours. One day a country 
 gentleman of his neighbourhood coming to dine with him at 
 Kames, found him in the fields, hard at Avork in assisting 
 his men to clear the stones from a new inclosurc *. It Avas 
 after his promotion to the rank of Judge. His neighbour 
 attended him for some time, with labouring steps, and much 
 inward impatience, till summoned by the bell for dinner. 
 " Well, My Lord," said he, " you have truly wrought for your 
 " meal : — and pray let me ask you, how much you think 
 " you will gain by that hard labour at the end of the 3'^ear r" 
 — " AVhy really, my good Sir," replied the other, " I never 
 " did calculate the value of my labour : but one thing I will 
 " venture to assert, that no man who is capable of asking 
 " that question, will ever deserve the name of a. farmer." 
 
 The 
 
 . * Rident vicini glebas et saxa rooventem. — HoR. Eptst. 14. 
 
 CHAP. IV.
 
 112 MEMOIRS OP THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK^^ The anecdote is characteristic of a great proportion of the 
 Scottish country gentlemen at that period ; and I fear we 
 must with shame acknowledge, that the same spirit is not at 
 all unknown in our own times among the same class of men. 
 In fact, Mr Home was convinced that our inferiority to our 
 southern neighbours, in this most valuable of all arts, was 
 much less to be attributed to the difference of soil and cli- 
 mate, than to the indolence of the landholders, the obstinate 
 indocility of the peasantry, and the stupid attachment of 
 both classes to antient habits and practices. For the re- 
 moval of these impediments, he saw that the only remedy 
 must be the successful example of a better system ; and this 
 he determined to shew in the management of his own lands, 
 with a resolution and perseverance that did him honour, and 
 which he had the satisfaction to see produce at length a great 
 and general change in the agriculture of Scotland. But on 
 this subject, I shall have a better opportunity afterwards of 
 enlarging. 
 
 It was chiefly during the vacation, and in the uninter- 
 rupted leisure he found in the country, that Mr Home was 
 employed in the composition of those various works which 
 he has left to posterity. Of these the most extensive and 
 laborious are what relate to jurisprudence, and particularly 
 the law of his own country, which he constantly regarded as 
 his primary object. 
 
 In
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 
 
 113 
 
 In 1741, he published, in two vohuncs foho, The DeciHwin 
 of the Court of Session from its institution to the present time, 
 abridged and digested under p7'oper heads, in the form of a 
 Dictionary ; a composition of great labour, the fruit of many 
 years, and a work of the highest utility to the profession of 
 the law in Scotland. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 Dictionary 
 of Decisions 
 of the Court 
 of Session. 
 
 Before this time, the Reports of the judgments of the Su- 
 preme Court had not only never been methodized and classi- 
 fied ; but the greater part of them being unprinted, were to 
 be found only in a few manuscript collections, which were 
 neither easily accessible to the practitioner, nor could be 
 perused or consulted Avithout much unpleasant laliour. 
 Hence the train of precedents Avas very imperfectly known 
 either to the practitioners, or to the Judges themselves ; and 
 the common law of the country, which is the creature of pre- 
 cedent or usage, was, of course, most uncertain and fluc- 
 tuating. No undertaking, therefore, could be more benefi- 
 cial than that which should simply exhibit the whole train of 
 the judgments of the Court, in a regular and connected series, 
 and in an abridged form, without that prolix detail of fact 
 and argument which loads the original Reports. But the 
 Dictionary of Decisions has, along with this useful purpose, 
 a still higher aim. The plan of the compilation is scientific, 
 and affords a strong proof of the ingenuity of its author, and 
 his habit of conducting all his researches according to syste- 
 matic arrangement, and a philosophical reference to general 
 
 Vol. I. P principles.
 
 114 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK I. principles. The classification of the Reports in the Dic- 
 tionary is regulated by the ratio decidendi, or rule of law on 
 which the judgment rests. Every head or title, therefore, is 
 an illustration of some legal principle, by a series of ad- 
 judged cases regularly methodized ; which, by their order 
 and connexion, exhibit a clear analysis of the general doc- 
 trine, and reconcile all its apparent anomalies. Thus, the 
 Dictionary of Decisions is not only to be valued as a great 
 collection of authorities or precedents drawn from the prac- 
 tice of the Court, and therefore of consummate utility to the 
 barrister and practitioner, in the daily course of business, 
 but is fitted, from the nature of its plan, to furnish instruction 
 in the law as a science. The examination of various cases, 
 which turn upon one common ratio decidendi, familiarizes the 
 mind, in all points of doubt, to recur immediately to a prin- 
 ciple ; and this habit of reference will not only be found of the 
 utmost benefit when any abstruse or intricate question is the 
 subject of discussion ; but it tends, from the agreeable and vi- 
 gorous exercise it afibrds to the intellectual powers, to give 
 to jurisprudence that dignity as a science which it merits, 
 and to render the study of the laws, instead of a servile 
 drudgery, the manly employment of a philosophic mind. 
 
 Yet from the very circumstance of the scientific arrange- 
 ment of this work, it was to be expected that the order of 
 the cases should not in every instance appear the most na- 
 tural and obvious to the class of ordinary practitioners, who 
 
 consult
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LO«U KAMES. 115 
 
 consult the Dictionary of Decisions only as a magazine of ^■i^'^P- iv 
 precedents, and whose turn of mind is seldom fitted to de- 
 velope a systematic analysis. Nor, indeed, can it well be 
 denied, that the ingenuity of the plan, while it recommends 
 the work the more to the man of science, and the intelligent 
 student of jurisprudence, does, in some degree, impair its 
 more general utility. But to this it can only be answered, 
 that such were the author's views ; the work took its sti-uc- 
 ture from the turn of his own mind ; and it was to the latter 
 class of readers that he chose to adapt his labours, in prefe- 
 rence to the more numerous order of mere routine practi- 
 tioners. Such as he chose to make it, the work is of great 
 and general benefit in the profession of the Scottish law. It 
 has tended, more than any other of the writings of our 
 lawyers, to mature the system of our jurisprudence ; and has 
 had the inestimable advantage, in a country where the sta- 
 tute-law lies within a very narrow compass, and is therefore 
 often inapplicable to the diversity of cases, of reducing the 
 practice of the Court to a degree of uniformity which sup- 
 plies the defect of positive statute, and gives to the common 
 law that just weight which it can derive only from the stabi- 
 lity and certainty of its decisions *. 
 
 P 2 From 
 
 * A Supplement, of two additional volumes, was added to the Dictionary of 
 Decisions, by the writer of these Memoirs, to whom the task was committed 
 by Lord Kames himself, and carried on under his own eye.
 
 116 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 Mr Home's 
 early politi- 
 cal opinions. 
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 From the period of the Revolution, which was not, in Scot- 
 land, as in England, the fruit of a coalescence, but, on the 
 contrary, of a complete separation of parties, a great pro- 
 portion of the Scottish gentry had retained a strong attach- 
 ment to the exiled family; and, from the year 1715 down- 
 wards, when an active attempt was made in favour of the 
 Pretender, which proved abortive, rather from accidental cir- 
 cumstances than from the vigour of the existing govern- 
 ment, the design of re-establishing James on the throne ot 
 his ancestors was secretly cherished, and a train of measures 
 laid for that more formidable effort which was made in 
 1745. 
 
 The principles of Mr Home's family were Jacobitish ; and 
 while a young man, it is probable, that from a very natural 
 prejudice, he gave an easy assent to the political opinions 
 which he heard daily inculcated and approved : but a little 
 reflection sufficing to convince him, that the foundation of 
 all regular government, is the free consent of the people go- 
 verned, he very early embraced the rational persuasion, that 
 it is the duty of every good man to endeavour, both by his 
 example and active influence, to maintain the public tran- 
 quillity under a government to which the great majority of 
 a nation is disposed to yield a willing obedience. 
 
 Essays on During the Rebellion in 1745 and 1746, the disorders of 
 
 British An- ° _ 
 
 tiquities. the country occasioned a suspension of judicial procedure in 
 
 the
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 117 
 
 the northern part of the kingdom ; the Court of Session not 
 meeting for a period of eleven months *. In that interval, 
 Mr Home sought a useful employment for his mind in va- 
 rious researches connected with the history, laws, and an- 
 cient usages of his country ; and conceiving the general result 
 of his incjuirics to be favourable to the important end of re- 
 conciling those unhappy differences of opinion, he digested 
 them into a small Treatise, which he published in the year 
 1747j under the title of Essays upon several Subjects concern- 
 ing British Antiquities. The work consists of five short Dis- 
 sertations : 
 
 1. On the Introduction of the Feudal Law.. 
 
 2. On the Constitution of Parliament. 
 
 3. On Honour and Dignity. 
 
 4. On Succession or Descent. 
 
 5. Appendix on the Hereditary and Indefeasible Right of 
 
 Kings. 
 
 These 
 
 * The Court of Session rose, for the autumn vacation, on the 1st of August 
 1745. On the Sth of that month, accounts arrived in Edinburgh that the 
 Pretender had landed in the Western Highlands a few days before. By act 
 19th Geo. II. c. 7., the Court of Session, which ought to have met on the 1st 
 of November, was declared to stand adjourned from that day to the 1st of 
 June 1746,, on the narrative, that the rebels were in possession of the city of 
 Edinburgh, where the King's signet was kept, and that the Judges and other 
 members of the Court were prevented from doing their duty, by the disor- 
 derly state of the country. 
 
 CHAP. IV.
 
 118 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 These Essays are not of equal merit. The first and second 
 contain some curious and important deductions illustrative 
 of the rise and growth of the British Constitution : the third 
 and fourth, though exhibiting a great deal of ingenious rea- 
 soning, are built almost entirely on hypothesis ; and in the 
 last, though the general train of argument is sound and con- 
 vincing, the author is sometimes in hazard of pushing his 
 conclusions to an extreme more dangerous than the conse- 
 quences resulting from the principles combated. 
 
 On the Feti- With regard to the Feudal Law, that singular fabric, whose 
 
 dal Law. ® ' & > 
 
 origin, notwithstanding the elaborate researches of a Pas- 
 QUiER, a Mably, and a Montesquieu, will perhaps for 
 ever remain a problem ; Mr Home is of opinion that it was 
 introduced into Scotland, not, as the most of our national 
 antiquaries have supposed, by Malcolm II., but above sixty 
 years afterwards by Malcolm III. ; and was therefore pro- 
 bably borrowed from England, where it had been adopted 
 by his cotemporary sovereign William, from the usages of 
 his countrymen the Normans. Mr Home's argument to 
 prove that the Leges Malcolmi, in which the feudal insti- 
 tutions are frequently referred to, are the compilation of a 
 later age than that of Malcolm II., is quite convincing : for 
 those laws mention the titles of Earl and Baron, and specify 
 the offices of Chancellor ^ Coroner, and others, which we know 
 for certain to be of a much later date and posterior insti- 
 tution to the reign of IMalcolm II. But the argument has 
 
 not
 
 AND ^VRITINCS OF LORD KA,MES. 
 
 not the same force to prove that the feudal usages were ac- 
 tually introduced by Malcolm III. : for a writer whose opi- 
 nions on points of this nature are of greater weight than 
 those of any other Scottish anticjuary, I mean my Lord 
 Hailes, has put an end to all inference or conclusion drawn 
 from the Leges Malcolmi, by proving that work to be an en- 
 tire fabrication, the code of laws of no sovereign whatever, 
 (the style being historical, not statutory), and the whole pro- 
 bably the compilation of some ignorant individual, who had 
 not ability sufficient to adapt his compositions to the man- 
 ners or the language of the age to which he wished to assign 
 them *. The precise era, therefore, of the introduction of 
 feudalism in Scotland, must remain, after all, a matter of 
 conjecture ; and we own, that Mr Home has argued with 
 sufficient probability, that that system was adopted by the 
 Scots from England, soon after its establishment in the latter, 
 kingdom by the Conqueror. 
 
 11<J 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 In the Essay on the Constitution of Parliament, the author 
 shews the national council to be the natural growth of the 
 feudal subordination, and its members originally to have 
 been the vassals of the sovereign, bound by their allegiance 
 to attend in the court of their over-lord, to assist him in ad- 
 ministering justice, and enforcing good order in the commu- 
 nity. He traces the gradual progress of their function, 
 
 which, 
 
 On the Con^ 
 stitution of 
 Parliament. 
 
 * See Inquiry into the Authenticitji of Leges Malcolmi, by Lord Hailes.
 
 ., • MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 wliicli, from a duty cind service often regarded as a burden, 
 became in time an important and envied privilege ; and, in 
 the course of this disquisition, he notices many particulars, 
 highly deserving the attention both of the.historian and poli- 
 tical inquirer : as, for example, the causes which led to the se- 
 paration of the two Houses in the Parliament of England, and 
 the effects thence resulting, on the constitution of the English 
 Government, as discriminated from that of Scotland, where 
 the division of Lords and Commons into separate deliberative 
 bodies never took place. The author shews very distinctly, 
 that the fabric of the Scottish Parliament gave the King a 
 powerful influence on its enactments, and control over its 
 deliberations ; but he omits the just inference which may 
 hence be drawn in favour of the Sovereigns, that the wisdom 
 of their laws, and the general equity of their administration 
 prove, that they did not abuse their power. 
 
 On Honour 
 and Dignity, 
 —and on 
 Succession. 
 
 The Essai/s on Honour and Dignity, and on Succession, 
 contain much ingenious reasoning, but are unsatisfying to the 
 mind, from the want of a sufficient basis of historical fact, and 
 from a too frequent recurrence to hypothetical assumptions, 
 "i'lie want of authenticated facts must often be felt in all dis- 
 cjuisitions on the origin of antient institutions ; and the wri- 
 ter is not to be blamed who reasons at times from probabi- 
 lities, in support of a theory which is founded at least in part 
 on demonstrative proofs : But we cannot easily admit, that 
 a theory from which conclusions are deduced of the greatest 
 
 importance
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 121 
 
 importance to the good order of society, should principally 
 rest upon mere conjectures, or seek its chief support from 
 analogical inference. That hypothesis, for example, ought 
 to have a surer foundation than conjecture, from \vhich such 
 conclusions are drawn, as, That the King is not the fountain 
 of honour, and That the power of bestowing titles of dignity, 
 independent of land or office, is an irregular exercise of the 
 Royal prerogative. — We see the importance of settling the 
 rules of succession on some fixed principles of the law of na- 
 ture ; but we cannot acquiesce in the fanciful analogy dis- 
 covered between the tendency of all bodies to move forward 
 in a straight line, and the process of the mind, in preferring 
 a direct series of heirs in descent, however remote, to the 
 nearer relations in the ascending series. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 'O 
 
 In the last Essay, the author treads on dangerous ground, On Hered!- 
 when he attempts to weaken the foundation of hereditary defeasible 
 
 succession to the Regal office ; for the British Constitution, 
 of which he professes a just admiration, rests on that funda- 
 mental principle, which was acknowledged, and even in ex- 
 press terms confirmed by the Act of Settlement at the Re- 
 volution. He is better founded in his attack upon the ex- 
 travagant doctrine of Divine and Indefeasible Right; and 
 his questions are pertinent and unanswerable, when he asks 
 its blinded supporters, " Where is the necessity for God's ex- 
 " traordinary interposition, by granting his immediate com- 
 " mission to kings, when in other matters he chooses to go- 
 VoL. I. . Q " vern 
 
 Right.
 
 122 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK. I. 
 
 v/— -/ 
 
 " vern the av orld hy second causes and ordinary means ? 
 " Why should we suppose that mankind are deprived of 
 " their natural privilege of choosing their First Magistrate, 
 " more than of choosing those that are subordinate ? Where 
 " is this commission recorded ? Is it given to all chief rulers, 
 " whether they have the name of King or any other title ? 
 " Was this commission given to all the Crown-vassals in 
 " France, Dukes, Earls, Barons, who for many ages pos- 
 " sessed a sovereignty within their own territories ? These 
 " are puzzling questions ; and it would require an express 
 " revelation to put an end to them." — But even on these 
 topics, the greatest caution is required in the management 
 of the argument : For the object being to maintain the peace 
 and good order of the community, the hazard in pushing too 
 far the defeat of the principles of passive obedience is, that 
 we counteract that very end, by teaching the subject that it 
 is lawful to resist, whenever he conceives himself aggrieved. 
 Salus populi, siiprema lex *, is just, as a general maxim : but 
 who is to determine, in doubtlul measures of government, 
 w^here hes the salus populi ; or how is the fair and unbiassed 
 sense of the nation on the tendency of such measures to be 
 collected ? If every individual arrogate to himself that li- 
 berty of judgment, and power of acting in consequence, there 
 is an end of all government whatever. The general doc- 
 trines of this Essay Avere more seasonable in the times Avhen 
 
 it 
 
 * " The good of the people is paramount to all law."
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 
 
 it was written, than in the present day, when the danger 
 chiefly to be a[)prehended is from the abuse of the opinions 
 here supported, not those which the author has successfully 
 combated. 
 
 123 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 Mr Home's correspondence with his friend David Humr 
 had been interrupted for a considerable time ; but was re- 
 sumed in 1745, on occasion of a scheme proposed by the 
 friends of that gentleman for obtaining for him the Profes- 
 sorship of Moral Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh, 
 then vacant by the resignation of Doctor (afterwards Sir 
 John) Pringle ; — a plan which proved abortive, from the un- 
 favourable impression the public had received of Mr Hume's 
 sceptical opinions, from the publication of the Treatise on 
 Human Nature. It is mortifying to remark, how uncertain 
 and precarious were the prospects of this eminent man ; 
 when, at the age of thirty-six, he appears to have hesitated 
 between the choice of a civil and of a military life, and was 
 willing to accept of the temporary employment of [nivate 
 secretary to General Sinclair, in an intended expedition 
 against Canada. In a letter to Mr Home from Portsmouth, 
 dated in 1746, he says : 
 
 Correfpond- 
 enco with 
 David Hume. 
 
 " As to myself, my way of life is agreeable ; and though 
 it may not be so profitable, as I am told, yet so large an 
 army as will be under the General's command in America, 
 must certainly render my perquisites very considerable. I 
 
 Q 2 have
 
 124 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK I. have been asked Avliether I would incline to enter into the 
 service ? My answer was, That at my years I could not de- 
 cently accept of a lower commission than a company. The 
 only prospect of working this point would be, to procure at 
 first a company in an American regiment, by the choice of 
 the colonies. But this I build not on, nor indeed am I very 
 
 fond of it. 1 like exceedingly your method of explaining 
 
 personal identity, as being more satisfactory than any thing 
 that had ever occurred to me *. As to the idea of substance, 
 I must own, that as it has no access to the mind by any of 
 our senses or feelings, it has always appeared to me to be no- 
 thing but an imaginary centre of union amongst the different 
 and variable qualities that are to be found in every piece of 
 matter. But I shall keep myself in suspense till I hear your 
 opinion. Adieu my dear friend. 
 
 D. H." 
 
 The projected expedition against Canada ended in an in- 
 cursion on the coast of France. The prospects of the philo- 
 sopher were as uncertain as ever : yet, with surprising equa- 
 nimity, he seems to have enjoyed the varied scenes in which 
 he was engaged ; still comforting himself with the thought, 
 
 that, 
 
 * Mr Home has treated this subject in his Essays on the Principles of Mo- 
 rality and Natural Religion; and has successfully shown the error of former 
 philosophers, particularly Mr Locke, in his reasoning on the foundation of 
 our belief of Identity.— i.w«yj on Frindples of Morality^ ^d edition, p. \\)1.
 
 AND WRITINGS Or LORD KAMF.S. 125 
 
 that, under every disappointment of his views of worldly ad- ^""'^ '^'• 
 vancement, a never-failing resource remained in the calm 
 pursuits of science and literature. A letter to Mr Home, in 
 1747, amidst some pleasing expressions of this lutppy turn 
 of mind, shews, that among other projects, he had, before 
 this time, conceived the design of some historical composi- 
 tion : 
 
 " Dear Sir, 
 
 " I am ashamed of being so long in writing to you. If I 
 should plead laziness, you would say I was much alter'd : 
 if multiplicity of business, you would scarce believe me : if 
 forgetfulness of you and our friendship, I should tell a gross 
 untruth. I can therefore plead nothing but idleness, and a 
 gay, pleasurable life, which steals away hour after hour, and 
 day after day ; and leaves no time for such occupations as 
 one's sober reason may approve most of. This is our case, 
 while on shore ; and even while on board, as far as one can 
 have much enjoyment m that situation. 
 
 " I wrote my brother from the coast of Brittany ; giving 
 him some account of our expedition, and of tiie causes of 
 our disappointment. I suppose lie received it after you had 
 left the country ; but I doubt not he has informed you of it. 
 We were very near a great success, the taking of L'Orient, 
 perhaps Port Louis, which would have been a prodigious 
 blow to France ; and, having an open coiumuuication with 
 
 the
 
 126 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 < ^ 
 
 BooKL |]jg ggjj^ might have made a great diversion of their forces, 
 and done great service to the common cause. I suppose 
 you are become a great General, by the misfortune of the seat 
 of war being so long in your neighbourhood. I shall be able 
 when Ave meet to give you the just cause of our failure. — 
 Our expedition to North America is now at an end ; we are 
 recalled to England ; the convoy is arrived, and we re-em- 
 bark in a few days. I have an invitation to go over to Flan- 
 ders with the General, and an offer of table, tent, horses, &c. 
 I must own I have a great curiosity to see a real campaign ; 
 but I am deterred by the view of the expence, and am afraid, 
 that living in a camp, Avithout any character, and without 
 any thing to do, would appear ridiculous. Had I any for- 
 tune which could give me a prospect of leisure, and oppor- 
 tunity to prosecute my historical projects, nothing could be 
 more useful to me ; and I should pick up more military 
 knowledge in one campaign, by living in the General's fa- 
 mily, and being introduced frequently to the Dukes, than 
 most officers could do after many years service. But to 
 what can all this serve ? I am a philosopher, and so, I sup- 
 pose, must continue. 
 
 " I am very uncertain of getting half-pay, from several 
 strange and unexpected accidents, which it would be too te- 
 dious to mention ; and if I get it not, shall neither be gainer 
 nor loser by the expedition. 1 believe, if I would have be- 
 gun the world again, I might have returned an officer, gratis ; 
 
 and
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 12/ 
 
 and am certain might have been made chaplain to a regi- "^^^- ^^'■ 
 
 ment gratis ; but * I need say no more. 
 
 I shall stay a little time in London, to see if any thing new 
 Avill present itself. If not, 1 shall return Aery cheerfully to 
 books, leisure, and solitude, in the country. An elegant table 
 has not spoilt my relish for sobriety ; nor gaiety for stiuly : 
 and frequent disappointments have taught me, that nothing 
 need be despaired of, as well as that nothing can be depend- 
 ed on. You give yourself violent airs of wisdom, you'll say, 
 Odi Iiominem ignavd opera, pli/losopliicd sententid. But you 
 will not say so, when you see me again with my Xenophon 
 or Polybius in my hand ; which, however, I shall willingly 
 throw aside to be cheerful with you, as usual. My kmd 
 compliments to Mrs Home, who, I am sorry to hear, has not 
 yet got entirely the better of her illness. I am, my dear 
 Sir, yours sincerely, 
 
 David Hume." 
 
 In another letter from IMr Hume, dated the same year, 
 which is chiefly relative to his private aflairs, he thus ex- 
 presses his opinion of the Essays on British Antiquities, then 
 recently published : " You have never spoke to me of the 
 " Essays on British Antiquities ; and therefore I should not 
 " in decency speak of them to you. But as it would be 
 
 " more 
 
 * This blank is in the manuscript. The reader will be at no loss to supply 
 it.
 
 128 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 « 
 
 " more indecent to employ a long letter in talking entirely 
 
 " of myself, I shall only say, that I read them with great 
 
 " satisfaction ; the reasonings are solid, the conjectures in- 
 
 " genious, and the whole instructive. The style is also very 
 
 " good ; correct and nervous, and very pure ; only a very 
 
 " few Scotticisms, as conform for conformable, which I re- 
 
 " marked. You do me the honour to borrow some princi- 
 
 " pies from a certain book : but I wish they be not esteem- 
 
 " ed too subtile and abstruse." 
 
 In the following year (1748), he thus writes to his friend 
 Mr Home, fi-om London, when preparing to set out for the 
 Continent with General Sinclair, whom he attended as Se- 
 cretary, in his embassy to the Courts of Vienna and Turin : 
 
 " Dear Sir, London, Feb. 9- 1748. 
 
 *' The doubt and ambiguity with which I came hither was 
 soon removed. General Sinclair positively refused to accept 
 of a Secretar}"^ from the Ministry ; and I go along with him 
 in the same station as before. Every body congratulates me 
 upon the pleasure I am to reap from this jaunt : and really 
 I have little to oppose to this prepossession, except an in- 
 ward reluctance to leave my books, and leisure and retreat. 
 However, I am glad to find this passion still so fresh and en- 
 tire; and am sure, by its means, to pass my latter days 
 happily and cheertuUy, whatever fortune may attend me.
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 129 
 
 " T leave here two Avorks going on, a new edition of my "'^''-/^ 
 Essays, all of which you have seen, except one, of the Pro- 
 testant Succession, Avherel treat that subj(^ct as coolly and in- 
 differently, as I would the dispute betwixt Ciesar and Pojh- 
 pey. The conclusion shows me a A\'hig, but a very scepti- 
 cal one. Some people would frighten me with the conse- 
 quences that may attend this candour, considering my pre- 
 sent station ; but I own 1 cannot apprehend any thing. 
 
 " The other work is the PJiilosopJiical Essai/s, Avhicli you 
 dissuaded me from printing. I wont justity the prudence of 
 this step, any other way than by expressing my indiflerence 
 about all the consequences that may follow. 1 will expect 
 to hear from you ; as you may from me. Remember me to 
 Mrs Home, and believe me to be yours most sincerely, 
 
 David Hume." 
 
 " P. S. — We set out on Friday next for Harwich/^ 
 
 Vol. I. R CHAP.
 
 130 
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 il/r Homes metaphysical writings. — Essays on Morality and 
 Natural Religion. — Object and general scope of that Jiork. 
 — David Hume's System of Utility as the Foundation of Mo- 
 rals. — His opinions concerning Cause and Effect. — Objec- 
 tions to Mr Homes system. — His frequent rej'erence to 
 Final Causes. — His doctrines keenly attacked. — Illiberal at- 
 tempts to subject him to public censure. — The subject brought 
 before the General Assembly — And Presbytery of Edin- 
 burgh. —It is finally quashed. — Mr Home retracts some opi- 
 nions as erroneous. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 I ,; ' 
 
 Mr Home's 
 nietaphysi- 
 cal writings. 
 
 Essays on 
 Morality and 
 Natural Re- 
 ligion. 
 
 Amidst all the pressure of INIr Home's professional employ- 
 ment, when now at the head of the bar, he still found leisure 
 for those mctaph^^sical speculations to which his mind was 
 peculiarly turned. In the attentive examination which his 
 reo-ard for their author led him to bestow on the writings of 
 David Hume, he perceived a train of conclusions drawn by 
 that acute metaphysician, Avhich deeply aftbcted the great 
 interests of society, and seemed to shake the foundation of 
 the moral agency of man, and consequently both of his right 
 
 conduct
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LOUD KAMES. 
 
 conduct in the present life, aiul of liis l)est grounded hopes 
 of futurity. We see from a passage in the foregoing corre- 
 spondence, that he liad endeavoured to dissuade his friend 
 from publishing those I'/iilosophical Essaijs,'m wliieli the prin- 
 cipal doctrines of the Treatise on llununi Nature are clothed 
 in a more ornamented dress, and their perusal thus rendered 
 more hkely to be generally extended : and as his endeavours 
 had been unsuccessful for the suppression of those opinions, 
 it now became his earnest concern to counteract their per- 
 nicious intiuence, by exposing the error and sophistry of the 
 reasonings on which they are founded. This seems to have 
 been the main scope and purpose of a work which he pu- 
 blished in the year 17ol, entitled, E^sai/a on the Principles 
 of Moralitij and Natural Religion, 
 
 The object of this work, which though in the form of de- object and 
 tached disquisitions, has sufficient unity of design, is to fcTpeofthat 
 prove, that the great laws of morality, which influence the 
 conduct of man as a social being, have their foundation in 
 the human constitution ; and are as certain and innnutable 
 as those physical laws which regvdate the Avhole system of na- 
 ture : Hence he argues, that as a just survey of the natural 
 world, and an examination of the moral constitution of man, 
 furnish alike the most pregnant and convincing evidence of 
 order, harmony and beauty, which evince the utmost skill, 
 combined with the most benevolent design, Me are tlius ir- 
 
 K 2 resistiblv 
 
 work.
 
 132 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK I. resistibly led to the perception of a first cause, unbound- 
 ed in power, intelligence and goodness. 
 
 A work of this kind, involving a connected chain of argu- 
 ment on to]|3ics of the most abstruse nature, is no proper sub- 
 ject for analj^sis or abstract. Yet, it is not difficult to un- 
 fold in a few Avords the leading train of thought which runs 
 through these Essays, and indeed through the whole of Mr 
 Home's philosophical writings. 
 
 It appeared to him that the great error of philosophers lies in 
 the passion for simplifying the objects of their research, and 
 attempting to account for the whole fabric of the human mind, 
 and all the motives of conduct in man, by recurring to one 
 or to a few general laws, to which they endeavour to reduce 
 all the phenomena of our moral nature. Thus, the principles 
 of Self-love, of Universal Benevolence, of Sympathy, of Uti- 
 lity, of Consonance to the Divine Will, have, all in their 
 turn, been assigned by ingenious men as the sole foundation 
 of morality ; and elaborate works have been composed to 
 prove the universal and exclusive influence of each of those 
 ■ principles in the regulation of human conduct. It is the 
 purpose of the author of these Essays to demonstrate the 
 error and fallacy of all such narrow schemes ; to shew that 
 man, considered in a moral view, is a complicated being, ac- 
 tuated by various passions and affections ; and whose con- 
 duct is regulated, not by one, or even a fcAv, but by all of the 
 
 principles
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 
 
 I3t 
 
 principles before enumerated, and others, to the operation 
 of which the authors of those schemes have not attended : 
 that his actions are most frequently the combined result of 
 opposite springs, tempering and restraining each other's 
 power ; and that the moral feeling is a separate principle, of 
 which it is the function, to judge with unening rectitude of 
 all those motives to action, and direct the conduct of man 
 to one great and l^eautiful end, the utmost happiness of his 
 nature. 
 
 CILVP. V. 
 
 Amidst those simplifying and exclusive sj'stems, above 
 enumerated, the theory of David Hume, which assigns utili- 
 ty as the chief foundation of morals, is more peculiarly the 
 object of examination in this work ; as that which not only 
 has been supported with more ingenuity than any other, but 
 which appears to involve the most pernicious consequences ; 
 since it seems to annihilate all real distinction of right and 
 wrong in human actions, and to make the preference depend 
 on the fluctuating opinions of men Avith respect to the ge- 
 neral good. 
 
 D. Hume's 
 system of" 
 utility as the 
 foundation 
 of morals. 
 
 Thus, for example, that most essential of all our moral 
 feelings, and which has generally been assigned the first rank 
 among the principles of our nature, the sentiment of Justice, 
 is by that author regarded as not even natural to man, or 
 founded on any immutable decisions of the moral sense ; but 
 is held to be merely the result of a tacit agreement for the 
 
 better
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 better regulation of human society, and founded entirely on 
 the notion of public interest, which requires its observance, 
 in order to give security to property. To refute this opinion, 
 Mr Home shews that it rests on the false assumption, that 
 in a state of nature there is no idea of property, and there- 
 fore, according to the philosopher's argument, no room for 
 the feeling of justice : but there being no state in which men 
 are assembled together, where there is not an acknowledged 
 relation between every individual and the fruits of his labour 
 and skill, the idea of property is coeval with society, and its 
 violation is universally attended with a feeling of breach of 
 duty, which is the sentiment o^ justice. 
 
 His opinions 
 concerning 
 Cause and 
 Effect. 
 
 But that doctrine of David Hume which appeared to the 
 author of the Essaijs on Morality, of all others the most dan- 
 gerous, is that which questions the reality of the connexion 
 between cause and effect, and which consequently tends to 
 invalidate every argument for the existence of God, drawn 
 from the works of Nature, as the effects of a designing 
 cause. This doctrine Mr Home has examined with the at- 
 tention it deserved ; and has brought the question to the on- 
 h^ termination it is perhaps capable of receiving. He has 
 shown, that although the connexion betwixt cause and ef- 
 fect is not demonstrable by reasoning or strict argument, we 
 are nevertheless equally assured of its reality ; of which we 
 possess a conviction similar to that we have of our own ex- 
 istence, and the existence of the material world ; neitiier of 
 
 which
 
 A'^^D WniTINGS OF LOKD KAMES. 135 
 
 which facts rests upon any other evidence tlian tliat of intui- ™^ ^'_^[j 
 tive perception, creating a beUcf that is irresistible, con- 
 stant and universah This belief, independent of demonstra- 
 tion, the author ascribes to an internal sense, or principle of 
 our constitution, Avhich he asserts to be more authoritative 
 in operating conviction than the strictest demonstration : ^YC 
 spurn at all idea of questioning its decisions ; we admit 
 them at once as selt-evident propositions. That our belief 
 of the existence of a Deity should rest ultimatel}' on this in- 
 ternal sense, is therefore, according to his notion, to assign 
 to it the surest of all foundations. We are not left tcr gather 
 our knowledge of this important proposition from a chain of 
 arguments, or any lengthened process of logical reasoning, 
 which would necessarily preclude the conviction of a great 
 proportion of mankind : The Deity has displayed himself to 
 all men, the ignorant as avcU as the learned. As we have an 
 intuitive perception of the connexion of cause and eflcct ; 
 so we have nearly the same evidence for the existence of a 
 Deity, that we have for our own existence. 
 
 But although the author of these Essays has successfuU}- Objections to 
 shewn, that the passion for simplification has led other phi- system. 
 losophers to found their theories of morals on too naiTow a 
 basis, it has been objected, with some appearance of reason, 
 that he himself has erred on the other hand, in multiplying 
 unnecessarily the motives of conduct, and in assigning to se- 
 parate and distinct original principles of our nature, many 
 
 of
 
 136 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 ^^1^ I ^^ those moral phenomena, which a stricter analysis, and 
 more profound investigation, has shewn to be reducible to 
 one and the same general law ; and that thus the prop;ress 
 of science, whose aim is to ascend from the apparent variety 
 of phenomena to primary and ultimate facts, has been re- 
 tarded, instead of being advanced, by such inquiries. It 
 may, however, be observed, that this objection is truly 
 founded on a petitio principii ; as it takes for granted the 
 very thing to be proved, namely, that there are principles of 
 a more general and ultimate nature, than those to which Mr 
 Home has attributed the various modifications of human 
 conduct : a fact which those who subscribe to his philo- 
 sophy will not admit, and which they maintain he has suc- 
 cessfully disproved. 
 
 Moreover, there seems to be no just ground for assuming 
 it as an axiom. That any science is more advanced by tra- 
 cing the whole of its doctrines to a single principle, or to 
 a very few, than by referring them to a greater number; 
 provided we attain to an equal certainty of their true foun- 
 dation. It is truth alone, and not the simplification of the 
 objects of our knowledge, that ought to be the end of our 
 researches. The science of anatoniy is not less the object of 
 rational and successful study, that the structure of the hu- 
 man body, and the exercise of the animal functions, depend 
 not on one or a few principles oi motion, or properties of 
 
 matter,
 
 AND WRITINGS OT LORD KAMES. 
 
 137 
 
 matter, but on many coml)ined powers, and on the opera- ^"^''- ^■ 
 tion of various physical laws. 
 
 A remarkable feature of Mr Home's philosophy, and con- ^''} frequent 
 
 reference to 
 
 spicuous in most of the works Avhich he composed, is the 
 constant reference to Final Causes ; and he has on this ac- 
 count shared more liberally than most other writers, in the 
 censure which it has become fashionable to bestow on that 
 mode of argument *. With respect to the work of which we 
 now treat, it must certainly be allowed, that if we are at all 
 entitled to infer a benevolent design in the fabric of the uni- 
 verse, from investigating the various means employed to ac- 
 complish useful ends, there does not occur a more convin- 
 cing evidence of that design in any of the works of Nature, 
 than in the moral structure of man, whether we consider the 
 various faculties and powers of the mind, or the complicated 
 system of the passions and affections. On this great argu- 
 ment of the Divine Wisdom and Goodness, Mr Home has 
 enlarged with a becoming earnestness, and displayed in 
 many passages of this work a warm and energetic elocution ; 
 
 which 
 
 FinalCauscs. 
 
 * On this interesting topic, the argument from Final Causes, it might be 
 considered an unseasonable interruption to enlarge further in this place : but 
 as that argument was particularly cherished by Mr Home, and as the subject 
 is, in itself, of the utmost importance, I trust I shall not be blamed for the 
 short discussion which the reader will find in NO. III. of the Appendix. 
 
 Vol. I. S
 
 138 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 , BOOK I. ^ which is the more impressive, that he has but rarely indul- 
 ged himself in that strain of writing *. 
 
 His doc- The Essays on Moralitti and Natural ReHmon, were fitted 
 
 trines keenly "^ ^ _ ^ 
 
 attacked. to cxcite the pubhc attention, from the importance of their 
 
 topics, and the ingenuity displayed in treating them ; but 
 the author certainly could not have foreseen, that a work, 
 professing to place the principles of morals on an immutable 
 basis, to enforce the proofs of the existence and attributes 
 of the Deity, and to combat the doctrines of the sceptical 
 philosophy, and expose its pernicious tendency, was destined 
 to draw upon him the reproach of scepticism and impiety. 
 Yet such was the effect of its perusal on the minds of many 
 well-meaning men, who, from the force of early prejudice, 
 looked Avith a jealous eye on all freedom of inquiry, and 
 were taught to brand Avith the name of heterodoxy every de- 
 viation from certain canons of opinion to which they had 
 subjected their reason -f. Mr Home had treated at consi- 
 derable 
 
 * I have heard it asserted, that the prayer with which the Author con- 
 cludes his Essays on Morality and Natural Religion, was the composition of 
 his friend Dr Blair,, the ingenious author of Lectures on Rhetoric, and whose 
 Sermons are a model of pulpit elocution ; but no sufficient authority was as- 
 signed for this report, nor does the composition in question bear any intrinsic 
 characters of a different pen from that of the author of the Essays. 
 
 f The reader will find a remarkable proof of this, in the letter from a 
 most respectable clergyman of the Established Church, Dr John Macfarlan, 
 
 author
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 339 
 
 derable length in tliekc Essa^^s the question of Free Will ; 
 and aware of the insuperable ditiiculty which attends the 
 unqualified adherence to either of the opposite opinions of 
 Liberty and Necessitij, had proposed a sort of conciliatory 
 medium, which he conceived to furnish a solution of the 
 contradictory phenomena. This is, That, according to the 
 tmth of things, the moral world and the physical are both 
 regulated by fixed laws ; and, as man acts from motives over 
 which he has no control, he is in the strictest sense impelled 
 by an unalterable necessity : yet this law of his conduct bet- 
 ing concealed from him, he acts with the conviction of being 
 a free agent ; and as his whole conduct is regidated by this 
 conviction, he is thus equally capable of virtue and vice, and 
 is equally an accountable being, as if his will were truly 
 free*. 
 
 These notions, which contain a mixture of truth and er* 
 ror, were attacked with great asperity by various writers. 
 
 S2 ^ The 
 
 author of Inquiries concerning the State of the Poor, &c. at NO. IV. of the 
 Appendix. 
 
 * From Mr Home's earnest desire of reconciling his belief in the scheme of 
 necessity with the moral agency of man, he was led to correspond with his 
 friend Dr Reid on that subject. The reader will find a letter at NO. V. of 
 the Appendix, which, while it distinctly states the opposite opinions of both, 
 on this important question, afibrds an excellent specimen of that union of lo- 
 gical precision with simplicity of language, which characterizes all the wri- 
 tings of that eminent metaphysician. 
 
 CHAP V.
 
 140 
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK. I. 
 ' ,/— > 
 
 The usual argument was urged, that by maintaining a fixed 
 necessity, both moral and physical, the author denied the 
 reality of the moral agency of man, and annihilated all true 
 and substantial distinction between vice and virtue ; while it 
 was asserted, that his notion of man's being endowed Avith a 
 fallacious sense of freedom of will, was a scheme unworthy 
 of the Pivine Nature ; and which in truth could not answer 
 the end proposed ; as it would still be inconsistent with the 
 justice of God, to hold his creatures accountable, though 
 they believed themselves voluntaiy agents, if in reality their 
 conduct were regulated by laws which they had no power to 
 counteract. 
 
 Illiberal at- 
 tempts to 
 subject him 
 to public 
 censure. 
 
 It might have been expected, that a question confessedly 
 of the most abstruse nature and difficulty of solution ,^ and 
 which accordingly has been abandoned as inexplicable by 
 men of the first rank in intellectual ability, should have been 
 agitated with that complacent forbearance for difference of 
 opinion, which a common feeling of the weakness of the hu- 
 man understanding is fitted to inspire. And among those 
 Avho judged the opinions contained in the work of which we 
 now treat to be desendng of a strict examination, it is with 
 pleasure Ave remark, that the author of FhUosophical Essays^, 
 
 (printed 
 
 * Mr James Balfour of Pilrig, Advocate, and Professor of Moral Philo- 
 sophy in the University of Edinburgh, — an ingenious, modest, and worthy man, 
 who spent a long life in the practice of those virtues which it was the object 
 
 of
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. r41 
 
 (printed at Edinburgh in 1768), has afforded an example of /"^p- "^-^ 
 a candid, hberal, and truly philosophic spirit of incjuiry. 
 But, unbecoming as it must undoubtedly be considered, it 
 has genei'ally been on questions of this nature, that the bit- 
 terest rancour of controversy has prevailed. Among Mr 
 Home's opponents were some persons of so intolerant a spi- 
 rit, that nothing less could satisfy their zeal, than the inter- 
 ference of ecclesiastical authority, to repress opinions which 
 they conceived to be contrary to the canons of the Establish- 
 ed Church, and subversive even of the fundamental prin- 
 ciples of religion. Of these the most distinguished Avas a 
 clergyman of the name of Anderson, who, in a volume enti- 
 tled, A71 Estimate of Religion *, attempted a refutation of 
 
 I\fr 
 
 of his writings to inculcate. He was elected to the Professorship of Morals 
 in 1754, on the death of Mr Cleghorn, who, in 174.5, had obtained that ap- 
 pointment for which Mr David Hume had oiFered himself a candidate. Mr 
 Balfour was the author likewise of a Deliiteatioji of Morality, and a small vo- 
 lume, entitled, Philosophical Dissertations. The principal object of these 
 works, is an examination of the doctrines contained in David Hume's Essay 
 on Human Nature, and his Inquiry concerning the Principles of Morals. The 
 strongest testimony to the merits of Mr Balfour is that of Mr Hume himself, 
 which the reader will find at NO. VI. of the Appendix. 
 
 * ^4n Esti?nate of the Profit and Loss of Religion, personally and puhlicly sta^ 
 ted : illustrated with references to Essays on Morality and Natural Religion, 
 Edinburgh, 1753. Its author, the Reverend George Anderson, had been an 
 army chaplain ; and in his latter years was chaplain to Watson's Hospital, 
 Edinburgh. He was a man of a bold spirit and irascible temperament ; of 
 
 considerable
 
 142 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 ^^ooK I. ]yj[.p Home's opinion, in a strain of coarse and vulgar ridicule, 
 and with a petulance and scurrility which disgraced the 
 cause he endeavoured to support. This publication was fol- 
 lowed by another, from a different pen, but in a similar 
 strain of composition, entitled, A?} Analysis of the Moral and 
 Religious Sentiments contained in tJie writings of Sojyho*, and 
 David Hume, Esq. ; addressed to the consideration of the Ge- 
 neral Assembly of the Church of Scotland, (1755). 
 
 The subject The alaiiTi thus sounded, and a conflict of a very unplea- 
 fore the Ge- sant nature being apprehended betAveen the Moderate and 
 senibly,— the Iligli-Church Party, in the Supreme Ecclesiastical Judi- 
 cature, which was then about to hold its annual meeting, 
 Mr Anderson's publications, and those of his partizans, at- 
 tracted a degree of notice which was not due to their merits. 
 The latter of the writings above mentioned Avas ansAvered 
 with temperate but forcible animadversion, in a pamphlet, 
 entitled. Observations on the Analysis, &c., Avhich Avas general- 
 ly attributed to the celebrated Dr Hugh Blair, Avho is be- 
 lieved likcAvise to have lent his aid in the composition of a 
 
 fomial 
 
 considerable learning and vigour of mind, but deficient in that acuteness of 
 talents which is fitted for metaphysical controversy. Besides the work men- 
 tioned in the text, he wrote some tracts against the Stage, and a Remonstrance 
 against Lord Viscount Boltngbroke's Philosophical Religion, Edinburgh, 1756. 
 
 * The name by which Mr Anderson chose to distinguish Mr Home in his 
 Estifnate,
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 143 
 
 formal reply made by Mr Home himself, under the title of 
 Objections against the Essays on Morality and Natural lleli- 
 gion examined, (Edin. 1756 *). A motion, however, was^ 
 made in the Committee for Overtures, of the General As- 
 sembly, that that body should take under their considera- 
 tion, " How far it was proper for them to call before them, 
 " and censure the authors of infidel books." This motion 
 occasioned a very warm debate in the committee ; but was 
 finally thrown out, by a vote which negatived the transmis- 
 sion of the overture to the Assembly -j-. 
 
 The 
 
 * The substance of this paxnphlet was afterwards engrossed by Mr Home 
 In the third edition of the Essajs on Morality, &c. 
 
 \ Although the object of this motion was understood to be a general cen- 
 sure, which should comprehend not only the philosophical writings of Mr 
 David Hume, but the doctrines of the Essays on Morality and Natural Reli- 
 gion^ it is supposed that a motive of decorum felt by the members of Assem- 
 bly, the respect due to the station which the author of the latter work now 
 filled, that of a Judge of the Supreme Court, was the reason that the former 
 of these writers alone was mentioned by name in the overture debated in the 
 committee, which bore in substance, that " The General Assembly, judging 
 " it their duty to do all in their power to check the growth and progress of 
 " infidelity ; and considering, that as infidel writings have begun of late years 
 <» to be published in this nation, so there is one person, styling himself David 
 " Hume, Esq; who hath arrived at such a degree of boldness, as" publicly to 
 <' avow himself the author of books containing the most rude and open at- 
 
 " tacks 
 
 CHAP. V.
 
 144 •MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK I. 'pj^g 2eal of Mr Anderson -svas not checked by this unsuc- 
 
 And Presby. ccssful experiment, but vented itself in a new endeavour to 
 
 tery of Edin- 
 burgh, rouse the spu'it ot intolerance. He gave in a Petition and 
 
 ^"^'^ifT'^^ Complaint to the Preshyterij of Edinburgh, in his own name, 
 and in name of all who chose to adhere to him, against the 
 printer and pubhshers of the Essays on the Principles of Mo- 
 rality 
 
 " tacks upon the glorious Gospel of Christ, and principles evidently subver- 
 " sive even of natural religion, and the foundations of morality, if not esta- 
 " blishing direct atheism : Therefore the Assembly appoint the following 
 
 " persons ■ as a committee, to in- 
 
 " quire into the writings of this author, to call him before them, and prepare 
 " the matter for the next General Assembly." 
 
 This motion was the subject of a very keen debate for two days in the com- 
 mittee. The argument which chiefly weighed for its rejection was, the dan- 
 ger of extending the influence of those very opinions which it was its object 
 to repress ; by exciting the public curiosity for the perusal of those writings, 
 rendering them the subject of general discussion in conversation, and encou- 
 raging the publication of defences, explanations and commentaries, which 
 would bring those topics to the level of common understandings, which at 
 present, from the abstract and metaphysical garb in which they were clothed, 
 were suited to the understanding only of a few philosophers. In conclusion, 
 an opposite resolution was moved, " That although all the members have a 
 " just abhorrence of any principles tending to infidelity, or to the prejudice of 
 " our holy religion ; yet, on account of certain circumstances in this case, 
 " they drop the overture, because it would not, in their judgment, serve the 
 " purpose of edification." The question being put. Transmit the overture to 
 the Assembly, or Not ? it passed in the negative, by a majority of fifty to 
 seventeen votes.
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 
 
 ralitij and Natural Religion *, requiring that the Presbytery 
 should summon them to appear before them, and declare 
 the name of" the author of that work, in order that he might 
 be censured, " according to the law of the Gospel, and the 
 " practice of this and all other well-governed Churches." 
 The persons complained against appeared by their counsel, 
 and gave in formal defences ; to which the petitioner Mr 
 Anderson obtained leave to reply ; but he died before the 
 next meeting of the Presbytery. The defendants, however, 
 waving all objection that might be pleaded from the want of 
 a prosecutor, consented to the Court giving judgment on the 
 merits of the case ; which, after undergoing a similar discus- 
 sion to that which had taken place before the Committee of 
 Assembly, terminated by a similar resolution rejecting the 
 complaint. 
 
 In the pamphlet before mentioned, entitled, Objections 
 against the Essai/s on Morality and Natural Religion exami- 
 ned, Mr Home entered at large into the defence of his opi- 
 nions on the subject of Liberty and Necessity ; and was at 
 pains to shew, that, so far from meriting the imputation of 
 maintaining heterodox tenets, his doctrine Avith respect to 
 the immutable necessity of human actions was strictly con* 
 
 sonant 
 
 Mr Home 
 retracts 
 some opi- 
 nions as er- 
 roneous. 
 
 * Messrs Fleming, printers, and Kincaid and Donaldson, booksellers iit 
 Edinburgh. 
 
 Vol. I. T
 
 146 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 sonant to that of the first Reformers, and was wan-anted by 
 the concurring sentiments ^f the most eminent of the Cal- 
 vinistic Divines*. It is presumable, however, that he had 
 all along entertained considerable doubt respecting that part 
 of his doctrine, which attributed the sense of freedom of ac- 
 tion to a delusion of the mind ; and on carefully reviewing 
 the subject, he found reason to alter that opinion, which had 
 afforded the chief handle of censure to his antagonists, and 
 candidly to acknowledge his error, in a subsequent edition 
 of his work f-. It is not the province of the biographer to 
 
 engage 
 
 * Calvin, Turrentine, Pictet, Edwards, &c. 
 
 f " I must acknowledge it," (says Mr Home), " to have been once my 
 " opinion. That there is in man a sense of being able to act against motives, or 
 " against our inclination and choice, commonly termed liberty of indifference. 
 " I was carried along in the current of popular opinion; and could not dream 
 " but that this sense really existed, when I foimd it vouched by so many 
 " grave writers. I had at the same time the clearest conviction, that man is 
 " a necessary agent ; and therefore justly concluded, that this sense must be 
 " delusive. I yielded to another popular opinion. That not only praise and 
 " blame, merit and demerit, as attributed to human actions, but also contri- 
 " tion and remorse, are inconsistent with necessity, and must be founded on 
 " the same delusive sense of liberty of indifference. From these premises, I 
 " was led, though reluctantly, to admit, that some of our moral- feelings and 
 " emotions must be founded on a delusion. I was sensible of the odium of 
 " a doctrine that rests virtue in any measure upon such a foundation ; but so 
 " firm is my reliance on Divine Wisdom in the formation of man, that I was 
 
 4 
 
 " not
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LOKD KAMES. 147 
 
 engafjc in a formal examination of all the doctrines of his .^"^^' ^- 
 author ; nor, in this particular instance, do I feel myself call- 
 
 T2 ed 
 
 *' not apprehensive of harm in adhering to truth, however unpalatable it 
 *' might be in some instances. Before a second edition was called for, I dis- 
 " covered fortunately that the feelings and 'emotions of the moral sense are 
 " perfectly consistent with moral necessity ; and I gladly laid hold of that 
 " opportunity to acknowledge my error. Having so far rescued the moral 
 " system from this pretended delusive sense, I was strongly inclined to think, 
 " that we had no notion of being able to act against motives ; and in the se- 
 " cond edition I ventured to say so. But upon reviewing the subject for 
 " the present edition, I clearly saw that we really have a notion of being 
 " able to act against motives ; which renewed my perplexity ; till it occur- 
 " red to me, that that notion is suggested by the irregular influence of pas- 
 " sion, and that we never have it in our cool moments -, consequently that it 
 " is not a delusion of nature, but of passion only. Candour I shall always 
 " esteem esential in addressing the public, no less than in private dealings ; 
 " and now I am happy in thinking, that morality rests on a foundation that 
 
 " has no delusion in it. In the second edition, however, there is ano- 
 
 " ther error that I was not able to disentangle myself from. In the Essay of 
 " liherty and Necessity, our notions of chance and contingency are held to be 
 " delusive ; and consequently that so far we are led by our nature to deviate 
 " from truth. It is a harsh doctrine, that we should be so led astray in any 
 " instance. As that doctrine never sat easy upon me, I discovered it also to 
 " be erroneous ; and the error is corrected in the present edition, where I 
 '* hope it is made clearly out, that the notion we have of chance and contin- 
 " gency, is entirely conformable to the necessary chain of causes and eiFects. 
 *' And now, rejoice with me, my good reader, in being at last relieved from 
 " so many distressing errors." Preface to the third edition oi Essays on the 
 Principles of Mcrality and Natural Religion, &c. (Edinburgh, 177y).
 
 148 
 
 MEMOIRS or THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 ed upon to offer any opinion, Avhether the new solution 
 Arhich ]\Ir Home has given in the later editions of the 
 Essays, be more free from objection, or better fitted to re- 
 move the difficulties attending this most intricate of que- 
 stions, than the scheme which he at first proposed. The sub- 
 ject itself, Ave have the best grounds for believing to be 
 above the reach of the human understanding ; (perhaps pur- 
 posely intended by our Creator to impress man with a just 
 sense of the limitation of the powers of his mind) ; and in- 
 stead of straining our faculties in a vain endeavour to com- 
 prehend, explain and reconcile its contradictory phenomena, 
 it were better at once to acquiesce in that conclusion which 
 one of the most subtile of metaph3^sicians has himself draAvn, 
 after a full statement of all that Avith certainty could be af- 
 firmed on the question of Liberty and Necessity : — " These 
 ' are mysteries Avhich mere natural and unassisted reason is 
 ' very unfit to handle ; and Avhatever system she embraces, 
 ' she must find herself involved in extricable difficulties, 
 ' and even contradictions, at every step Avhich she takes 
 ' with regard to such subjects. To reconcile the indiffe- 
 ' rence and contingency of human actions Avith prescience, 
 ' or to defend absolute decrees, and yet free the Deity 
 ' from being the author of sin, has been found hitherto to 
 ' exceed all the poAver of philosophy. Happy, if she be 
 ' thence sensible of her temerity, when she pries into these 
 ' sublime mysteries ; and leaving a scene so full of obscuri- 
 
 *' ties
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 
 
 « tics and perplexities, return, with suitable modesty, to her 
 
 " true and proper province, the examination of common 
 
 " life ; where she will find difliculties enow to employ her 
 
 " inquiries, Avithout launching ihto so boundless an ocean of 
 
 •< doubt, uncertaiiity and contradiction * !" 
 
 MEMOIRS 
 
 * David Hume's Essay on Liberty and Necessity.— £«flyj and Treatises 
 on several SuhJectSf vol. ii.
 
 MEMOIRS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 LIFE AND AYRITINGS 
 
 OF 
 
 LORD KAMES. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Mr Home appointed a Judge. — His character in that capa- 
 citif. — His patronage of literart/ merit. — State of Letters in 
 Scotland at this period. — Co/in Maclaurin.— First writers 
 who cultivated Sti/le. — Blackwell. — David Hume. — Dr Ro- 
 bertson. — Literary Societies. — The Rankenian Club. — The 
 Select Society. — Its injluence in promoting the literary spirit. 
 — The Philosophical Society. — Lord Kames's Essays 07i the 
 Laws of Motion. — His fiiendship with Adam Smith. — Dr 
 Robert Watson. — Dr Hugh Blair. — Professor John Millar. 
 
 In February 1752, Mr Home was appointed one of the chap. i. 
 Judges of the Court of Session, and took his seat on the ,7T^ 
 
 ° Mr Home 
 
 Bench on the 6th of that month, by the title of Lord appointed a 
 
 Judge. 
 
 Kames. This promotion was attended with the general sa- 
 tisfaction
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LItE 
 
 tisfaction of his country;, as he stood high in the pubhc 
 esteem, both on the score of his abihties and knowledge of 
 the laws, and his integrity and moral virtues *.. 
 
 His charac- 
 ter in that 
 capacity. 
 
 As a judge, his opinions and decrees were dictated by an 
 acute understanding, an ardent ffceling of justice, and a per- 
 fect acquaintance with the jurisprudence of his country, 
 which, notwithstanding the variety of pursuits in Avhich his 
 comprehensive mind had alternately found exercise, had al- 
 ways been his principal study, and the favourite object of 
 liis researches. 
 
 It might very naturally have been supposed, that the me- 
 taphysical bent of his understanding would have tinctured 
 his judicial opinions, with that refinement of argument, and 
 subtil ty of discrimination, which are the usual attendants of 
 such a habit of thinking : And peihaps, on a few occasions, 
 
 where 
 
 * Lord Deskfoord (Earl of Finlater) to Lord Kames, Wth February 
 \~b'Z : " I have several letters saying, that the country is greatly obliged to 
 " the Ministry for giving them so good a Judge. It has been remarked, that, 
 " without intervals of darkness, we should not be sensible of the benefit of 
 " light ; and that, were it not for the bad weather with which we are fre- 
 " quently visited, we should not have so sensible a pleasure in the serenity 
 " of a fine day. If Administration were always to do what they ought, 
 " people would say they only do their duty ; but, like sagacious politicians, 
 " they often do wrong, to make us receive it as a favour when they some- 
 " times do right."
 
 AND WRITINGS OP LORD KAMES. 153 
 
 where the nature of tlie subject strongly proniptcd to that *^"^'' ^• 
 species of reasoning and investigation, he may have been 
 known to indulge a favourite propensity. But the general 
 mode of his judicial speaking was very different. He rarely 
 entered into any elaborate argument in support of his opi- 
 nions : it was enough that he had formed them with delibe- 
 ration, and that they were the result of a conscientious per- 
 suasion of their being founded on justice and on a fair inter- 
 pretation of the laws. Diffident of his own judgment, (as 
 the wisest men are ever observed to be, as well from their 
 frequent experience of the limited powers of the mind, as 
 from the various bearings and relations under which they are 
 able to view the subject of inquiry), he never was desirous 
 to lead or to bias the opinions of his brethren ; but was sa- 
 tisfied with announcing his own with a clear and energetic 
 brevity of expression ; confining himself to a simple expo- 
 sition of the principle, where the case turned on a point of 
 law, or the sum of the proof, where it depended on the 
 weighing of evidence. It arose from the same propriety of 
 feeling, that when his own decrees were the subject of re- 
 view, (as is the form of the Court of Session), he never en- 
 deavoured to defend them by argiiment, nor strove, like a 
 pleader, to win over the judgment of the Court ; but barely 
 expounded the ratio of his decision. If the prevailing opi- 
 nion of his brethren, whose judgment he respected, was con- 
 trary to his own, he presumed it right, and was satisfied that 
 justice was done, though by the correction of his errors. 
 Vol. I. U The
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 The state of the Bench, during the greater part of the 
 time in which he occupied a seat in the Court of Session, 
 was favourable to the exertion of superior abilities. It was 
 no ordinary mental energy that could distinguish itself in 
 the daily comparison with such men as Pringle of Ale- 
 jviooR, Fergusson of Pitfour, Sir Thomas Miller 
 of Glenlee, Lockhart of Covington, Macqueen of 
 Braxfield, and the younger President Dundas. 
 
 Tlie judgments of Lord Kames, (for it Avas by that title 
 he was henceforth known), had, deservedly, the greatest 
 weight v/ith the Court, on all questions of recondite juris- 
 prudence ; and on these he willingly exerted all the powers 
 of his mind. The new lights which in his writings he has 
 thrown on many of the most intricate subjects of the law, 
 and the train of reasoning which appears in some of the 
 most ingenious of those Essays, which he published under 
 the title of Law Tracts, and Elucidations on the Law of Scot- 
 land, were originally displayed, and briefly unfolded in his 
 speeches from the Bench, on some important causes, wiiich 
 led to those discussions. But questions of this nature do 
 not frequently occur; and in cases of trivial importance, 
 which involve no consecjuence to the law of the country, or 
 the material rights of the subject, he seldom thought it ne- 
 cessary to detail his reasons of judgment. It was his opi- 
 nion, that in such cases, promptitude of decision is essential 
 to justice ; and that, whqre the facts are substantiated, and 
 
 the
 
 AND WRITINGS OP LORD KAMES. 155 
 
 the law is clear, it is the duty of the Judge, simply to pro- 
 nounce his decree. — Strongly impressed with this persuasion, 
 it was observed, that he sometimes manifested a visible im- 
 patience, when, on questions of this nature, he saw a pro- 
 pensity in any of his brethren to waste the time in super- 
 fluous reasonings, and that speciesofAvavering debate which, 
 while it retards the business of the Court, is apt to diminish 
 its respect and dignity in the minds of the auditory *. 
 
 He had a just regard for the laws of his country, Avhicli, 
 in as much as they are founded on sound and rational prin- 
 ciples, it was his earnest endeavour to preserve inviolate, 
 and to strengthen, by a reverential adherence to their enact- 
 ments ; as being fully aware, that the certainty of the law is 
 the best security both against private oppression and public 
 disorder -f-. But he wisely distingviished between the cer- 
 tainty of law, (as meaning the precision of its precepts and 
 
 U 2 strictness 
 
 * Biographical Account of the Lord President Dundas, in 'Transactions of the 
 Royal Society of Edinburgh, vol. ii. 
 
 -|- •' Certainty," says Lord Bacon, " is so essential to law, that a law with- 
 " out it, cannot be just. For if the trumpet gives cm uncertain sound, who 
 " shall prepare himself to the battle ? So if the law has an uncertain sense, 
 " who shall obey it? A law, therefore, ought to give warning before it 
 " strikes : and it is a just maxim, That the best law leaves least to the breast 
 <' of the judge ; which is effected by certainty." De Augnunt. Scient. — Idcea 
 jfust. Univ. tit. i. aphor. 8. 
 
 CHAP. I.
 
 156 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 ^Boo K 11^ strictness of its execution), and its immutability ; or the re- 
 sistance to that gradual improvement which it is fitted to re- 
 ceive, like every other science, from time and an enlighten- 
 ed experience. More profoundly conversant than most men 
 in the science of General Jurisprudence, he was sensible 
 that the Law of Scotland Avas in many of its branches in a 
 state of great imperfection ; that some of its doctrines were 
 utterly anomalous and irreconcilable to principle ; and that 
 others, Avhich originally had their foundation in expediency, 
 were, in the lapse of time, which alters both the political re- 
 lations and the habits of mankind, become, from that change 
 of circumstances, both inexpedient and contrary to material 
 justice. Of these the rigorous observance, from a blind ve- 
 neration of antient practice, appeared to Lord Kames to 
 be a foolish and blamable sacrifice of reason to prejudice *. 
 Law he considered only as the minister of justice, and enti- 
 tled to regard no otherwise than as subservient to that great 
 end. Where, therefore, in the application of the law to any 
 particular case, it is found, that, by a rigid observance of the 
 
 letter. 
 
 * '* Let laws, if they have slept long, or are grown unsuitable to the pre- 
 
 " sent times, be by prudent judges restrained in the execution. Judges 
 
 " ought, above all others, to remember the conclusion of the Roman Twe/ve 
 " Tables, Saitis populi suprema lex ; and that laws, unless in order to that 
 
 " end, are captious things, and oracles ill-inspired. Let not judges be so 
 
 " ignorant of their own right and prerogative, as to think themselves denied 
 " a principal part of their office, viz. a sound and prudent use and interpreta- 
 " tion of the law." — Bacon's Moral Essajs, Essay vii»
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 157 
 
 letter, we violate the spirit, and do inifjuity instead of jus- ^^''^ ' 
 tice, there he justly regarded it as the bounden duty of a 
 court, possessing the pt)\ver ot attempering law by equity, to 
 take the case out ot" the strict letter; proceeding on this 
 wise principle, that that law nuist be inapplicable, wliich in 
 any instance Avould sanctify the commission ot" injustice. 
 Law, which has for its province the regulation of human so- 
 ciety, must accommodate itself to the varying condition of 
 that society which it governs. It is, therefore, from its very 
 nature, mutable, and susceptible of perpetual improvement. 
 But justice, which is the object of law, is fixed, inunutable 
 and cei'tain : The one imperfect, as the inventitm of man; 
 the other perfect, as the ordinance and attribute of his Ma- 
 ker. A good judge, like an able pilot, will use the former 
 as his compass ; but aware of its occasional error and varia- 
 tion, he will look to the latter as his polar star. 
 
 To the Bar Lord Kames uniformly conducted himself 
 with a proper courtesy and respect. The counsel who 
 pleaded before him were always heard with attention, while 
 Ihey confined themselves to the proper limits of their cause. 
 He listened with patience and a becoming regard to the ar- 
 guments of the senior counsel, from whom he expected light 
 and information ; and with a kind induliience to those of 
 the younger barristers, whose diffidence he Imed to animate 
 by the urbanity of his demeanour ; and whose early indica- 
 tions of ability he delighted to foster ; a most engaging and 
 
 amiable
 
 158 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 L, 
 
 BOO K u. amiable feature of his mind, wliich was not only conspicuous 
 in his character as a judge, but attended him in every de- 
 partment of his priA^ate and public life. In him, merit of 
 every kind, in whatever rank or condition it appeared, and 
 more particularly if depressed by situation, or checked by 
 diffidence and humility, was sure to find its patron and pro- 
 tector. 
 
 In these material requisites of a judge, the character of 
 Lord Kames was great and exemplary. If we acknowledge 
 that in some subordinate qualities he fell short of that gene- 
 ral eminence, it is but to say, that he partook, like other 
 men, of the imperfections of our common nature. 
 
 The quickness of his apprehension co-operating with the 
 strength of his moral feelings, where at first view he con- 
 ceived the justice or equity of the cause to lie strongly on 
 one side, was sometimes observed to dispose him to form 
 too hasty a judgment of its merits. But this prepossession 
 was easily overcome. His mind was open to conviction ; 
 and, strongly aware of the perverting influence of the pas- 
 sions, he was inclined to listen the more readily on a review 
 of the case, and to give its full weight to every argument that 
 opposed his first opinion. 
 
 His character had in it somewhat of the humourist ; and 
 it must be owned, that, at times, from the exuberance of his 
 
 spirits,
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 
 
 159 
 
 spirits, and a certain pla_yfulness of" mind, which, in his hght- 
 er hours, gave a singular charm to his conversation, lie was 
 apt to transgress the rules of that stricter decorum which is 
 expected from, and which truly becomes the situation he 
 filled. Even on the Bench he could not on all occasions 
 keep a guard upon his constitutional vivacity, which some- 
 times broke out in anmsing sallies of spirits, where the sul)- 
 ject of discussion led to a ludicrous train of thought, or the 
 occasional wit of the counsel made it ditticult for the Judjic 
 to repress a happy repartee. But this rarely happened ; 
 and as his general demeanour was proper and becoming, so 
 those slighter imperfections were veiled over and forgotten, 
 amidst the valuable and splendid qualities of his mind, and 
 the uncorrupted integrity which formed the basis of his judi- 
 cial character. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 The situation which Lord Kames now filled, while it ex- 
 tended his opportunities of promoting every species of im- 
 provement, gave the greater weight and efficacy to his pa- 
 tronage; and his example and encouragement were more 
 particularly beneficial in exciting a literary spirit, which now 
 began to prevail among his countrymen, and which was de- 
 stined to shine forth in his own times with no common lustre. 
 It was but a just tribute to his merit, when many years af- 
 terwards, Adam Smith, then in the height of his literary re- 
 putation, said, in reference to a remark on the great num- 
 ber of eminent writers which Scotland had of late years 
 
 produced, 
 
 His patron, 
 ace of lite- 
 rary merit.
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LITE 
 
 produced, " We must every one of us acknowledge Karnes 
 " for our master." 
 
 State of let- 
 ters in Scot- 
 land at this 
 period. 
 
 Co^in Mac- 
 la.urin. 
 
 Before the period of which we now treat, that is, towards 
 the middle of the eighteenth century, although science had 
 attained in Scotland to a high degree of eminence by the supe- 
 rior genius and talents of Maclaurin *, the taste for elegant 
 
 literature 
 
 * Colin Maclaurin was the younger son of a clergyman in Argyleshlre, 
 and was born in 1698. He received the rudiments of his education at Dun- 
 barton, and prosecuted his academical studies at Glasgow, under the care and 
 patronage of the learned Dr Gersham Carmichael, Professor of Philosophy, 
 and with the benefit of the early and continued friendship of that most emi- 
 nent mathematician Dr Robert Simpson, who discovered in his young friend 
 an extraordinary genius for his favourite science. We learn from his biogra- 
 pher, Mr Patrick Murdoch, in the able sketch of his life prefixed to his Ac- 
 count of Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophical Discoveries, that Maclaurin had in 
 his sixteenth year invented many of the propositions which he afterwards 
 published under the title of Geometria Organica. At the age of nineteen, he 
 was chosen Professor of Mathematics in the Marischal College of Aberdeen ; 
 and visiting London soon after, his distinguished talents gained him the ac- 
 quaintance and friendship of Sir Isaac Newton, Bishop Hoadley, Dr Samuel 
 Clarke, and others of the most eminent mathematicians and philosophers -of 
 the times. By the recommendation of Sir Isaac Newton, most warmly ex- 
 pressed by letter to the Lord Provost and Magistrates of Edinburgh, who are 
 the patrons of its University, Mr Maclaurin was associated as joint Professor 
 and successor to Mr James Gregory in the Chair of Mathematics, which the 
 latter resigned in 17-.J, on account of his advanced age. The celebrity of 
 that academical department, which under three preceding Professors of the 
 
 family
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. l6l 
 
 literature was feeble, and gave no promise of a rapid advance- ^_^^^J [jf 
 ment. We have indeed in the writings of Maclaurin an ex- 
 ample of a purity and simplicity of style, which is admirably 
 
 adapted 
 
 family of Gregory, (a race to whom mathematical genius seems to have he- 
 longed as of inheritance), was not diminished under their successor : On the 
 contrary, his eminence as a teacher was evinced by the very great number of 
 his pupils -, while the works he published, particularly his Geometria Orq-a- 
 nica, and his 'Treatise on Fluxions, entitle him to the rank, of a mathematician of 
 the first order. It was a peculiar merit of his, that his studies were constant- 
 ly directed to some object of general utility. Philosophical speculation bore 
 no other value with him, than as it was subservient to some practical end for 
 the advantage of mankind. Accordingly, his short life was most actively em- 
 ployed in various useful designs for the benefit of his country. Besides the 
 valuable assistance which his professional knowledge enabled him to give in 
 those public works which depend on mechanical principles, it was oa the basis 
 of his calculations, that that great scheme, planned by the Reverend Dr Alex- 
 ander Webster, for the support of the widows and children of the Clergy in. 
 Scotland, was framed and carried into execution. 
 
 But it is not only as a man of science, and as a public character, that the 
 memory of Maclaurin is entitled to our respect and esteem. He was, in his 
 private character, one of the best and worthiest of men. A distinguishing 
 feature of his mind was, an amiable humility and diffidence of himself. His 
 great attainments, far from prompting to dogmatism or self-sufficiency, seemed 
 to have no other effect than to convince him more powerfully of the narrow 
 limits of the human understanding, to lead him to distrust all pretences to 
 hypotheses or general theories, and to regard the highest discoveries yet made 
 in the knowledge of Nature, as only a few feeble rays of light which it has 
 
 graciously 
 
 Vol. L X
 
 X62 MEMOIRS OF THE LITE 
 
 T500K II. 
 
 adapted to works of science and philosophy ; and which 
 may possibly have had its inliuence on the composition of 
 succeeding writers, even in the department of literature, by 
 
 inducing 
 
 graciously pleased the Sovereign Architect of the universe to afford to man, 
 beyond what is strictly necessary, either for his good conduct, or his enjoy- 
 ment in this temporary scene of things, and for the sole purpose of elevating 
 his views, and directing his hopes to a more perfect state, where the desire of 
 knowledge shall have its amplest gratification. That piety formed a remark- 
 able ingredient in his character, we discern indeed from many passages of his 
 writings, where he lays hold of every opportunity that presents itself, of 
 pointing out the evident marks of wisdom and beneficent design conspicuous 
 in the structure and phenomena of the material world. It is a circumstance 
 likewise most worthy of notice, that the subject which engaged the last mo- 
 ments of the life of this excellent man, was that deduction in the concluding 
 chapter of his Account of Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophical Discoveries, in 
 which the existence of the Deity, as the Supreme Cause of the universe, is 
 demonstrated, and the necessity of his agency as a First Mover, is proved 
 from the existence of phenomena, which could not have resulted of them- 
 selves from the laws of nature. Such are the regular distribution of the orbs 
 in the solar system, and the present fabric of the universe; whic"., though 
 those laws arc sufficient to carry on in a regiilar course when once established, 
 yet they evidently seem insufficient to account for that first establishment. 
 The law of gravity, for example, though essential to matter, and sufficient ^cr 
 se to retain the planets in their orbits, and to perpetuate their revolutions once 
 begun, could not at first have separated them from the general mass of matter, 
 given to each its particular magnitude, and projected them in a certain direc- 
 tion, determining their course in orbits nearly circular from east to west. 
 The same laws, therefore, which now govern the material universe, if the 
 supposition of a Creator and First Mover is excluded, are quite insufficient to 
 
 account
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 
 
 inducing a taste for cliastencss of expression, an attention to 
 graiumatieal correctness, and a disrelisii of affected orna- 
 ments. The language of Maclaurin is the simple vehicle of 
 his thoughts, and it j)ossesses that highest excellence of di- 
 dactic composition, that, while it conveys those thoughts 
 with the utmost force and clearness to the mind of the reader, 
 
 X 2 his. 
 
 account either for its production, or beginning of motion. This concluding 
 chapter of the author's work, is broken off abruptly ; for, when dictating its 
 last sentence to an amanuensis, his faculties were arrested by the hand of 
 death. For a detail of some very remarkable particulars attending this event, 
 we must refer to the account of his biographer Mr Murdoch.- He died at 
 Edinburgh, to the universal regret of his country, in June 174(5, at the 
 age of 48. The epitaph, composed by his son, (Lord Dreghorn, a Judge of 
 the Court of Session), and inscribed on his monument in the Greyfriar's 
 Church-yard, is alike excellent in thought and in expression : 
 
 Infra situs est 
 
 Colin Maclaurin, 
 
 Mathes.. olim in Acad. Edin. Prof. 
 
 Electus ipso Newtono suadente. 
 
 H. L. P. F. 
 
 Non ut nomini paterno consulat, 
 
 Nam tali auxilio nil eget : 
 
 Sed, ut in hoc infelici campo, 
 
 Ubi luctus regnat et pavor, 
 
 Mortalibus prorsus non absit solatium : 
 
 Hujus enim scripta evolve, 
 
 Mentemque tantarum rerum capacem. 
 
 Corpori caduco superstitem crede.
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 his attention is never for a moment called aside from the 
 matter, to consider the expression or style of the writer. 
 
 But in the proper province of polite literature, it must be 
 owned, that at this period the Scottish writers had made no 
 conspicuous figure. While our neighbour country prided 
 herself, with justice, on her literary splendour in the cera from 
 the accession of Queen Anne to the middle of the eighteenth 
 century, we had little to set in contrast with the numerous 
 list of her elegant writers, but the names of Ai-huthnot, 
 Tliomson, Mallet, and Armstrong. Smollet, a writer of great 
 versatility of talents, and whose humorous delineations of 
 life and manners are at this day almost unrivalled, had, in 
 the latter part of that sera, only shewn the dawning of his 
 genius in some attempts at poetical satire *. A taste for po- 
 lite literature had, however, begun gradually to diffuse itself 
 in Scotland, even from the time of the publication of the 
 Tatlers, Spectators and Guardians ; and, as in England, the 
 effect of those writings, and more particularly of the papers 
 of Addison, was conspicuous in substituting an ease and ele- 
 gance of composition as a more engaging vehicle for subjects 
 of taste, in the room of the dry scholastic style in which they 
 had hitherto been treated ; so, in Scotland, the attention of our" 
 youth, fresh from their academical studies, which yet retain- 
 ed a strong tincture of the antient school dialectics, was in- 
 sensibly 
 
 * See .an interesting Account of the Life and Writings of Smollet, by Dr 
 Anderson, the ingenious biographer of the British Poets.
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. lG5 
 
 sensibly attracted to the more pleasing topics of criticism 
 and the belles lettrcs. The cultivation of style became an 
 object of study ; and in a few attempts at that lighter spe- 
 cies of essay-writing, of which Addison had furnished a mo- 
 del, we see the dawning of a better taste in composition than 
 had hitherto appeared in any publications from the Scottish 
 press *. 
 
 When 
 
 * As early as 1711, and In the short interval between the cessation of the 
 Tatler and the commencement of the Spectator, a periodical paper was begun 
 at Edinburgh, called 'The Tatler, by Donald Macstaff of the North, and was 
 carried on through thirty weekly numbers. The author was Mr Robert Hep- 
 burn of Bearford, then only in his twenty-first year, — a youth, as Lord Hailes 
 justly termed him, ingenii prcecocis et prcefervidi. These papers are evidently 
 the production of a man of vigorous native powers, and of a mind not meanly 
 stored with ancient learning, and familiar with the best writings of the mo- 
 derns. The author might have shone in the treatment of general topics of 
 moral discussion, or of criticism ; but from a propensity not unnatural, where 
 talents are combined with an ardent temperament, and sarcastic turn of mind, 
 his compositions were fitted to give much offence, by the description of known 
 characters, and by the personal satire which he employed, with no gentle or 
 delicate hand, on some men of note, both in the ecclesiastical and civil depart- 
 ments, among his countrymen. Mr Hepburn, who had studied the civil law 
 in Holland, became a member of the Faculty of Advocates at Edinburgh, in 
 1712. He died soon after. In the concluding paper of his 7«//cr, he announ- 
 ced as then in the press, a translation of Sir George Mackenzie's Idea E/o- 
 quentice Forensis ; and in the Advocates' Library, is a small volume, contain- 
 ing two treatises of his writing ; the one entitled, Demonstratio quod Dcus sit, 
 and the other, Dissertatio de Scriptis Pitcarnianis. The former of these is neat- 
 ly and methodically written, and in good Latinity ; the latter is somewhat je- 
 june 
 
 CHAP. I.
 
 l66 MEMOIKS OF THE LIFE 
 
 L^LIL When the Scottish writers in the early part of the last cen- 
 
 First writers tury began to pay attention to «tyle, they were particularly 
 
 who culti- ,. , . . 1 • 1- • c 
 
 vaed style. stuciious ot attainuig to that idiomatic ease oi expression 
 which struck them most in the popular English writers, as 
 being dift'erent from the form of composition to which their 
 ear was accustomed ; and as all imitation has a tendency to 
 run into extremes, so our Scottish Avriters fell naturally into 
 
 Elackwell, that error. Blackwell is a strong example. He was a 
 man of talents and learning, who was an ornament to his 
 college* : but jealous, as it would see^n^ ef ...being thought to 
 
 have 
 
 June in point of matter, and too lavish of general panegyric. A variety of 
 
 other periodical papers succeeded Hepburn's Tatler ; but all of them (pre- 
 vious to the recent work^ of established reputation, T/6e Mirror and Lounger") 
 of inferior merit. Of these we may notice as the least faulty, the Eccho, 
 carried on in weekly numbers from l/'^y to 1733 ; Ihe Reveur, published in 
 .1737 ; and the Letters of the Critical Club in 173S. The first, like the Spec- 
 tatoi in its original form, was partly a newspaper •, the other two were more 
 strictly of the nature of periodical Essays. 
 
 * Dr Thomas Blackwell was the- son of a clergyman, and born at 
 Aberdeen in 1701. At the age of twenty-four, he was chosen Professor of 
 Greek in the Marischal College, of which he was elected Principal in the 
 year 1748. Besides his Inquiry into the Life and Writings of Homer, he was 
 the author of Letters concerning Mythology, 8vo., and Memoirs of the Court of 
 Augustus, in three volumes 4to. ; the last of which was a posthumous publica- 
 tion, left unfinished at his death, and completed by John Mills, Esq. Dr 
 Blackwell was an amiable man in private life, and much beloved by his bre- 
 thren of the University. As head of tlic College, his conduct was marked by
 
 AND WHITINGS OF LORD KAME9. 16/ 
 
 liave contracted any tincture of its scholastic pedantry, his 
 ambition was to write hke a man of fashion, who Hved in 
 good company, and knew the world. His model of imita- 
 tion was Lord Shaftesbury ; but, wanting taste and judg- 
 ment, iiis copy is a complete caricatura. His Inquiry into 
 the Life and Writings of Homer is instructive, both from the 
 just criticism, and the variety of classical matter which it 
 contains ; but the levity of the style, quite unsuitable to the 
 sul)ject, and the awkward mimickry of the ease and fami- 
 liaiity of Shaftesbury, in every sentence, render the work 
 
 disgusting to a reader of good taste *. 
 
 For 
 
 a becoming dignity and propriety. He passed much of his leisure time at a 
 pleasant villa upon the banks of the Dee, and delighted in the culture of his 
 fields and garden. He died of a consumptive disorder, at the age of fifty-six ; 
 and in writing to one of his friends, on the very day of his death, he applied 
 to himself the beautiful passage of Horace, in his Ode to Postumus, 
 
 Linquenda tellus, et domus, ct placetis 
 Uxor, neque harum quas colis arhorum, 
 "te pnetcr invisas cupressos 
 
 Vila brcvem dominum sequetu^. 
 
 In the Appendix, No. VH. the reader will find a character of Dr Blackwell, 
 drawn by his friend and pupil Dr Alexander Gerard, author of an Essay on 
 Taste, &c. 
 
 * How absurd, for example, is the following strain of composition : " If 
 " Homer, then, came into the world in such a country, and under so propi- 
 " tio!/s an aspect of Nature, we must next inquire. What reception he met 
 
 •' with 
 
 CHAP. I.
 
 168 
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 The Edin- 
 burgh Re- 
 view. 
 
 For some years after this time, Scotland appears extreme- 
 ly barren in every species of literary composition. A dawn- 
 ing, however, of a better age began to appear about the 
 middle of the century. In the end of the year 1754, a few 
 men of talents, who came afterwards to make a distinguish- 
 ed 
 
 •' with upon his arrival ; in what condition he found things ; and what dispo-. 
 " sitions they must produce in an exalted genius and comprehensive mind ? 
 " This is a difficult speculation, and I should be under some apprehensions 
 *' how to get through it, if I did not know, that men moving like your Lord- 
 *' ship, in the higher spheres of life, are well acquainted with the effects of 
 
 " culture and education." Life of Homer, p. 10. " But now that I have 
 
 " ventured so far, I begin to apprehend that I shall be deserted. The habit 
 " of reconciling extremes, when a public concern calls for attention, is be- 
 " come so natural to your Lordship, that it must incline you to wish our epic 
 " affairs not so desperate ; and your knowledge of the poetical privilege will 
 " immediately suggest, that our private manners admit not such representa- 
 
 *' tion." Ibid. p. '28. ~" Your Lordship will judge whether my fears are 
 
 " just, when, relying on that penetration which attends your opinions, I ven- 
 " ture to affirm, that a poet describes nothing so happily as what he has seen ; 
 " nor talks masterly but in his native language and proper idiom." Ihid. 
 p. 29. The mimickry is not confined to style. Because Shaftesbury ad- 
 dresses his Letter on Enthusias?)i to an anonymous Lord, so Blackwell must ad- 
 dress to an anonymous Lord his Life if Homer. Because Shaftesbury divides 
 his Letter into sections, Blackwell adopts the same mode of division ; and be- 
 cause the divisions in Shaftesbury are adorned with allegorical engravings, 
 Blackwell has adorned the beginning and end of his sections with similar de- 
 corations. It were better he had attended to a just remark of his own, that 
 " He who affects no other than his natural manners and style, has a better 
 " chance to excel, than if he should attempt to copy another man's way, though 
 " perhaps preferable both in language and ge&ture to his own." Ibid. p. 30.
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAl^IES. 16'9 
 
 cd figure in the literary world, projected the plan of a Re- ^"'^'' ^• 
 view, to be published at Edinl)urgh, which, while its princi- 
 pal object was to give an account of the progress of Scottish 
 literature, should occasionally take notice of such other 
 works, either English or foreign, as seemed best entitled to 
 the public attention. When it is known, that the chief 
 conductors of this undertaking, were Smith, Blair, and 
 Robertson, it will be allowed, that if the scheme fail- 
 ed of success, it raust have been from other causes than a 
 want of ability in its projectors. Two numbers only M^ere 
 published, in July and December 1755 ; when the cens\ire 
 they most justly bestowed on some of those miserable effu- 
 sions of fanaticism, which, at that time, disgraced both the 
 pulpit and the press, excited such an outcry from the au- 
 thors of those productions and their zealous partizans, that 
 a regard both to the public tranquillity and their own, de- 
 termined the reviewers to discontinue their labours. The 
 two fragments that remain of this abortive undertaking are 
 now become a literary curiosity. It must be owned, how- 
 ever, that they are valuable, rather from the names of the 
 authors concerned in their production, than from any high 
 intrinsic merit. ^\ e prize the most careless sketch which 
 jproceeds from the hand of a master*. 
 
 The 
 
 * Tliat article of the work which attracted most attention from those best 
 fitted to judge of literary merit, was the review of Johnson's Dictionary of the 
 
 English 
 
 Vol. I. Y
 
 170 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK ir. 
 
 ' — >, ' 
 
 The writings of David Hume and Dr Robertson, form 
 David Hume, a remarkable aera in the history of Scottish hterature ; and 
 the former of these, which were the earlier of the two, are 
 
 the 
 
 English Language, which was known to be written by Adam Smith. It 
 bears unquestionable marks of the ability of the writer, and displays the same 
 philosophic views of universal grammar, %vhich distinguish his Essay on the 
 formation of Languages. The reviewer allows the great merit of the work of 
 Mr Johnson, in exhibiting a most ample and accurate collection of all the 
 different meanings of each English word, justified by examples from the best 
 authors ; but thinks the plan not sufficiently grammatical, and is of opinion 
 that it might be much improved by digesting the different meanings into ge- 
 neral classes, ranged under die principal or radical signification. As ex- 
 amples of this improved method, he gives the particle But and the noun Hu- 
 mour, digested in the proposed systematic and grammatical form ; and places 
 them in contrast with the same articles as we find them in the work of John- 
 son. This is a very fair experiment ; but the result, as we apprehend, is de- 
 cidedly the reverse of what the reviewer intended. On candidly weighing 
 these contrasted specimens, we cannot fail to observe, that the proposed im- 
 proved plan of an English Dictionary, though capable of affording a greater 
 display of metaphysical ingenuity in the comiJiler, would be very far inferior 
 in practical utility, not only for the ordinary purposes of a book of reference 
 and authority, but for the conveyance of a critical knowledge of the English 
 language, to the simple plan which has been followed by the lexicographer. 
 It is amusing, no doubt, to the philosophic mind, to trace the great variety of 
 meanings annexed to the same word, up to a common origin, or one radical 
 sense, from which all the various significations have diverged. We admire 
 the ingenuity of the philologer who is capable of exhibiting so refined an 
 analysis, and respect his talents for metaphysical discrimination. But all 
 this laborious exercise of the mind is of very inferior utility to the clear and 
 accurate specification of the various uses of the same term, distinctly exem- 
 plified
 
 A^TD M'RITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 171 
 
 the first productions from the pen of a Scotsman which me- if^^' ^' 
 rit encomium, in point of Enghsh style. It is not, however, 
 in the first pubUcations of Mr Hume, that we are to look for 
 those beauties of composition which we admire in his later 
 and more elaborate works. The Treatise of Human Nature, 
 printed in 1739, has no pretence to elegance of style ; and 
 the Essat/s, Moral, Political and Literary, exhibit in their 
 earliest dress, as published in 1742, frequent inaccuracies of 
 language, violations of the English idiom, and colloquial vul- 
 garisms, which, though much amended, are not wholly re- 
 moved in the later editions. It is therefore in his History of 
 England, and principally in those parts of it which were the 
 last composed, that we must look for that style of which the 
 merit is universally confessed. Easy and natural as it ap- 
 pears to be, it was the cultivated fruit of long practice, and 
 a sedulous attention to those models which he esteemed the 
 best. 
 
 Y2 His 
 
 plified in the practice of good writers. The latter plan is fitted to bring the 
 English language to a fixed standard, to discourage all licentious innovations, 
 and to serve as a code of authority, to which every writer may with confi- 
 dence appeal against the errors of ignorance, or the abuses introduced by ca- 
 price or aiFectation. The former exhibits no standard which is entitled to ge- 
 neral confidence ; it is calculated even to encourage innovations upon specula- 
 tive principles, independent of authority ; every decision rests upon the dic- 
 tum of the writer ; and however ingenious may be his opinions, yet as they 
 are founded chiefly on theory, they are liable to every cavil and objection to 
 which metaphysical reasoning must constantly be subject.
 
 172 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 Dr Robert- 
 fon. 
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 His friendly rival, Dr Robertson, who has contested 
 with him the palm of historical composition, is likewise a 
 great master in point of style ; but his manner, which has its 
 appropriate merits in a very high degree, is essentially diffe- 
 rent from that of INIr Hume. It is of a graver and more dig- 
 nified cast, more removed from oral discourse, more pure, 
 more polished, and more ornate ; but on all these accounts 
 less natural, and, on the whole, less engaging than that of his 
 competitor. 
 
 These characteristic distinctions of manner in the two 
 Scottish historians, arose from a difference of taste, and a 
 consequent selection of different models of imitation among 
 the preceding writers. Hume was an admirer of simplicity 
 and ease of composition, and he appears to have bestowed 
 his attention chiefly on the writers in whom those qualities 
 are most conspicuous. He was partial to the French belles- 
 lettres-writers, and admired particularly the easy and fami- 
 liar style of their moralists and critics, as Montague, Char- 
 ron, Rochcfoucault, Bouhours and Fontenelle ; and his study 
 of these authors, as well as his long residence in France, not 
 only contributed to the formation of his style and manner of 
 composition, but have given to his writings even a tincture 
 of the French idiom. In his Essay on Simplicity and Rejine- 
 meni, he acknowledges his own particular taste, in the fol- 
 lowing observation, Avhich he gives as one of the rules for at- 
 taining to good composition : " 1 shall deliver it" (says he) 
 
 " as
 
 AND AVIIITINCS or L01?D KAMF.S. 17' 
 
 " as a third observation, Tliat we ouglit to be more upon '^"'^^ ^ 
 " our guard against the excess of Refinement, than that of 
 " Simplicity ; and that, because the former excess is both 
 " less beautiful and more dangerous than the latter." Among 
 the Enghsh authors, Addison was the writer he most admi- 
 red for his style ; and he seems to have formed liis own 
 chiefly upon that model, and on the writers whose charac- 
 teristics were ease and familiarity, rather than elevation, or 
 even correctness, as Shaftesbury and Temple. Robertson 
 seems to have had a greater relish for refinement, and to 
 have sought to attain a certain gravity and pomp of expres- 
 sion, as conceiving it more consonant to the dignit}' of histo- 
 rical composition. The style of both writers is ecjually the 
 residt of art and study, but the labour of the one is better 
 concealed than that of the other, and the former has chosen 
 the more pleasing models *. Boswell has ranked Dr Robert- 
 son as the first and best of the imitators of Johnson ; and 
 perhaps rightly ; for he is an imitator of all that is most ex- 
 cellent in the style of his model, without any of his defects -j-. 
 
 Of 
 
 * See some excellent remarks on the different styles of Hume, Robertson, 
 and Gibbon, in a late elegant and learned work, which contains a great store 
 of classical knowledge and just criticism; the Translation of The Wo7-ks of 
 Sa//t/st,hy Henry Steuart, Esq; of Allanton. 
 
 f But a perfect copy reflects the faults, as well as the beauties of the mo- 
 del ; as in that exquisite specimen of literary imitation, (by Professor Young 
 of Glasgow), ^ Criticism on Graj/'s Elegy,
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 Of the style of Lord Karnes, I shall afterwards take par- 
 ticular notice ; only remarking in this place, that it is not in 
 the form or composition, but in the matter and substance of 
 his writings, that their merit chiefly lies. Their principal 
 utility consists less in their having furnished models of imita- 
 tion, than in having excited a literary spirit among his co- 
 temporaries, which, exerting itself in various departments, 
 has in our own times produced compositions of standard 
 merit, which have given to Scotland a distinguislied rank in 
 the commonwealth of letters. 
 
 Literary So- 
 cieties in 
 Edinburgh. 
 
 The Ranke- 
 nian Club. 
 
 Those attempts at periodical Essay- writing, which I have 
 noticed as the first indications of attention to style, were 
 made by a few young men of good education, belonging 
 probably both to the Church and Bar, who had formed so- 
 cieties or clubs for literary conversation, and improvement 
 in composition. The Rankeiiian Club *, which was institu- 
 ted for these purposes as early as 1716, and which conti- 
 nued its meetings till after I76O, was distinguished by the 
 names of several of the most eminent literary characters at 
 
 that 
 
 * It was so called from the name of the tavern-keeper in whose house they 
 assembled. A literary club continuing to hold regular meetings for near 
 fifty years, is a singular phenomenon, and does honour to the Scottish metro- 
 polis. In the Appendix, NO. VIII. is a list of the members of this club, 
 furnished from memory by the late George Wallace, Esq; Advocate, the last 
 survivor of its number. A memorial of this kind will not be perused with 
 indifference by the descendants or relatives of those whose names it records 
 among the literary ornaments of a farmer age.
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 175 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 that time in Scotland ; but there is no ground for supposing, 
 that any of the periodical compositions aljove alluded to, 
 proceeded from that society. Neither can I affirm, that 
 any part in those publications is to be attributed to him 
 who is the proper subject of these Memoirs. It is well 
 known, that IVIr Home was particularly fond of such insti- 
 tutions, which he regarded as contributing greatly to the im- 
 provement and diffusion both of literature and of science * ; 
 and that he always most willingly furnished his share in 
 their debates and transactions. But whatever reason I may 
 have to believe, I have no sufficient authorit}' to assert, that 
 any paper among the publications I have mentioned was 
 the production of his pen. 
 
 The Select Society, of which the design was projected by The Select 
 Mr Allan Ramsay, the painter f, was instituted at Edin- °'^'*>' 
 
 burgh 
 
 * In Mr Chalmers's amusing and curious Li/e of T^homas Ruddiman, 
 p. 83. mention is made of a literary society formed at Edinburgh in the year 
 1718, chiefly for the purpose of improvement in classical erudition ; of which 
 the original members were the Masters of the High School, and Ruddiman. 
 Of this society Mr Home (Lord Kames) soon became a member, and his ex- 
 ample was followed by other young gentlemen belonging to the Faculty of 
 Advocates, and hy some of the Ministers of Edinburgh. One fundamental 
 rule of the club was, " that they should not meddle with affairs of Church 
 " or State," a restriction extremely proper at a period when political faction 
 ran very high. 
 
 + Mr Allan Ramsayjiw/w'o/-, whose merits in his profession raised him to 
 the distinction of King's Painter, was the only son of the celebrated Allan 
 
 Ramsay,
 
 176 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK. ir. 
 
 burgti in 1754 ; and though soon more numerous and pro- 
 miscuous than its title Avarranted, included most of the men 
 of letters at that time resident in Edinburgh and its vicinity. 
 The purposes of the institution were literary discussion, phi- 
 losophical inquiry, and improvement in public speaking. 
 Its meetings were held weekly during session time, at an 
 early hour on the Friday evenings, in one of the inner apart- 
 ments of the Advocate's Library ; a place peculiarly suitable, 
 from those local associations which it could not fail to 
 suggest to the mind *. The Society sul^sisted in vigour for 
 six or seven years, and produced, (to use the words of an 
 elegant writer), " debates such as have not often been heard 
 
 " m 
 
 Ramsay, the Scottish poet, author of that beautiful pastoral drama the Gentle 
 Shepherd. He was a man of talents, well acquainted with polite literature, 
 and of elegant and sprightjy conversation. He wrote some ingenious pieces 
 on controverted topics of History, Politics, and Criticism, which he published 
 under the title of the Investigator. His pamphlet on the subject of Elizabeth 
 Canning attracted much attention at the time, and was the means of opening 
 the eyes of the public, and even of the Judges, to the real truth and explana- 
 tion of that mysterious event. 
 
 * I allude to those feelings which Cicero so well describes in the begin- 
 ning of his Fifth Book lie Jinihus ; " Constituimus inter nos ut ambulationem 
 " postmeridiariam conficeremus in Academid. — Naturane nobis hoc datum 
 " dicam, an errore quodam, ut ciim ea loca videamiis in quibus memoria dig- 
 " nos viros acceperimus multum esse versatos, magis moveamur, quam 
 '• siquando eorum ipsorum aut facta audiamus, aut sci-iptum aliquod lega- 
 " mus ?. ■ . Taota vis admonitionis inest in locis."
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMEli. 
 
 " in modern assemblies debates wliere the <lignity of 
 
 " the speakers was not lowered by the intrigues oi" poliey, 
 " or the intenij^erance of faction ; and where the most splen- 
 " did talents that have ever adorned this country were 
 " roused to their best exertions, by the liberal and ennobling 
 " discussions of literature and philosophy *." 
 
 But the Select Society had an influence yet more ^xten- Its influ*nce 
 sive and permanent in diffusing the taste for letters in Scot- ting the lite- 
 land, and in kindling the fire of genius, which then began to "'^^ '^"^' ' 
 display itself in various works, which have done honour to 
 the national character. Besides the classical compositions 
 
 of 
 
 * Account of the Life and Writings of Dr William Robertson, by Mr Prof- 
 fessor D. Stewart, p. 15., where see in the Appendix a more detailed ac- 
 couilt of the Select Society by Dr Carlyle, and a list of its members in 
 1759. who then amounted to above 130. "Among the most distinguished 
 " speakers," (says Dr Carlyle), "were Sir Gilbert Elliott, Mr Wedder- 
 " burn (Lord Loughborough), Mr Andrew Pringle (Lord Alemoor), Lord 
 " Karnes, Mr Walter Stewart, Lord Elibank, and Dr Robertson. The Ho- 
 " nourable Charles Townshend spoke once : David Hume and Adam Smith 
 " never opened their lips. The Society was also much obliged to Dr Alex- 
 " ander Monro senior. Sir Alexander Dick, and Mr Patrick Murray, Advo- 
 '* cate, who, by their constant attendance and readiness on every subject, sup- 
 " ported the debate during the first year of the establishment, when other- 
 " wise it would have gone heavily on. The same part was afterwards more 
 " ably performed by Lord Monboddo, Lord Elibank, and the Reverend Wil- 
 " liam Wilkie ; all of whom had the peculiar talent of supporting their pa- 
 " radoxical tenets by an inexhaustible fund of humour and argument." 
 
 Vol. I. Z
 
 178 MEMOIRS or THE LIPIl- 
 
 BOOK 11.^ of Hume, Robertson, Smith, and Fercjusson, the wri- 
 tings of John Home, of Professor Wilkie, of Lord 
 Hailes, Lord Monboddo, Sir John Dalrymple, the 
 elder Mr Tytler, all members of the- Select Society of 
 Edinburgh, have thrown a lustre on that institution, as mark- 
 ing the commencement of a literary sera, which it is doubt- 
 ful if the succeeding times have yet seen surpassed. The 
 Tragedy of Douglas has now for fifty years maintained its 
 reputation on the stage, and bids fair to keep its rank among 
 the best productions of the modern English drama. The 
 Epigoniad of Wilkie is the bold attempt of an energetic mind 
 to try its powers in the most arduous path of poetry, the 
 Epic, without that correctness of judgment, and previous 
 discipline in the practice of harmonious numbers, which can 
 alone ensure success in an age of pohsh and refinement. It 
 has accordingly been measured by that standard of criticism, 
 which the most unqualified judges can easily apply,— a com- 
 parison with the most perfect productions of its kind ; and 
 its palpable defects have involved in an indiscriminate con- 
 demnation its less obvious, but real merits *. The writings 
 
 of 
 
 * The merits of the Epigoniad have been illustrated by the pen of no ordi- 
 nary critic, (Mr David Hume), in a letter to the authors of the Critical Re- 
 view, published in that journal for April 1759. After a judicious abstract of 
 the story of the poem, and some very happy specimens of its execution, 
 among which, it is worthy of remark, that there are several passages which 
 another critic, in the same journal, (July 17-37), has selected for censure, 
 
 the
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 179 
 
 of Lord Monboddo display a profound acquaintance with ^^!^[i^ 
 the phik)sopliy of the ancients, which he has explored with 
 the ardour, and admired perhaps with the prejudices of an 
 enthusiast ; but in so far as they relate to criticism and phi- 
 lology, they are valuable monuments of classical taste, and a 
 sound discriminating judgment in the excellencies and de- 
 fects of rhetorical composition *. In the Annals of the Ili- 
 
 Z 2 stoi'i/ 
 
 the writer concludes, " that the execution of the Epigoniad is better than 
 " the design, the poetry superior to the fable, and the colouring of the parti- 
 •' cular parts more excellent than the general plan of the whole'. Of all the 
 " great epic poems which have been the admiration of mankind, the Jerusa- 
 " lent of Tasso alone would make a tolerable novel, if reduced to prose, and 
 " related without that splendour of versification and imagery by which it is 
 " supported : yet, in the opinion of many able judges, the Jerusalem is the 
 " least perfect of all these productions ; chiefly because it has least nature 
 " and simplicity in the sentiments, and is most liable to the objection of af- 
 " fectation and conceit. The story of a poem, whatever may be imagined, is 
 " the least essential part of it : the force of versification, the vivacity of the 
 " images, the justness of the descriptions, the natural play of the passions, are 
 " the chief circumstances which distinguish the great poet from the prosaic 
 " novellist, and give him so high a rank among the heroes in literature : and 
 " I will venture to aflSrm, that all these advantages are to be found in an emi- 
 " nent degree in the Epigoniad." 
 
 * James Burkett of Monboddo, author of the Origin and Progress of LaU' 
 guage, in six volumes 8vo., and of Ancient Metaphysics^ in six volumes Ito., 
 was one of the most learned writers of the eighteenth century. He was born 
 at Monboddo, his paternal seat, in Kincardineshire, in November 1714: he 
 
 was
 
 180 MEMOIKS OF THE LIFE 
 
 ^^°Q ^ "• story of Scotland bj' Lord llailes, we hav-e a remarkable spr-^ 
 cimcn of that acute spirit of investigation which is requisite 
 for developing the sources of authentic history, and that sa- 
 gacity 
 
 was educated at King's College Aberdeen, and studied the civil law at Gro- 
 ningen. He had considerable practice as an Advocate In the Court of Ses- 
 sion, being esteemed an able civilian, and possessing a clear, ornate and for- 
 cible elocution. He was raised to the Bench in 1767> and died in 1799» at 
 the age of 8j. He was a man of great worth, honour, and moral rectitude j 
 but of much singularity of opinions and character, which appeared both in 
 the doctrines contained in his writings, in the strain of his conversation, and 
 in the habits of his life. His notions of the origin of language, arts and 
 sciences, are much akin to those of the Epicureans, of which Lucretius has 
 given an ample detail in his fifth book, De reruni Naturd, and which Horace 
 has abridged in the third of his satires : 
 
 Cum prorepserunt primis animalia terris, 
 Mutum et turpe pecus, glandem atque cubilia proptert 
 Unguibus et pugnis, dein fustibus ; atque ita porro 
 Pugnabant armis quae post fabricaverat usus : 
 Donee verba quibus voces sensusque notarent 
 Nominaque invenere : dehinc absistere bello, 
 Qppida coeperunt munlre, et ponere leges. 
 
 The confirmation of his theory of language, his Lordship finds in the condi- 
 tion of savage nations, in those few examples of human creatures discovered 
 in an insulated state, in deserts, and in the rude and defective nature of some 
 languages, and the highly artificial and philosophic structure of others, as, for 
 exajnple, the Greek, the Sanscreet, &.c. Lord Monboddo carried his admira- 
 tion of the ancients to sucli a pitch, as to maintain their superiority to the mo- 
 derns,
 
 AND M'TIITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 181 
 
 gacity of judgment, and scrupulous zeal in the search of 
 truth, which are fitted to purify those sources from every taint 
 of fiction*. The Memoirs by Sir John Dalrymple, relative 
 
 to 
 
 derns, not only in philosophical attainments, recondite science, the arts of 
 painting, sculpture, architecture, music, poetry, oratory, and all the various 
 species of literary composition ; but even in bodily strength, stature, and 
 longevity ; esteeming the present race of mortals a degenerate breed, both 
 ■with respect to mental and corporeal endowments. Yet, with all these eccen- 
 tricities of opinion, his writings display great erudition, an uncommon ac- 
 quaintance with Greek philosophy and literature, and a just and excellent spi- 
 rit of criticism, both on the authors of antiquity, and on the English classi- 
 cal writers of the last and preceding ages. 
 
 Lord Monboddo's temper was aiFectionate, friendly and social. He was 
 fond of convivial intercourse ; and it was his daily custom to unbend himself, 
 after his professional labours, amidst a select party of literary friends, whom 
 he invited to an early supper. The entertainment itself partook of the cos- 
 tume of the ancients : it had all the variety and abundance of a principal 
 meal ; and the master of the feast crowned his wine, like Anacreon, with a 
 garland of roses. His conversation, too, had a race and favour peculiarly its 
 own : it was nervous, sententious, and tinctured with genuine wit. His 
 apothegms, (or, as his favourite Greeks would rather term them, Tm/Mxi'), 
 were singularly terse and forcible ; and the grave manner in which he often 
 conveyed the keenest irony, and the eloquence with which he supported his 
 paradoxical theories, afforded the highest amusement of those truly attic 
 banquets, which will be long remembered by all who had the pleasure of par- 
 taking in them. 
 
 * Sir David Dalrymple of Hailes, one of the most learned of the Scot- 
 tish Judges in the eighteenth century, was the son of Sir James Dalrymple, 
 
 Auditor 
 
 CHAP. I.
 
 182 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK II. iQ ^ period of the English history which has been subject, 
 perhaps beyond all others, to the distorted representations 
 of party-prejudice, are written with vigour, and with no com-, 
 nion impartiality ; for the writer neither palliates the vices 
 
 of a friend, nor disguises the virtues of an enemy. The 
 
 Iiiquiri/ into the Evidence against Mary, Queen of Scots, by 
 Mr Tvtler, is allowed to be a most acute specimen of histo- 
 rical research, which gave a new direction to the current of 
 
 popular 
 
 Auditor of Exchequer, and great-grandson of the Viscount of Stair. He was 
 born in the year 17'26; and after eighteen years practice as an Advocate in 
 the Court of Session, he was raised to the Bench in 17G6, and to a seat in the 
 Court of Justiciary in 17*0. In addition to the most faithful and exemplary 
 discharge of his official duties, he distinguished himself as an able writer, in 
 various departments of Literature, Historical, Philological, Critical and Theo- 
 logical ; but most particularly, in researches connected with the Antiquities 
 of his native country. His Annals of Scotland is a work of very high merit ; 
 formed in some measure on the plan of the President Henault, in his Abrege 
 Chronologique cle I'Histoire de France, but with a more liberal intermixture of 
 pliilosophic reflection, and a superior acuteness of critical investigation. His 
 hiquiry into the Secondary Causes, which Mr Gibbon has assigned for the ra- 
 pid grovjth of Christianity, has acquired him the reputation of a profound 
 scholar, as well as of an able and sound theologian. The erudition of Lord 
 Hailes was not of a dry and scholastic nature : he felt the beauties of the com- 
 liosition of the ancients ; he entered with taste and discernment into the me- 
 rits of the Latin poets, and that peculiar vein of delicate and ingenious thought 
 which characterizes the Greek epigrammatists -, and a few specimens which 
 he has left of his own composition in that style, evince the hand of a master. 
 It would not be easy to produce from the works of any modern Latin poet, a 
 more delicate, tender, and pathetic effusion, or an idyllion of greater classical 
 
 purity,
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 
 
 popular opinion, Mhilc it furnished a model of controA^ersial 
 discussion, conducted with spirit and resolution, yet free 
 from personality or unbecoming acrimony. 
 
 Of the Select Society, Lord Karnes was one of the chief 
 supporters ; and there are those yet alive who recollect with 
 
 pleasure 
 
 purity, than the following Iambics on a domestic calamity of the severest na- 
 ture : 
 
 On the Death of his first Wife, in Childbed ofTivins, 
 
 Vidi gemellos, et superbivi parens, 
 
 Fausti decus puerperi ; 
 At mox sub uno flebilis vidi parens 
 
 Condi gemellos cespite ! 
 Te, dulcis uxor ! Ut mihi sol occidit, 
 
 Radiante dejectus polo ! 
 Obscura \'itse nunc ego per avia, 
 
 Heu, solus, ac dublus feror ! 
 
 Lord Hailes was a man of wit, and possessed a strong feeling of the absurd 
 and, ridiculous in human conduct and character, which gave a keen edge of 
 irony both to his conversation and writings. To his praise, however, it must 
 be added, that that irony, if not always untinctured with prejudice, was never 
 prompted by malignity, and was generally exerted in the cause of virtue and 
 good morals. 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. His private character was every thing that is praise- 
 worthy and respectable. 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 G7th year, on the 
 29th of November 1792.
 
 MEMOIKS OF THE LIFE 
 
 pleasure the brilliant display of his fancy and ingenuity in 
 unpremeditated discussions on the various topics, literary 
 and philosophical, which furnished their debates. It may 
 indeed with truth be asserted, that no association of which 
 he was a member Avas ever known to flag, or abate in the 
 spirited prosecution of its objects, while he took a share in 
 its proceedings. 
 
 The Philo- 
 sophical So- 
 ciety. 
 
 A Society had been instituted in Edinburgh, in 1731, for 
 the improvement of medical knowledge, by collecting and 
 publishing Essays and Observations on the various branches 
 of Medicine and Surgeiy. The plan of this Society was en- 
 larged, in 17395 at the suggestion of the celebrated Mac- 
 LAURiN, and extended to subjects of philosophy and litera- 
 ture. It was now known by the title of the Society for Im- 
 proving Arts and Sciences, but more generally by that of 
 The Philosophical Society of Edinhtirgh *. At what period 
 
 Mr 
 
 * The President of the Society was James, Earl of Morton, afterwards 
 President of the Royal Society of London ; its Vice-Presidents, Sir John 
 Clerk of Pennycuik, one of the Barons of Exchequer, and Dr John Clerk ; its 
 Secretaries, Mr Maclaurin and Dr Plummer; and its ordinary members, some 
 of the most distinguished men of letters in Scotland at the time f . The 
 meetings of the Society were interrupted for some years, from the disorders 
 
 of 
 
 t In the Scois Magazine for June 1S04, are two letters from Professor Maclaurin 
 to his friend Professor Johnston of Glasgow, respecting the institution of this So- 
 ciety, and its early proceedings.
 
 AND WRITINGS or LOUD KAMES. 
 
 ^r Home had first become a meml)cr of this Society is un- 
 ■certain ; but it appears from a letter oi l)r Franklin to him 
 in February 170>9, t!»iit he had a short time before been elect- 
 ed its President ; and in the volume of the Transactions of 
 that body, published in 1771, under the title of Essaijs and 
 Observations, Vhysical and Literari/, are three papers of his 
 writing, viz. on the Laws of Motion, on the Advantages of 
 vShallow Ploughing, and on Evaporation. 'J'hey evince that 
 ingenuity which is conspicuous in all his productions ; but 
 the papers oia the subject of Physics are not built on sound 
 principles. 
 
 The disquisition by Lord Kames on the Laws of Motion, Lo^d Karnes's 
 is a striking example of two very dangerous errors in philo- Law oTmo- 
 sophy : The one is, an unwillingness to acknowledge the ex- 
 istence 
 
 of the country during the Rebellion 1745-6, and the subsequent death of Mac- 
 laurin : they v/ere renewed, however, in 17.3'i ; and under the direction of its 
 new Secretaries, David Hume and Dr Alexander Monro, the first volume of 
 its Transactions was published in 17J-1, and the second in 17 06, and the third 
 in 177 1. In 178<2, a scheme was proposed by Dr Robertson, Principal of the 
 University, for the establishment of a Society on a more extended plan, which, 
 upon the model of some of the foreign Academies, should have for its object 
 the cultivation of every branch of science, erudition and taste. This plan 
 was carried into effect; vsii The Royal Society of Edinburgh, which compre- 
 hended all the members of the Philosophical Society, and many others emi- 
 nent in science and in literature, was incorporated by charter from tlie King, 
 in 1783. 
 
 Vol. L a a 
 
 tion.
 
 186 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK ir. 
 
 istence of ultimate facts, both in the philosophy of inatttu' 
 and of mind, beyond which the powers of human reason are 
 not fitted to penetrate : and the other, the want of a due at- 
 tention to the proper provinces of physical and metaphysi- 
 cal reasoning, and the blending of those two species of in- 
 vestigation and argument, which ought always to be kept se- 
 parate and distinct. 
 
 The connexion between impulse and motion is now gene- 
 rally allowed by the ablest philosophers to be one of those 
 phenomena in nature that cease to occasion surprise, by 
 their continual recurrence to our observation, but which, 
 when attempted to be explained, are utterly unaccountable 
 to human reason ; so that we must satisfy ourselves at last 
 with holding them as ultimate facts, beyond Avhich our in- 
 vestigation of causes cannot proceed. Sir Isaac Newton 
 has laid down the laws of motion, which are discoverable 
 from uniform experience and the observation of facts ; but 
 he never attempted to go further, or to investigate the effi-: 
 cient cause of motion, or the connexion betAveen the impel- 
 ling power and the object impelled. So the same great phi- 
 losopher, although he discovered and explained the law of 
 universal gravitation as operating on all the material uni- 
 verse, never pretended to discover the primary cause why 
 that law of gravitation universally took place. He knew the 
 attempt was fruitless, and that all that human intellect could 
 
 attain
 
 AND WRITINGS OF I.0U1> KAMKS. 18? 
 
 attain to wa8, to asccrtaiB existence of the hnr, from the , cha v. i. ^ 
 universality of the phenomenon *. 
 
 It has l)een very generally held as a maxim in metapliysi- 
 cal reasoning, that those objects which stand in the relation 
 of cause and effect, are contiguous to each other, and that 
 " nothing can operate in a time or place which is ever so 
 " little removed from those of its existence." — " The relation 
 *' of contiguity," says Mr David Hume, " we now consider 
 " as essential to that of causation." 1'he admission of this 
 maxim as a principle of metaph3'sics, (a position however 
 by no means free of doubt, even in that species of reason* 
 ing), has led some philosophers to apply the same maxim to 
 physical causes, where sensible experience tells us that it can- 
 
 A a 2 not 
 
 * It may be alleged in opposition to this assertion, that Newton endeavour- 
 ed to account for the gravitation or deflection of the planets to each other, by 
 means of an elastic Ether filling the whole space of the solar system, and in- 
 creasing in density according to its distance from the sun. But by this con» 
 jecture, Newton knew well, that he did nothing more, supposing the conjec- 
 ture true, than ascend one step higher in the inquiry ; for, allowing an elastic 
 etlver to exist, this was only the discovery of another law of nature ; the que- 
 stion still remained, What was the cause of that elasticity ? Newton clearly 
 saw this consequence, and therefore he very early abandoned his conjecture 
 as fruitless ; or at least put so little value upon it as to make no use of it. 
 Nay, in an edition of his Principia, published under liis own eye, there is a 
 preface to the work, written by Mr Cotes, a very eminent geometrician, in 
 which the absurdity of the hypothesis of an elastic ether is completely ex- 
 posed. See Dr Robison's Elements of Mechanical Philosophy, p. 350.
 
 188 MEMOIRS OF TIIK LIFE 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 ' u ' 
 
 not possibly be founded in truth. Tlie phenomena of Vi- 
 sion, of Magnetism, of universal Gravitation, are all di- 
 rect contradictions to the maxim. That causes and effects 
 are contiguous, and that nothing can operate but where it is. 
 Lord Kames, in speculating upon the laws of motion, was 
 unwarily led to conceive that the maxim above alluded to, 
 must be received as an axiom in physics ; and the scope of 
 his Essay on that subject, is to establish the three folloAving 
 propositions : Fh^st, That motion is a continued action, 
 which must infer some power continually acting : Secondly, 
 That as matter resists a change from rest to motion, as well 
 as from motion to rest, this resistance is not to be accounted 
 for by the mere negation of a cause, but must be held as a 
 positive effect, requiring a cause, as much as motion does : 
 Thirdly, That inanimate matter is endowed Avith a power to 
 preserve itself in motion ; Avhich power is of a different kind 
 from that which resists a change from rest to motion. 
 
 &" 
 
 It would be an unprofitable task to enter into the consi- 
 deration of the arguments which the author employs, in sup- 
 port of these propositions, or to engage in a serious refuta- 
 tion of them. AVe have seen that these notions had occu- 
 pied his attention at a very early period of life, and were the 
 subject of a keen epistolary controversy between liim and the 
 celebrated Andrew Baxter *. After an interval of many 
 
 years 
 
 * See supra, p. 17.
 
 AND WRITfNGS OF LORD KAMES. 189 
 
 years from the publication of this Essay on tlie I/aws of Mo- y^^^' ' 
 tion, the same speculations were resumed by liorcl Karnes in 
 the latter period of his life ; and among his letters of corre- 
 spondence, are several from Dr Thomas Reid on this sub- 
 ject, in which that acute philosopher, with all the precision 
 and perspicuity which distinguish his writings, canvasses the 
 opinions of his friend, and with admirable patience, endea- 
 vours to convince him of his errors. These letters, the last 
 of which was addressed to Lord Kames within a very few 
 weeks of his death, and Avhen in the 86th year of his age, 
 the reader will find at NO. IX. of the Appendix. Among 
 other considerations they naturally suggest is this, which I 
 cannot but regard as a phenomenon fertile both of pleasing 
 and of melancholy reflection ; that in the last stage of our 
 existence, it is a favourite occupation of the mind, not only 
 to recall the remembrance of the scenes and actions of our 
 youth, but to retrace those ideas, and cherish those specula- 
 tions Avhich first engaged our reasoning powers *. 
 
 The 
 
 i^ An eminent philosopher, in treating of the influence of prevailing habits 
 of association on our usual train of thinking, assimilates this favourite em- 
 ployment of the mind in old age, of recalling the scenes and occupations of 
 youth, to the state of the mind in dreaming. Things present to the senses 
 are not perceived, and the memory rests with a stronger attention on those 
 objects and actions which engaged us while the facility of association was 
 greater than it is found to be in our maturer years. — Elements of the Philo- 
 sophy
 
 190 
 
 ■MEMOIRS OP THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK ir. 
 
 His friend- 
 sliip with 
 Ad.im 
 Smith. 
 
 The influence of Lord Karnes's patronage, joined to his 
 example, was felt in a very eminent degree in many depart- 
 ments of literature. It was by his persuasion and encou- 
 ragement, that Mr Adam Smith, soon after his return from 
 Oxford, and when he had abandoned all views towards the 
 Church, for which he had been originally destined, was in- 
 duced to turn his early studies to the benefit of the pvdilic, 
 by reading a course of Lectures on Rhetoric and the Belles 
 Leftrcs. He delivered those lectures at Edinburgh in 1748, 
 and the two following years, to a respectable auditory, 
 chiefly composed of students in law and theology* ; till call- 
 ed 
 
 sopiiy nfthe Human Mind, by Professor D. StewarT, chap. v. sect. 5. This 
 account of the phenomenon is probably in a great measure true ; and it must 
 be allowed to be in so far a source of melancholy reflection, that it presumes 
 a decay of some of the mental powers : But I am persuaded that the pleasure 
 we take in old age, in reviewing the scenes and occupations of infancy and 
 youth, is chiefly to be referred to another source ; to that admirable faculty 
 of our nature, by which, in defect of present amusements, we can retrace by 
 the aid of memory and imagination the scenes and actions which furnished our 
 past enjoyments, and feed upon that mental picture with a relish very little 
 inferior to that which we formerly felt from the reality ; — a most beautiful 
 part of the human economy, and which we cannot contemplate without a f^f- 
 vent emotion of gratitude to that Power who so framed us. 
 
 * Among Mr Smith's pupils as students of rhetoric, were Mr Alexander 
 Wcdderburn (Lord Chancellor Loughborough) ; Mr William Johnston (Sir 
 William Pulteney) ; Mr Oswald of Dunnikeir ; Mr John Millar (Professor of 
 Law) ; Mr Hugh Blair, and others, who made a distinguished figure both in the 
 department of literature and in public life.
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LOUD KAMES. 1.91 
 
 ed to Glasgow in. 1751," to fill the Cliair of Logic in that chap. i. 
 University, whicli lie soon after exchanged tor the Professor- 
 ship of Moral Philosophy, vacant by the death of the cele- 
 brated Dr Francis Hutcheson. 
 
 With every thing most interesting relative to the character 
 and talents of Dr Adam Smith, the public is suthciently ac- 
 quainted, from the learned and philosophical Account of his 
 Life and Writings by Mr Professor Stewart. The connexion 
 between him and Lord Kames, which began at an early pe- 
 riod, subsisted tiirough life, with mutual and undiminished 
 esteem. While they canvassed with freedom the opinions 
 of each other on those subjects where there was a coinci- 
 dence of research or discussion, as happened on more than 
 one topic both of politics and of morals, their friendship suf- 
 fered no abatement from their difference of sentiment in 
 matters of speculation. Li Dr Smith's elaborate w-ork On 
 the Wealth of Nations, several topics are discussed which 
 had previously been treated by Lord Kames, under the head 
 of Finances, in his Sketches of the Histori/ of Man ; and in 
 particular, on the subject of Taxes, there is, in some points, 
 a considerable difference of opinion, as in others a striking 
 coincidence between these two able writers*. Dr Smith's 
 Theory of Moral Sentiments had not appeared, till after the 
 publication of two editions of his friend's Essays on the Prin- 
 ciples 
 
 * Sse posted, Book HI. Chap. V.
 
 192 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK II. ciplcs of MonUitij and yaiural Religion. Lord Karnes read 
 the work with attention, and finding it necessary to canvass 
 and impugn the system of sympathy, Avhich he judged to be 
 by far too narrow a basis on which to build all the moral feel- 
 inos and social duties of man, he sent to Dr Smith a tran- 
 script of the observations on his theory, which he had prepa- 
 red to insert in a third edition of the Essai/s on Moralih/i 
 then about to be published *. Tlie following letter on that 
 
 subject 
 
 * The objections here alluded to, are sufficient to overturn the theory of 
 sympathy, being the sole foundation of morality. It is observed by Lord 
 Kames, on the notion of Mr Smith, That sympathy with the sufferings of ano- 
 ther depends on our imagining what would be our own feelings were we in 
 his place ; Jirst, That if the torments of a man on the rack be not obvious to 
 our senses from his screams and contortions, we should learn nothing from 
 any fiction of our own imagination that we were in the sufferer's place ; that, 
 on the contrary, instead of placing ourselves in his situation, we derive sa- 
 tisfaction in every such case, from the consciousness that we are exempted 
 from those sufferings, for which, notwithstanding, we feel the strongest pity ; 
 and that this play of the imagination, therefore, instead of being the origin and 
 cause of our feelings, tends in truth to moderate and diminish it. Second/j, 
 If this theory were true, it would follow, that those in whom the power of 
 fancy was the strongest, would be the most subject to the impressions of sym- 
 pathy, and feel the most sensibly the force of the moral duties founded on that 
 supposed basis ; and vice versa ; a fact contradicted by daily experience. 
 Lastly, It is observed, that this theory, though pretending to give an account 
 of the origin of our moral sentiments, in so far as they respect others, fails 
 altogether in accounting for such sentiments as regard ourselves : " My di- 
 " stress," (says Lord Kames), " upon losing an only son, or my gratitude for 
 
 " a
 
 AND WRITINCxS Or LORD KAMES. 193 
 
 subject from Dr Smith, is equally to the honour of both cor- 
 respondents. 
 
 " .My Dear Lord, Nov. 16. 1778. 
 
 " I am much obliged to you for the kind communication 
 of the objections you propose to make, in your new edition, 
 to my system. Nothing can be more perfectly friendly and 
 polite than the terms in which you express yourself with re- 
 gard 
 
 " a kindly office, are sentiments that neither need to be explained, by ima- 
 " gining myself to be another person, nor do they admit of such explanation." 
 
 ^Essays on Principles of Morality, edit. .'i. p. 10!j. ct seq To the T'i/eory 
 
 of Moral Sentiments, a work certainly of great ingenuity, may be most justly 
 applied the observation made by David Hume, in the beginning of his Essay 
 entitled "The Sceptic. " There is one mistake to which they (philosophers) 
 " seem liable almost without exception ; they confine too much their prin- 
 " ciples, and make no account of that vast variety which Nature has so much 
 " affected in all her operations. When a philosopher has once laid hold of a 
 " favourite principle, Vv'hich perhaps accounts for many natural effects, he ex- 
 " tends the same principle over the whole creation, and reduces to it every 
 " phenomenon, though by the most violent and absurd reasoning. Our own 
 '* mind being narrow and contracted, we cannot extend our conception to the 
 " variety and extent of Nature, but imagine that she is as much bounded in 
 " her operations, as we are in our speculation." — But David Hume himself, 
 (so blind are we to our own failings), fell under this very censure which he 
 has here justly pronounced on the theories of others. His own theory of Uti- 
 lity has been extended beyond its due bounds, with as little propriety, and 
 with the same partial fondness for a favourite principle, as the Sympathy of 
 Adam Smith. 
 
 Vol. I. Bb 
 
 CHAP. I.
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 gard to me ; and I should be extremely peevish and ill-tem- 
 pered, if I could make the slightest opposition to their pu- 
 blication. I am no doubt extremely sorry to find myself of 
 a different opinion, both from so able a judge of the subject, 
 and from so old and so good a friend : But difi'erences of 
 this kind are unavoidable ; and, besides, Partium conteti- 
 tionibus respublica crescit. I should have been waiting on 
 your Lordship before this time, but the remains of a cold 
 have for these four or five days past, made it inconvenient 
 to go out in the evening. Remember me to Mrs Drum- 
 mond ; and believe me to be your most obliged and most 
 humble servant, 
 
 Adam Smith." 
 
 £)r Robert 
 Watson. 
 
 On Mr Smith's removal to Glasgow in 1751 *, Mr Ro- 
 bert 
 
 ],'* Mr Smith filled the chair of Professor of Moral Philosophy at Glasgow 
 for twelve years with great reputation, when he was induced to quit that esta- 
 blishment at the earnest request of Mr Charles Townshend, who was desirous 
 he should undertake the office of travelling tutor to Henry, Duke of Buc- 
 cleuch. " The liberal terms," (says Mr Stewart), " in which the proposal 
 " was made to him, added to the strong desire he had felt of visiting the 
 " Continent of Europe, induced him to resign his office at Glasgow." His 
 elegant biographer was probably unacquainted with an anecdote attending 
 this resignation, which is of a nature so truly characteristic of the eminent 
 person to whom it relates, that I am glad to seize the slightest pretence for 
 inserting it. — When Mr Smith undertook the charge of accompanying the 
 Duke of Buccleuch to the Continent, it became necessary for him to resign 
 
 his
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 
 
 BERT Watson, afterwards Principal of the University of 
 St Andrew's, (and distinguished as the able and judicious 
 
 13 b 2 historian 
 
 his Professorship in the College of Glasgow, in the middle of his annual 
 course of lectures. He procured a literary friend, in whose talents he had 
 perfect confidence, to finish the course ; and furnished him, for that purpose, 
 with the notes from which he had been in use to deliver his prelections ; thus 
 providing as well as he could, that his pupils might suffer no disadvantage 
 from the change. But still fearing that there was some injustice done to those 
 young men who had paid the usual fees on the faith of having the benefit of a 
 complete course of his lectures, he resolved to set his conscience at ease upon 
 that score. After concluding his last lecture, and publicly announcing from the 
 Chair, that he was naw taking a final leave of his auditors ; acquainting them 
 at the same time with the arrangement he had made to the best of his povirer 
 for their benefit; he drew from his pocket the several fees of the students, 
 wrapped up in separate paper parcels, and calling up each man by his name, 
 he delivered to the first who was called, ths money into his hand. The 
 young man peremptorily refused to accept it, declaring, that the instruction 
 and pleasure he had already received, was much more than he either had re- 
 paid, or ever could compensate : and a general cry w^as heard from every oiie 
 in the room, to the same effect. But Mr Smith was not to be bent from his 
 purpose. After warmly expressing his feelings of gratitude, and the strong 
 sense he had of the regard shewn him by his young friends, he told them, this 
 was a matter betwixt him and his own mind, and that he could not rest satis- 
 fied unless he performed what he deemed right and proper. — " You must not 
 " refuse me this satisfaction. — Nay, by heavens, gentlemen, you shall not ;" — 
 and seizing by the coat the yoimg man who stood next to him, he thrvist the 
 money into his pocket, and then pushed him from him. The rest saw it was in 
 v.ain to contest the matter, and were obliged to let him take his own way. — 
 It is not always that the speculative doctrines of the philosopher thus in- 
 fluence his conduct and practice.
 
 196 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK ir. historian of Philip II. *), at that time a young man, who 
 had recently obtained his licence as a preacher, had become 
 known to Lord Kanies, who judging very favourably of his 
 taste and literary acquirements, prompted him to undertake 
 a similar course of lectures to that which Mr Smith had de- 
 livered in Edinburgh. The scheme was equally successful; 
 and on Mr Watson's removal to St Andrews, a successor for 
 the Lectureship on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres was ear- 
 nestly sought by Lord Kames, and as fortunately found in 
 DrHugh the Reverend Hugh Blair, avIio had risen to merited di- 
 stinction by the cultivation of pulpit eloquence, and who, in 
 1758, was appointed first minister of the High Church of 
 Edinburgh, the most respectable situation for a clergyman 
 under the national establishment. The merits of Dr Blair 
 as a teacher of elocution were so conspicuous, that after lec- 
 turing for one year to a private audience, he was chosen 
 Professor of Rhetoric by the Magistrates and Town-Council 
 of Edinburgh ; and in 1762, on a representation to his Ma- 
 jesty, setting forth the advantages of the institution as a 
 branch of academical education, the King was pleased to 
 ' endow a Professorship of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres in that 
 
 University, 
 
 * A continuation of this work, containing the reign of Philip III. was 
 left imperfect by Dr Watson at his death. It was very ably completed, and 
 published for the benefit of his heirs, by Dr William Thomson, known as the 
 author of several ingenious works, and whom I have mentioned as the transla- 
 tor of Cunningham's History of Great Britain, (Appendix, NO. I. p. 5.)
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 197 
 
 University, and to appoint Dr Blair the first Regius Pro- ^"'^^ ^• 
 fessor. 
 
 These Lectures on Rhetoric have been for several years 
 known to tlie public. They were printed by their excellent 
 author, in the latter period of his life, after he had retired 
 from the discharge of his academical duties. They contain 
 an accurate analysis of the principles of literary composition, 
 in all the various species of writing ; a happy illustration of 
 those principles by the most beautiful and apposite ex- 
 amples, drawn from the best authors both ancient and mo- 
 dern ; and an admirable digest of the rules of elocution, as 
 applicable to the oratory of the pulpit, the bar, and the po- 
 pular assembly. They do not aim at the character of a 
 work purely original ; for this, as the author justly consider- 
 ed, M^ould have been to circumscribe their utility ; neither, 
 in point of style, are they polished with the same degree of 
 care that the author has bestowed on some of his other 
 works, as, for example, his Sermons : Yet so useful is the ob- 
 ject of these lectures, so comprehensive their plan, and such 
 the excellence of the matter they contain, that, if not the 
 most splendid, they will perhaps prove the most durable 
 monument of their author's reputation. 
 
 But not only is the public indebted to the patronage of 
 Lord Karnes for this valuable work, the Lectures on Rhe- 
 toric, and the consequent establishment of a permanent pro- 
 fessorship
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 fessorship by royal endowment for that useful branch of 
 science : It appears by a letter from Dr Blair, that it was at 
 the earnest instigation of the former he was induced to pu- 
 blish those Sermojis, of which it is but the smallest merit, 
 that they are a model for the eloquence of the pulpit. 
 
 " My Lord, Julij 2. 1777- 
 
 " I am very much obliged to yovi for the friendly com- 
 munication you gave me by letter ; the more so, that though 
 the general success of the book is far beyond my expecta- 
 tion, (a fourth edition being now gone to the press), yet I 
 had learnt no particulars concerning its reception in Lon- 
 don, except what I got in a letter from Mrs Montagu, and 
 by communication from Lord Mansfield, who is a great 
 friend to it. Your Lordship may take to yourself the credit 
 of it ; for you was the first person who prompted, and for 
 many years continued to impel the publication, when I 
 would not believe that the public would listen to any thing 
 which carried the title of sermons. 1 am in my old country 
 
 quarters, &c. 1 ever am, &c. 
 
 Hugh Blair.'' 
 
 Professor 
 John Millar. 
 
 Among those young men of talents whom the patronage 
 of Lord Karnes contributed to bring forward with advan- 
 tage, and whose genius took its direction from his own lite- 
 rary and philosophical pursuits, was Mr John Millar, 
 who for many years sustained a very high reputation by his 
 
 pubUc
 
 AND WRITIl^GS OF lORD KAMES. 199 
 
 public Lectures in the University of Glasgow, on Law and , char i. 
 Government. Mr Millar, the son of a clergyman, had been 
 educated with a view to the Scottish Church ; but having 
 early conceived a dishke to that profession, and turned his 
 attention to the study of the law, he was invited by I^ord 
 Karnes to reside in his family, and superintend, in the qua- 
 lity of preceptor, the education of his son, Mr George 
 Drummond-Home. Lord Kames found in young Millar a 
 congenial ardour of intellect, a mind turned to philosophical 
 speculation, a considerable fund of reading, and what above 
 all things he delighted in, a talent for supporting a meta- 
 physical argument in conversation, with much ingenuity and 
 vivacity. The tutor of the son became the pupil and com- 
 panion of the father ; and the two 3^ears before Mr IMillar 
 was called to the Bar, were spent, with great improvement 
 on his part, in acciuiring those enlarged views of the union 
 of law with philosophy, which he afterwards displa3"ed Avith 
 uncommon ability in his academical lectures on Jurispru- 
 dence. The Professorship of Law at Glasgow having be- 
 come vacant by the death of ]\Ir Hercules Lindsay, Mr Mil- 
 lar offered himself a candidate ; and, supported by the re- 
 commendation of Lord Kames and Dr Adam Smith, was 
 elected into that office in 1761 ; about sixteen months after 
 he had put on the gown of an Advocate. The reputation 
 of the University, as a school of jurisprudence, rose from 
 that acquisition ; and although the republican prejudices of 
 Mr Millar gave to his Lectures on Politics and Government, 
 a character justly considered as repugnant to the well-attem- 
 pered
 
 200 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK II. 
 »■ u- J 
 
 pered frame and equal balance of our improved constitution, 
 there Avere few who attended those lectures, without at least 
 an increase of knowledge ; or who have perused his writings *, 
 
 without 
 
 * Professor Millar's writings are, an Essay, entitled, "The Origin of the 
 Distinction of Ranks, — An Historical View of the English Government from the 
 Settlement of the Saxons in Britain to the Accession of the House of Stuart i and a 
 Continuation of the same Worik from that period to the Revolution ; with some de- 
 tached Dissertations illustrative of the succeeding History of the Constitution 
 down to the present times. In the first of these works, "The Origin of the 
 Distinction of Ranks, the author is a disciple of the school of Montesquieu. 
 The talent of generalizing appeared to him to be the characteristic of a phi- 
 losophic inquirer into the history of Human Nature. Assuming it as a prin- 
 ciple, that man is every where, and in all situations, the same animal ; that his 
 conduct is influenced by general laws, and that no considerable change in his 
 condition happens, through accidental circumstances, or individual exertion, 
 but that all arises necessarily, by an uniform and natural process, which can 
 neither be effectually resisted, nor prematurely accelerated ; he deduces from 
 those general laws, and in conformity with those principles, a very ingenious 
 and amusing delineation of the progress of society from barbarism to refine- 
 ment. The recording of authentic facts, the display of historic truth, is 
 much less an object with such writers, than ingenious argument, and plau- 
 sible theory. Forgetting that it is only the most extensive knowledge of the 
 actual history of man, in every age and country, that can enable us even to 
 form a conjecture, where authentic history is silent ; and dismissing entirely 
 from their consideration those powerful springs of revolution, accident, and 
 individual character, such philosophers are bold enough to determine not only 
 what man, ought to be, but to prove, by a priori reasoning, what in certain si- 
 tuations he has been, and in similar circumstances ever must be. It is to 
 this sort of specula^tion that PJr Stewart, in his Life of Smith, has given the 
 name of T^hcoretical or Conjectural History, and assigned to it a higher praise 
 than perhaps is strictly its due. The writings of Lord- Karnes, particularly 
 
 his
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 
 
 without deriving from them much valualjlc informa- 
 tion *. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 his Sketches of the History of Man, furnish many examples of it ; but the most 
 complete, and incomparably the most elegant specimen which the literature 
 of this country affords of that sort of inquiry, is Dr Fergusson's Essay on the 
 History of Civil Society, 
 
 In Mr Millar's writings on the English Government, we observe the same 
 spirit of system, and the same partiality to hypothetical reasoning ; though 
 resting, as may be supposed, on a more solid foundation of facts ; and the less 
 dangerous in its tendency, as being every where capable of scrutiny from ac- 
 tual history. In his delineation of the later periods of our parliamentary hi- 
 story, Mr Millar seems to have been impressed with an unreasonable alarm, 
 that the liberties of the subject are in perpetual danger from an increase of the 
 influence of the Crown. Under our constitution, as new-modelled at the Revo- 
 lution, and fenced by many salutary enactments since that ara, the event thus 
 dreaded is utterly chimerical. The Crown can have no influence, but through 
 an aristocracy, whose interests are essentially connected with the liberties of 
 the people, and the prosperity of the State. On the other hand, the real dan- 
 ger, (as experience has but too well evinced), and therefore the just subject 
 of alarm to every good citizen, is the increasing influence of the democratic 
 branch of the constitution ; and that ambition of power, felt by every turbu- 
 lent spirit, even among the lowest orders of the people, which prompts to exert 
 an active controul over his rulers, to interfere in the conduct of Government, 
 and to resist its operations, whenever he fancies restraints, or dreams of grie- 
 vances. It was not from his venerable Master, that the Professor drew his 
 
 political opinions, or his Theories of Government. On the contrary. Lord 
 Kames never failed to express his unqualified disapprobation of those doctrines ; 
 and the partial regard which he entertained for his former pupil, suffered, in 
 the latter period of his life, on that account, a marked abatement. 
 
 * See a detailed account of these Lectures, and of the author's Writings, in 
 a Life of Mr Millar, by his nephew, John Craig, Esq; prefixed to the last 
 edition of 'The Origin of Ranks, &c. 
 
 Vol. I. Co
 
 202 
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Lord Karnes associated with the Trustees for Arts and, Manu- 
 factures, ^'C. — His Abridgment of the Statute-Law. — His 
 views for the improvement of the Law. — His correspondence 
 with Loi'd Hardwicke. — Historical Law-Tracts. — History 
 of the Criminal Law. — Historij of Properti/. — Origin of 
 Entails. — Principles of Equity. — Lord Hardwicke' s opinion 
 of that work. — Sir William Blackstone's ideas of Equity. — 
 His censure of Lord Karnes's work examined. 
 
 BOOK. n. 
 
 Lord Kames 
 associated 
 with the 
 Trustees for 
 Arts and 
 Man'ifac- 
 tures. 
 
 In 1755, Lord Kames was appointed a Member of the 
 Board of Trustees for the Encouragement of the Fisheries, 
 Arts and Manufactures of Scotland ; and in the same or fol- 
 lowing year, he was chosen one of the Commissioners for the 
 management of the forfeited Estates, annexed to the Crown, 
 of which the rents were destined to be applied to the im- 
 provement of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland *. In 
 
 the 
 
 * The appointment of the Board of 'trustees in Scotland, took its rise from 
 the Treaty of Union ; by the 15th article of which, it was stipulated, that a 
 certain sum should be paid to Scotland, as an equivalent for such part of the 
 
 customs
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAWES. 
 
 the discharge of these inijK)rtant trusts, which regulated the 
 expenditure of a very large annual revenue, in purposes of 
 national utility, and particularly in the advancement of agri- 
 
 C c 2 culure 
 
 customs and excise-duties laid upon that kingdom as should be applied to- 
 wards the payment of the national debt of England. This equivalent was to 
 admit of a proportional increase, according to the increase of the said duties ;. 
 and its application was directed to be made to certain purposes of public uti- 
 lity within the kingdom of Scotland. First, It was directed that all the pu- 
 blic debts should thence be discharged : Secondly, It was appointed, that the 
 sum of L. '2.000 per annum should for seven years be applied to the encourage- 
 ment of the manufacture of coarse wool ; and after that period, " towards en- 
 " couraging the fisheries, and such manufactures and improvements in Scot- 
 " land, as may most conduce to the general good of the united kingdom." 
 Commissioners at the same time were appointed for the management of that 
 special fund, and their accounts declared to be open to the inspection of all 
 the subjects. In the year 1727, on a representation from certain public spi- 
 rited gentlemen in Scotland, (Duncan Forbes, King's Advocate ; Charles 
 Areskine, King's Solicitor ; Baron Sir John Clerk ; Lord Royston, Lord Mil- 
 ton, and others), seconded by an application from the Convention of the Royal 
 Boroughs of the kingdom, his Majesty King George I. issued letters-patent 
 for the appointment of a Board of 'Trustees, with powers to follow out a regu- 
 lar plan, -which they had previously digested, for the application of the fund 
 above mentioned, in such manner as to render its distribution as generally be- 
 neficial as possible. The revenue under the management of these Trustees, 
 who are always persons of the first respectability in the kingdom, and who 
 officiate gratuitously, is at present above L. 7000 Sterling per annum i and it 
 is believed no trust was ever more faithfully administered. 
 
 The Board of Annexed Estates was of a similar nature with respect to the 
 chief purposes of its institution. After the Rebellion in 174j, the estates 
 
 forfeited
 
 204 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 ^°o^"- ^ culture and manufactures in this part of the united king- 
 dom, he was a zealous, and faithful servant of the public. 
 He regularly attended the stated meetings of those Boards, 
 generally officiating as Chairman, and taking a most active 
 concern in all their proceedings. In the assignment of boun- 
 ties, and the distribution of premiums to deserving manufac- 
 turers and artisans, or the discoverers of viseful inventions, 
 his conduct was uniformly actuated by a strict sense of 
 duty. fie was inflexible in resisting every claim which 
 sought any other support than its own merits. In the midst 
 of his professional and literary occupations, he was at all 
 
 times 
 
 forfeited on that account were vested in the Crown, for the special purposes, 
 (as declared in the act of annexation, 25th Geo. II. c. 41.) " of civilizing the 
 " inhabitants on the said estates,- and those of the other parts of the Highlands 
 " and Islands of Scotland, the promoting among them the Protestant religion, 
 " good government, industry and manufactures, and the principles of loyalty, 
 " and no other purposes whatever." It is declared by the same act to be the 
 intention of Government " to erect public schools on those estates in the 
 " Highlands and Islands for the education of youth, and for instructing them 
 " in agriculture and manufactures, and also to erect and institute manufac- 
 " tories" from the produce of the said estates. The execution of those great 
 public purposes was vested in Commissioners, many of whom were likewise 
 members of the Board of Trustees for the Fisheries and Manufactures, and all 
 of them men of high rank and character, who had no other reward of their 
 services than the praise of faithfully executing a patriotic trust for the bene- 
 fit of their country. The Board of Commissioners for the Annexed Estates, 
 was of course superseded, by the restitution of those estates in 1784 to the 
 heirs of the forfeiting persons, — a measure, on the part of Government, of the 
 most generous and enlightened policy.
 
 AND WRITINGS OV LORD KAMES. 205 
 
 times easy of access to the meanest individual who had any ,^"'^'; "-^ 
 application to make to those Boards ; and was ready not 
 only to advise, but even to assist the ignorant and needy 
 suitor, in bringing his claims fairly into view *. 
 
 Those important branches of national industry had always 
 occupied a large share of his attention, as is evident from 
 his writings on a great variety of subjects of political eco- 
 nomy. It was therefore equally for the public advantage, 
 and gratifying to his own feelings, that he was now enabled 
 to take an active part in reducing to practice many favourite 
 topics of his speculations. Amidst his private correspon- 
 dence 
 
 * " I have frequently," said the late Dr John Walker, (Professor of Na- 
 tural History, a gentleman who knew Lord Karnes intimately), " visited him 
 " of a morning ; and his breakfast, which was at an early hour, was a very 
 " elegant one, and usually a sort of levee ; — those of his acquaintance who 
 •' came to ask his advice, or to talk to him on matters that interested them ; 
 " young lawyers who walked with him to the Court, (as the Patro/ii were 
 " attended of old at Rome) ; and sometimes strangers, who had been recom- 
 " mended to his attention and patronage ; and I seldom missed finding in the 
 " lobby some tradesmen or country men, who came to speak to him about ap- 
 •' plications they had made to the Board of Trustees, for bounties, or pre- 
 " miums for new inventions, or to the Commissioners of Annexed Estates : 
 " and all such applications he listened to with the utmost attention. To do 
 " Mrs Drummond justice, she never failed to remind him of those poor peti- 
 •* tioners and their claims ; in which, to say the truth, she took a very great 
 " interest herself. She was an admirable woman, and seconded all her hus- 
 " band's useful plans and intentions."
 
 206 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK ir. dence are many letters, which furnish proofs that his atten- 
 tion was alternately directed to almost every branch of agri- 
 culture and manufactures which could be beneficially adopt- 
 ed in Scotland ; — the practice of new modes, and the intro- 
 duction of new instruments of husbandry ; the economi- 
 zing; of the labour both of men and cattle ; the inclosure 
 and culture of wastes and moors ; the rearing of forest-tim- 
 ber ; the draining and cultivation of moss-lands ; the raising 
 and spinning of Hax ; the growth and storing of winter-fod- 
 der for cattle ; the improvement of the breed of sheep ; and 
 the introduction of the manufacture of coarse woollen-s tuffs. 
 In the promotion of these most useful purposes, his perse- 
 verance was superior to every obstruction arising from pre- 
 judices or indolence : his endeavours were ably and judi- 
 ciously directed ; and as his example tended powerfully to 
 excite the emulation of others, so he may be said to have 
 kindled the spirit of improvement in Scotland, and to have 
 sionally contributed beyond any other individual of his times, 
 toAvards all that advancement in national prosperity, which 
 his country has manifested during the last half century *. 
 
 In 
 
 * One plan, which was proposed by Lord Karnes as a member of the Board 
 of Annexed Estates, deserves to be mentioned. The experiment failed to an- 
 swer his expectation : but experiments in political economy are alike instruc- 
 tive as examples, when they succeed and when they fail. After the peace of 
 1763, when a considerable part of the army was reduced, the Ck>mmissioners 
 
 entrusted
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 207 
 
 In 1757, Lord Karnes published, in one volume 8vo, The J^"^ - "• 
 Statute Law of Scotland Abridged^ with Historical Notes. Abridgment 
 The object of this work is to arrange and methodize the tute Law. 
 whole body of the Scottish Statutes, by reducing the con- 
 tents of each act under a general title ; so that the student 
 or practitioner shall have in one Aievv brought before him, 
 and regularly digested, all that the Legislature has enacted 
 upon the particular subject on which he desires information ; 
 and shall thus be saved the labour of searching at random 
 through the whole mass of the statutes, and relieved from a 
 task at all times troublesome, and which, in reality, few are 
 able well to execute for themselves. This work goes back 
 to the first fountains of the municipal laAv of Scotland, name- 
 ly, the collection published by Sir John Skene, commonly' 
 known by the title of B.€giam Majestatem, in four books ; 
 
 the 
 
 entrusted with the management of the forfeited estates in Scotland, judged 
 that a part of the revenue from those lands, which the liberality of Govern- 
 ment destined for the improvement of the country, might be beneficially em- 
 ployed in the support of the disbanded soldiers : houses were built for them, 
 and small portions of land assigned to them at a low rent. A very few turned 
 out to be industrious and thriving tenants. These were chiefly such as had 
 risen by their merit to the rank of sergeants, and had acquired habits of or- 
 der and activity. The rest, accustomed to idleness and change of place, de- 
 serted their farms, and became vagabonds, thieves and beggars. Hence we 
 see the importance of uniting habits of labour and industry with the military 
 discipline, and the advantage not only to the community, but to the private 
 soldiers themselves, of employing them in the intervals of actual servuce, and 
 in time of peace, in public works, which may give them constant occupation.
 
 208 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 ^°2^ ^^' the Quoniam Attachiamenta ; Leges Hurgorum ; Iter Came- 
 rarii ; Leges Forestarum, &c. ; and going on from their ter- 
 mination, gives a summary of the statute-laAv, as contained 
 in the printed acts, down to the period of the Union Avith 
 England. The order of arrangement was intended, as the 
 author intimates in his preface, to be as nearly as possible 
 that of the Dictionary of Decisions ; but it seems to have a 
 greater resemblance to the plan of Cay's Abridgment of the 
 English Statutes. The notes are valuable, as tracing with 
 much ingenuity those principles, both of general jurispru- 
 dence and of the feudal usages, on which many of our sta- 
 tutory enactments are founded ; but they do not enter so 
 much into the history and antiquities of the country, as 
 from their title of Historical Notes, the reader would be led 
 to expect. This is a field which is still open to the labours 
 of learned and ingenious men ; and a most ample store of 
 curious and useful information would be the fruit of such a 
 research. There cannot indeed be a more pleasing exer- 
 cise for the understanding, nor any that affords a greater 
 scope for ingenuity, than the reciprocal elucidation of Law 
 and of History, by the aids which they bon'ow from each 
 other. Every law is a key to the history of the times in 
 which it was framed, and may, in most instances, be traced 
 up to the political emergency which required its enactment : 
 And as, in many instances, a doubtful point of history de- 
 rives light from a careful scrutiny into the laws which were 
 framed at that lera; so, on the other hand, an obscure or 
 
 ambiguous
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 209 
 
 ambiguous passage in an ancient statute, may often l)e *^"'^^- "• 
 clearly explained by a clue attention to the history ot" the 
 period of its promulgation *. 
 
 '^I'he Observations on the Statutes bij Sir George Mackenzie, 
 though useful, as illustrating, Irom the opinions of our older 
 lawyers, and the decisions of the Court, the obscurities of 
 expression, and removing, by a commentary, those ambigui- 
 ties of meaning which arise from the extreme brevity of the 
 ancient statues, contain but a scanty portion of historical in- 
 formation, and very little research into ancient usages. A 
 work of this latter description was proposed by Lord Hailes ; 
 and a small specimen was published, which that able lawyer 
 and profound antiquary circulated among his literary ac- 
 quaintance, with the view of inviting aid towards the com- 
 position of a work of the nature above alluded to ; and of 
 Avhich his Lordship probably conceived the idea, from the 
 Observations on the Ancient English Statutes, by ]\Ir Daincs 
 Barrington ; but being disappointed of that expected aid, 
 he abandoned a design to which his omu unassisted powers 
 
 were completely adequate. The work of Lord Kames, 
 
 thouoh 
 
 o 
 
 * " Tout homme de bon entendement," (says the sagacious Etienne 
 Pasquier), " sans voir une histoire, peut presqu' imaginer de quelle humeur 
 •' flit un peuple, lorsqu'il lit ses anciens statuts et ordonnances ; et d'un meme 
 " jugement peut tirer en conjecture quelles furent ses loix, vojant sa maniere 
 " de vivre." — Rccherches de la France, liv. iv. ch. I. 
 
 Vol. L D d
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 though not accompHshing, nor perhaps altogether aiming at 
 the same ends, has the merit of exhibiting an accurate and 
 methodical abridgment of the statute law of Scotland ; and 
 it retains its rank among those books which are in daily use 
 Avith the barrister and practitioner. 
 
 His views 
 for the im- 
 provf-ment 
 of the Law. 
 
 A favourite design of Lord Kames, in many of his wri- 
 tings on the subject of the law, was to counteract, as far as 
 was practicable with safety, a very general inconvenience, 
 which has long been felt and avowed, and which the pro- 
 gress of commerce renders every day more sensible ; I mean 
 that which arises from the circumstance of the United King- 
 dom of Great Britain being regulated by two difterent 
 systems of law. From the situation of the two nations at 
 the period of the Union, and the jealousy which the weaker 
 most naturally entertained of being reduced to a degrading 
 dependence on the stronger, it was resolutely contended for, 
 and anxiously stipulated by the Treaty, that the former 
 should retain her own laws, in all matters which concerned 
 private rights ; though a power of alteration by Parliament 
 was allowed, where the evident utility of the subjects of 
 Scotland rendered it necessary or expedient. In virtue of 
 this reserved power, the statute Tmo J una, c. 21. which, in 
 its preamble, announces the design of improving the Union, 
 by bringing about " an agreement, as near as may be, of 
 " the laws of both parts of Great Britain," enacted some 
 very wise and politic regulations respecting the treason laws, 
 
 the
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 
 
 the methods of prosecution and trial for that crimCj and the 
 forfeitures and punishments subsequent to conviction. It 
 appeared to Lord Karnes, that the power of alteration thus 
 wisely reserved by the Treaty of Union, might be most use- 
 fully extended to several other branches in which the law of 
 Scotland differs from that of England, and where the for- 
 mer was, in his apprehension, capable of material improve- 
 ment, by a nearer assimilation to the latter. In this view, 
 having digested his ideas into the form of separate short 
 Essays on certain branches of the law of Scotland, he was 
 desirous of obtaining the opinion of the first authority in the 
 law of England, on those subjects which he judged of nui- 
 tual importance to the United Kingdoms. He sent his pa- 
 pers to the Earl of Hardwicke, then Lord Chancellor, who 
 received them Avith warm approbation, and entered into the 
 views of the writer with all that interest which suited his en- 
 larged and liberal mind. The following letter from the 
 Chancellor is dated from Wimple, October 17. 1754. 
 
 To Lord Kames. 
 
 " My Lord, 
 " The letter of September 18th, with which you honoured 
 me, should not have lain so long unacknowledged, if the 
 usual resort to me at this place, and at this season, had not 
 made it unavoidable. I am extremely obliged to your Lord- 
 ship for this mark of attention to me; but more for that 
 
 D d 2 zeal 
 
 Correspond- 
 ence with 
 Lord Hard- 
 wicke.
 
 212 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK II. 2eal which you express for improving and perfecting the 
 union of the two Kingdoms, to which nothing can contri- 
 bute more than an uniformity of laws. Those great men, who 
 conceived and fiamed the plan of the Union ; who felt 
 quantct molis erat Britannam condere gentem ; wished to at- 
 tain it, but found it impracticable in the outset ; but 1 have 
 reason to think, that they never imagined near half a cen- 
 tury Avould have passed, after their articles were esta- 
 blished, without a greater advance being made towards it 
 than has hitherto been attempted : — An evil which I have 
 often lamented, and should rejoice to see remedied, because, 
 Avithout it, an incorporating union nuist be very defective. 
 I am glad, that a person of your Lordship's abilities, and 
 acknowledged skill, not only in the laws of Scotland, but also 
 in the history and origin of those laws, has turned his 
 thoughts to so interesting a subject ; and from the speci- 
 men, which you have been so good as to communicate to 
 me, conceive great hopes of the progress. Might it not be 
 right to begin with the law relating to Crimes which concern 
 the public policy and government of the United Kingdom, 
 without which, the two parts of the island can hardly be 
 said to be under one government? If to this were added 
 the establishing of a coinitasjttrisdictionum, or the giving mu- 
 tual faith and credence to the judgments and decrees of the 
 sovereign courts in each country, as res judicatce, it would be 
 a good step. And, as to your land-rights, I should be for 
 beginniiig with abolishing the strict Tailzies, at least in Ju- 
 
 turo ;,
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 
 
 turo ; wliidi not only difier lioiu the genius of the Rng- 
 lisii law, that abhors jx'ipetuities, but are manifestly pre- 
 judicial to the national interest of Scotland ; which is now 
 rising in trade, aiitl will, I ho|)e, greatly increase in it. 
 The takin": so much ol' tlie lands eiira coiniiterciinn, is incou- 
 sistent with a commercial country. I |)on the two hist 
 points I have frequently had the honour to discourse with 
 the Duke of Argyll, and have found his Grace possessed 
 Avith large and just notions upon these subjects *. 
 
 " ^Vhen I return to London, I a\ ill obey 3'our commands, 
 by putting your papers into my son Charles's hands, who is 
 extremely obliged and flattered by the lionourable mention 
 
 which 
 
 * A similar testimony to the enlightened views of that great Statesman, 
 upon the same subject, is given in the following extract of a letter from Lord 
 Mansfield to Lord Karnes, dated Kith September 177j. — " Archibald, Duke 
 " of Argyll, Lord Hardwicke and I had a serious deliberation on the subject 
 " of Scotch entails. The Duke of Argyll was the only man of quality and 
 " estate in Scotland, except lawyers, I ever knew, whose judgment so far got 
 " the better of his prejudices, as to make him wish to change the system from 
 " perpetual, into temporary restraints. We agreed that an abolition of en- 
 " tails ought not to be forced upon the country, contrary to their own incll- 
 " nations : but to make the yoke gall the more, that no relief should be gi- 
 " ven by Parliament to make them easier. I insisted for an exception as to 
 " a general bill to give a power of leasing, as a matter of infinite consequence 
 " to the whole community. When the country wishes to break entails, the 
 '* Parliament will most readily come into it; but T doubt the general sense 
 " of the land pioprietors continues still in favour of them."
 
 2141 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 which your Lordship is pleased to make of him. In the 
 mean time, permit me to hint one thing upon what is said con- 
 cerning a grant of a rent-charge having been ancientlv in use 
 in the kiw of Scotland, though long since laid aside for in- 
 feftments of annualrcnt. Though this appears to be a cu- 
 rious discovery in the history of your law, yet your Lordship 
 will pardon me for saying, that I don't see how it relates 
 strictly to the subject of land-securities. In England, rents- 
 charge were not made use of as securities for money lent, 
 until in modern times they have been fraudulently applied 
 to that purpose, in order to avoid the statutes against usury, 
 by creating a yearly rent superior to the legal rate of inte- 
 rest, and making that rent subject to be repurchased by the 
 borrower, by repajment of the price, and satisfaction of the 
 arrears. This invention our courts of law, as well as of equi- 
 ty, have always strongly discountenanced. I am, with great 
 esteem, my Lord, your Lordship's most obedient humble 
 servant, 
 
 Hardwicke." 
 
 Historical '{'he hiuts conveyed in the foregoing letter were not thrown 
 
 Law-Tracts. / . . 
 
 out in vain. Animated by the approbation of that great 
 Judge, who presided over the law of our sister kingdom, 
 Lord Kames proceeded with alacrity in his intended pur- 
 pose ; and within less than two years from the publication of 
 his Abridgment of the Statute Law, which appears to have 
 interrupted for some time his researches on the subject of 
 
 which
 
 AND WRITINGS OV LORD KAMES. 
 
 which we now treat, he gave to the world his Historical Larr- 
 Tracts, in one vohime 8vo,, printed at Edinburgh in 1759- 
 In the preface to this work, after stating the advantages of" 
 tracing the progress of hiw historically *, that is, fiom its 
 earliest appearances in the ruder ages of a nation, througii 
 its progressive stages of improvement, as thai nation ad- 
 vances in civilization and refinement, he informs his reader, 
 that his principal object was, the improvement which the 
 laws of his own country, and (with a becoming pride, he 
 adds) those of England, are capable of deriving from a 
 fair comparison of the institutions and usages of the two 
 nations, in many of those particulars in which they dif- 
 fer ; 
 
 * " Law, like geography, is taught as if it were a collection of facts mere- 
 " ly : the memory is employed to the full, rarely the judgment. This me- 
 " thod, if it were not rendered familiar by custom, would appear strange and 
 " unaccountable. With respect to the political constitution of Great Britain, 
 " how imperfect must the knowledge of that man be, who confines his read- 
 " ing to the present times ! If he follow the same method in studying its 
 '* laws, have we reason to hope that his knowledge of them will be more per- 
 
 " feet? I have often amused myself with a fanciful resemblance of law 
 
 " to the river Nile. When we enter upon the municipal law of any country 
 " in its present state, we resemble a traveller, who crossing the Delta, loses 
 " his way among the numberless branches of the Egyptian river. But when 
 " we begin at the source, and follow the current of law, it is in that course 
 " not less easy than agreeable ; and all its relations and dependencies are 
 " traced with no greater difficulty than are the many streams into which that 
 " magnificent river is divided before it is lost in the sea." — triface to HutO' 
 rical Law-'Jracts.
 
 316 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 fer * ; a comparison which may pave the way for an inter- 
 change of those respective advantages which the one may 
 be found conlessedly to possess above the other. 
 
 Adopting 
 
 . • " I knov7 no method more rational for studying law, than a careful and 
 " judicious comparison of the laws of diiFerent countries. Materials for such 
 " comparison are richly furnished by the laws of England and of Scotland. 
 " They have such resemblance as to bear a comparison almost in every 
 " branch'; and they so far differ, as to illustrate each other by their opposi- 
 " tion. Our law will admit of many improvements from that of England; 
 " and if the author be not in a mistake, through partiality to his native coun- 
 " try, we are rich enough to repay with interest all we have occasion to bor- 
 " row. A regular Institute of the common law of this island, deducing histo- 
 " rically the changes which that law hath undergone in the two nations, 
 " would be a valuable present to the public ; because it would make the 
 " study of both laws a task easy and agreeable. Such Institute, it is true, is 
 " an undertaking too great for any one hand. But if men of knowledge and 
 " genius would undertake particular branches, a general system might in 
 " time be completed from their works. This subject, which has frequently 
 " occupied the author's thoughts, must touch every Briton who wishes a com- 
 " plete union ; and a North-Briton in a peculiar manner. Let us reflect but 
 " a moment upon the condition of property in Scotland, subjected in the last 
 " resort to Judges, who have little inclination, because they have scarce any 
 " means, to acquire knowledge in our law. With respect to these Judges, 
 " Providence, it is true, all along favourable, hath of late years been singu- 
 *' larly kind to us. But in a matter so precarious, we ought to dread a re- 
 " verse of fortune, which would be severely felt. Our whole activity is de- 
 " mandcd, to prevent, if possible, the impending evil. There are men of ge- 
 " nius in this country, and good writers. Were our law treated as a rational 
 
 " science.
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES 217 
 
 Adopting the hint of Lord liardwioke, the author turns ,"^'^^- "^ 
 his attention first to the History of the Criminal Law, — a sub- History of 
 
 , . , , the Criminiil 
 
 ject confessedly of the highest importance, and win(;li he has Law. 
 treated Avith consunmiate ability, and with a truly philoso- 
 phic spirit of. investigation. 
 
 The great principle of the criminal law is, the resentment 
 of injuries, and the right which nature gives to repel a Avrong 
 by taking vengeance on the aggressor. The man who com- 
 mits an injury against his neighbour, expects and fears the 
 resentment of which his conscience tells him he has become 
 the object ; and if he is not a hardened offender, he suffere a 
 punishment in his own remorse, till his crime is expiated^ 
 either by a voluntary atonement, or by the vengeance of 
 the person whom he has injured. The right, which nature 
 gave, of private revenge, it became necessary, as societ}^ im- 
 proved, to restrain ^vithin proper limits. We naturally over- 
 rate our own wrongs ; and passion, hurrying to excess, would 
 observe no measure of justice in the retaliation. The inte- 
 rest of the community is concerned to preserve a due pro- 
 portion between oli'ences and their punishment ; and hence, 
 as well as from anotlier source, — the inability of the weak to 
 
 redress 
 
 " science, it would find its way into England, and be studied there for curio- 
 " sity as well as profit. The author, excited by this thought, has V3ntured 
 " to make an essay, which, for the good of his country, more than for his 
 " own reputation, he wishes to succeed." — Pre/ace to Historical Law-Tracts,- 
 
 Vol. I. E e
 
 yi8 MEMOIRS Of THE LIFE 
 
 EooK II. redress their own injuries, — it became necessary, first to regu- 
 late by law, liotli the kind and the degree of the punish- 
 ment according to the measure of the crime ; and then to re- 
 move the right of inflicting it from the erring or the weak 
 hand of the individual, to tlie arm of the State, at once 
 more powerful and more impartial. 
 
 \yiien this great step was once attained, it was an easy 
 progress, that the State or body-politic, thus- vested with the 
 right of punishing for private injuries, should Ije considered 
 itself as the party olfended ; for resentment is only justi- 
 fiable in the party Avho sustains offence. • But in a Avell or- 
 dered community, the State is really injured by the commis- 
 sion of a crime, Avhich violates the public peace and secu- 
 rity. Hence, a new principle finds its ,way, and enters as an 
 ingredient into the improved system of criminal jurispru- 
 dence ; and this is, the consideration of preserving the peace 
 of society. This principle, though demonstrably only of a 
 secondary nature, and taking place by that gradual progress 
 which we have above described, has, from the importance of 
 its object, attained at length such a rank, as to attract an 
 exclusive attention from some of the modern writers on the 
 criminal law ; who, losing sight altogether of its foundation 
 in the resentment of injury, — a principle so universal and so 
 deeply rooted, as to be common to every sentient being, — 
 have assigned to it no other origin than political expedience, 
 or the consideration of preserving the peace of the commu- 
 nity,
 
 AND WRITIXGS OF LOUD KAIMKS. 
 
 iiity, by rcstniiniiig the commission of crimes. Tlic first de- 
 viation thus made from the path of truth, every step leads 
 us farther into error, 'J'he natural indignation consec|uent 
 on the commission of crimes, instead of being, as it ought to 
 be, the measure of the punishment, is, acrorcHng to tiiese 
 writers, to be stu(hously excluded from the mind of the le- 
 gislator, who is to look solely to the object of restraining si- 
 milar crimes in future. Punishment, say they, is itself an 
 evil ; and to add pimishment to crime, is only adding one 
 evil to another ; for if crimes couid l)e repressed without the 
 punishment of any criminal, so much evil would be prevent- 
 ed as his punishment implies. Consequently punishment, in 
 the mind of a Avise Legislator and Judge, ought to have no 
 reference to the degree of moral turpitude in the criminal. 
 Will it be believed, that such opinions have for their support- 
 ers Montesquieu, Beccaria, Voltaire, and Friestleij * ? 
 
 In the Essay on the History of the Criminal Law, Lord 
 Karnes, although he has with great ingenuity developed the 
 true principle on which it is founded, and has traced it with 
 precision through all its consequences, was not aware of 
 the errors into which succeeding writers were to fall, in 
 their speculations on this subject ; otherwise, w:e cannot 
 
 E e 2 doubt 
 
 * Montesquieu, L' Esprit des Loix, l.xii. ; Beccaria on Crimes and Pu- 
 nishments ; Voltaire's Commentary on Beccaria ; Priestley's Letters or. 
 History and General Policy, p. 348. ,
 
 220 
 
 BOOK ir. 
 
 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE 
 
 doubt that he would have bent his attention, in this Essay, 
 to counteract and refute opinions which tend to involv^e this 
 great branch of jurisprudence in inextricable confusion, and 
 to abolish the only true criterion for proportioning punish- 
 ments to crimes. He survived, it is true, the publication of 
 several of those writings to which I allude ; but his atten- 
 tion was not attracted to them, being engaged b}^ topics of 
 a different nature. This seems to impose a duty on his bio- 
 grapher, who, however unequal in other respects, can boast 
 at least of one requisite for the task, — the zeal of a disciple to 
 defend the doctrines of his master. The reader Avill, there- 
 fore, find in a separate article of the Appendix, a short Dis- 
 quisition on the Pi'i7ic{ples of Criminal Jurisprudence, of 
 which the object is the ascertainment of the true foundation 
 of the penal law, and the detection of the errors of some 
 jnodern writers on that important subject*. 
 
 History of 
 Property. 
 
 Among the various topics handled by Lord Karnes in the 
 Historical Law-Tracts, there is none which affords more dis- 
 play of the ingenuity of the author, or his talent for tracing 
 legal institutions to their origin in the circumstances of so- 
 ciety, than that Essay which he has entitled the History of 
 Property. From the earliest idea of property among a bar- 
 barous people, where it is regarded as inseparable from pos- 
 session, — a connexion, therefore, liable to be dissolved by the 
 
 slightest 
 
 * See Appendix, No. X.
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAME8, 221 
 
 slightest accident, — lie traces its gradual {)rogress in acquiring 
 strength and energy as society advances ; so that the rela- 
 tion betwixt the subject appropriated and its owner, be- 
 comes at length indissoluble, unless by the consent 'of the 
 latter to relinquish it, joined to its actual occupation by a 
 new possessor. He shews, that the transmission of a man's 
 estate to his heirs had this singular foimdation, That the 
 heirs making })art of his family, were joint possessors even 
 during his life : his death made no other change than that of 
 depriving the family of one member ; the right already vest- 
 ed remained ; and so strongly was it inherent in the chil- 
 dren, that, in the earlier periods of society, it could not be 
 defeated by the father's deeds, unless Avith the consent of 
 the heirs. 
 
 The introduction of commerce, by rendering the power of 
 alienation necessary, first legalized the transmission of pro- 
 perty inter vivos : but it Avas a Avide step from thence to the 
 poAver of alienating mortis causa. The latter right, howcAer, 
 arose in time, and Avas in truth, the fruit and consequence 
 of the former ; for that property is incomplete, of Avhich a 
 man cannot dispose at his death. The poAver of making a 
 testament, says Plutarch, made every man the proprietor of 
 his oAvn goods. 
 
 The Scottish Law of Deathbed Avas not, as has been gene- 
 rally supposed, a regulation of policy for protecting the 
 
 estate 
 
 CHAP. II.
 
 222 
 
 BOOK n. 
 
 Origin of 
 Entails. 
 
 MEMOIliS OF THE LI['£ 
 
 estate of the dying from the rapacity of the clergy : it Avas 
 the natural consequence of that original joint right of pro- 
 perty which was held to be vested in the heir during his fa- 
 ther's life, and which restrained alienation to his prejudice. 
 The right of the children to their legHim by the law of Scot- 
 land, is foimded on the same principle. 
 
 But the improvement of society gave rise to all those pro- 
 gressive alterations towards the enlargement of the powers of 
 the actual possessor. He becomes at length master of his 
 estate, which he can alienate without restraint Avhile he lives, 
 and, with very little limitation, regulate its disposal after his 
 death. There is no end to the thirst of power. It now be- 
 came a prevailing passion Avith those who had too large a 
 share of the gifts of fortune, to perpetuate this dominion 
 over their property, and leaving nothing to the will of Pro- 
 vidence, to usurp a controul and government of, that pro- 
 perty to the end of time. Hence sprung the unnatural and 
 ruinous policy of Entails of land. 
 
 The feudal law, by allowing the vassal in possession, to 
 establish, with consent of the superior, a series of heirs to 
 succeed each other, furnished means to ambitious men of 
 "■ratifying this inordinate passion to its utmost extent. It 
 not only allowed a perpetual succession, but authorised every 
 species of restraint on the possessing heir, against a diminu- 
 tion of the property by debts or alienations. But the feudal 
 
 law
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 223 
 
 law in England soon dwindled to a shadow ; and it was then ,^^1^ 
 found necessary to support tlie riglit of entaiHng on the basis 
 of positive enactment, by the statute of Edward I. De donis 
 conditionulibus. In Scotland, on the other hand, where the 
 feudal law remained much longer, and still subsists in some 
 of its branches, entails were quite common, with all their ri- 
 gorous restraints and prohibitions, long before they were I'C- 
 cognized by statute. It was the opinion of our old lawyers, 
 that an entail could be made by private authority so as to 
 bar alienation. Lord Karnes examines this opinion, and de- 
 monstrates, that it rests on no solid foundation. Antecedently 
 to statutory restriction, there can be no restraint on the free 
 use of property, unless through the consent of the proprietor. 
 An heir, by accepting of a fettered succession, virtually gives 
 his consent to those restraints ; but supposing him to break 
 through the prohibitions and to sell the estate, it is evident, 
 that Avhatcver penalty he himself may incur by this act, the 
 purchaser's title to the lands would be perfect and unchal- 
 lenoeable ; for the entailer's will cannot aftect the riohts of 
 any one but his heir. This was easily foreseen ; but it was 
 imagined that the defect might be remedied by clauses intro- 
 duced to void the right of the heir of entail who infringes its 
 prohibitions. But this device, when strictly examined, is 
 altogether nugatory. The heir's right remains good till an 
 actual alienation has been made, and then a forfeiture of his 
 right ensues : But by the deed of alienation, Avhich prece- 
 ded the forfeiture, the heir was divested, and the property 
 
 had
 
 224 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK n. ^ i^g^j passed to a third party, beyond redemption. If so, of 
 what avail are such clauses of forfeiture, to secure against 
 ahena'tions ? A resolutive clause subjects the heir who alie- 
 nates to a decree of forfeiture ; but till this decree is pro- 
 nounced, his right is good ; his debts are eflFectual against the 
 estate, and his creditors may attach it by adjudication, and 
 sell it for their payment. It is demonstrable, therefore, that 
 at common law no entail can bar alienations, or secure its 
 own duration. To obtain these ends, positive statute was 
 necessary ; and at the very period Avhen, in our neighbour- 
 ing country, entails, from a full experience of their mischie- 
 vous tendency, had become defeasible by the simplest expe- 
 dients, the Scottish Legislature gave them, by the act 1685, 
 that force and efficacy which was wanting to them by the 
 common law ; and thu& sanctioned by statute the most de- 
 structive policy that ever obtained in a civilized country, 
 whether we consider its consequences to national morals, to 
 national industry, or even to domestic happiness. 
 
 The subject of Scotch entails seems to have engaged the 
 attention of Lord Kames in a remarkable degree. He has 
 resumed the consideration of it at great length in a subse- 
 quent work, his Elucidations respecting the Law of Scotland ; 
 and he has treated the topic, in a moral and political point 
 of view, in an Appendix to his Sketches of the History of 
 Man. It appears that he had entertained a hope that the 
 period a\ ould soon arrive when the general Iccling of the 
 
 mischiefs
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 225 
 
 mischiefs arising from the prevalence of this narrow spirit, ^"^^- " 
 so liostilc to national prosperity, and to every species of im- 
 provement, would excite to a remedy by the interference of 
 the Legislature ; and in this vicAv, he had endeavoured to 
 prompt that great Judge with whom we have seen he was al- 
 ready in correspondence, to take an active part in bringing 
 about a reformation which he thought essential to the inte- 
 rests of his native country. To accomplish this end, he had 
 thought of dilferent plans, but had finally rested in the three 
 following articles, which he proposed as the object of parlia- 
 mentary enactment : First, that the Scottish statute 1685, 
 c. 22. be repealed, with respect to all future operations : Se- 
 condly, that entails already made and c'ompleted shall con- 
 tinue effectual to such substitutes as exist at the date of the 
 new act proposed ; but shall not benefit any substitute born 
 after it : Thirdly, that power be reserved to every proprie- 
 tor, after the act 1685 is at an end, to settle his estate upon 
 what heirs he thinks proper, and to bar those heirs from al- 
 tering the order of succession ; these powers being inherent 
 in property at common law. At the same time, as he fore- 
 saw that these regulations would avail little, Avhile a power 
 remained of evading them by the operation of a deed of 
 trust, he proposed to add to the preceding articles this essen- 
 tial enactment, That no trust-deed, directing or limitin"- the 
 succession of heirs to a land-estate, shall be etiectual beyond 
 the life of the heirs in existence at the time. 
 
 Vol. I. F f On
 
 MERIOIRS..OF THE LIFE 
 
 On comiTiunicating this scheme to the Earl of Hardwicke, 
 he received from him the followincr letter : 
 
 'o 
 
 " JVimple, in Cambridgeshire, October 21. 1759' 
 " My Lord, 
 " Though I am extremely obhged to your Lordship for 
 communicating to me so clearly and m eatenso, the new plan 
 for reforming your entails, yet I chose to defer thanking you 
 for it, till I should have so fvdly considered, and formed an 
 opinion upon it, as might have excused me in laying it be- 
 fore you. I have at last found myself unable to do so at this 
 place, for Avant of some books and papers necessary to be 
 consulted, which are in London. However I can already^ 
 with mu,ch pleasure, assure your Lordship, that I like this 
 plan much better than the former, because it goes much 
 nearer to the root of the evil, by proliibiting entails for the 
 future ; and limiti^ig the operation of old entails to persons 
 in esse. This has a tendency to relieve the public, as well as 
 the exigencies of private families, to which the other plan 
 ■was too much confined. One thing 1 beg leave to suggest 
 upon the article relating to entails to be ijiade m time co- 
 ming ; — That, as at present advised, I apprehend some tern-: 
 perament will be necessaiy to make it go down ; I mican., by 
 leaving the subjects of Scotland a,t hbprty to make entails to 
 continue as long as tl^ey are pei;mitted by the lav of E«g-r 
 land ; and that is, by allowing a, restraint of alienation to 
 the extent of any number of lives whatsoever in being ; 
 
 which
 
 AND WniTINGS OF LORD KAMES, 227 
 
 whicli is analogous also to the alteration proposed to be cha p, n. 
 made in your old entails by this new plan. 'J"hc forensic 
 cant-expression for this with us is, That there can be no mis- 
 chief, because all the candles are lighted up at once. But I 
 fear your great landed men will cry out murder, if an at- 
 tempt should be made to restrain them farther than we arc 
 restrained in England, where perpetuities are so much al> 
 horred. 
 
 " Upon the general question, nothing can be stronger 
 and more convincing, than the reasonings which your Lord- 
 ship has pvit together; and though I do not, at present, pre- 
 tend to give any strict opinion on the particular scheme, I 
 shall apply myself to the examination of it upon my return 
 to town. In one thing you do me too much honour, and I 
 must beg to be excused in it. To take this affair into my 
 own hands, and carry it through in Parliament, is out of, 
 and beyond my sphere. I am in no office*, and conse- 
 quently not in a situation to bear the weight of it ; especial- 
 ly after the load, which, though with very upright and well- 
 meant intentions towards Scotland, I have formerly taken 
 upon myself But my assistance shall never be Avanting, 
 
 F f 2 either 
 
 * The Chancellor Hardwicke resigned in 1756, after holding that high of- 
 fice for a period of twenty years, with consummate ability, wisdom, and rec- 
 titude. The Seals, on his resignation, were put into commission for a year. 
 Sir Robert Henley was appointed Lord Keeper in 1757, and Lord Chancellor 
 in 1764.
 
 228 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK II. either to this, or any other proposition for her real good, 
 though I am convinced it must be so conducted, as to take 
 many of your princij)al and best-intentioned countrymen 
 
 along with us. 1 am Avith great esteem, &c. 
 
 Hardwicke." 
 
 It has been probably owing to the want of that co-opera- 
 tion alluded to in the conclusion of this letter, while a great 
 proportion of our men ot rank, fortune and parliamentary 
 influence, have a personal interest in maintaining entails on 
 the footing on which they stand at present, that a reform so 
 truly beneficial has hitherto been dela3'ed, and will probably 
 be postponed, till the evil has attained to so enormous an 
 extent, that there shall be a failure of credit to supply the 
 demands of increasing luxuiy, and commerce itself, in spite 
 of the ardour and industry of the people, shall begin to stag- 
 nate, from that sole cause, in this part of the United King-* 
 dom. 
 
 The Historical Law-Tracts have undergone several edi- 
 tions, and are deservedly high in the public esteem. They 
 are among the few works which vmite law with philosophy 
 and the study of human nature ; and they have accordingly 
 received the praise, not only of juridical authors, but af 
 the writers on politics and morals, both of our own and 
 foreign countries. In a letter of INIr David Hume's, (|uo- 
 ted in Mr Stewart's Life of Adam S/ui(/i, there is indeed a 
 
 passagCv
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 
 
 passage, in whicli tlic writer secins to tliink rather lightly of 
 the work in question : " 1 am atiaid" (says he) " ot Lord 
 " Karnes' Law-Tracts. A man might as well tiuiik of ma- 
 " king a fine sauce by a n)ixturc of wormwood and ah^es, as 
 " an agreeable composition by joining met<ij)h\sies and 
 " Scotch law. However, the book, 1 believe, lias mei it ; 
 " though few people Avill take the pains of diving into jt." 
 But whoever peruses the letter from wliieli that passage is 
 taken, will plainly perceive, that Mr Hume is in one of Ids 
 playful moods ; that he means nothing less than to give a 
 serious opinion on any one to[)ic of which he is treating; 
 and that the whole letter is a banter from bc2,innino; to end. 
 
 The ingenious writer from whom 1 have quoted tlie 
 
 above wdiimsical remark of I\lr Hume on the Historical Lazc- 
 Tracts, has himself given a very strong testimony to the 
 merits of that work, and in terms not of general culogium, 
 but with that discriminating precision which is the result of 
 a perfect acquaintance with the subjects treated *. 
 
 In 
 
 * " The greater part of politicians, before the time of Montesquieu, con- 
 " tented themselves with an historical statement of facts, and with a vague 
 " reference of laws to the wisdom of particular legislators, or to accidental 
 " circumstances, which it is now impossible to ascertain. Montesquieu, on 
 " the contrary, considered laws as originating chiefly from the circumstances 
 " of society ; and attempted to account, from the changes in the condition of 
 ♦• mankind, which take place ia the different stages of their progress, for the 
 
 " corresponding
 
 230 
 
 BOOK 11. 
 
 « , > 
 
 Principles of 
 Equity. 
 
 MEMOIRS OF The life 
 
 In prosecution of that enlarged idea of introducing an 
 uniformity of principle into the general jurisprudence of the 
 State, which should counteract, as far as possible, the incon- 
 veniences arising from two systems of law regulating the se- 
 parate divisions of the United Kingdoms, Lord Kames had 
 planned another work, which, in the following year 1760, he 
 gave to the public, under the title of Principles of Equity'*, 
 
 As in every civilized countr}^ a great part of the judicial 
 proceedings in the courts of law is regulated by equity, it is 
 presumable, that these proceedings rest on certain fixed 
 maxims, and are not altogether capricious, or dependant on 
 the opinion or conscience of the Judge ; otherwise there 
 
 would 
 
 " corresponding alterations which their constitutions undergo. It is thus> 
 " that in his occasional elucidations of the Roman Jurisprudence, instead of 
 " bewildering himself among the erudition of scholiasts and of antiquaries, we 
 •' frequently find him borrowing his lights from the most remote and uncon* 
 " nected quarters of the globe, and combining the casual observations of il- 
 " literate travellers and navigators into a philosophical commentary on the 
 " history of law and of manners. The advances made in this line of inquiry 
 " since Montesquieu's time have been great. Lord Kames, in his Historical 
 " Law-I'racts, has given some excellent specimens of it ; particularly in his 
 " Essays on the History 0/ Property, and of Criminal Law ; and many inge- 
 " nious speculations of the same kind occur in the works of Mr Millar."-^ 
 Acciiunt nf the Life and Writings of Adam Smith, L.L. D. ly Professor DuCALD 
 
 Stewart. 
 
 • Printed at Edinburgh, 176O, in a folio volume.
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMKS. 231 
 
 would be no unilbnnity in the decisions of such tribunals, .^"^''l" ' 
 nor could men rely with confidence on the bdlihncnt of 
 many of those engagements into which they enter with each 
 other, and of which equity and not strict law is the basis. 
 It was therefore the author's object, in this work, to treat 
 Equity as a science, apd capable, as such, of being reduced 
 to principles ; to examine its nature, as distinct from the 
 common or municipal law, and as suppletory to the defects, 
 and corrective of the rigour of the latter ; to define the 
 boundaries of equity as a rule of judgment, and settle the 
 djstinct provinces of a court of law, strictly so called, and a 
 tribunal possessing equitable powers ; to ascertain the prin- 
 ciples of equity, as founded in the human constitution, and 
 assign to each distinct principle its due weight and relative 
 importance ; and finally, to illustrate the doctrines of the 
 science thus explained and methodized, by examples of ad- 
 judged cases, drawn from the practice of the Courts both of 
 Scotland and of England. 
 
 The author traces historically the rise of the Courts of 
 Equity in each of the United Kingdoms. The municipal 
 la^i^, imperfect even at present, was extremely limited in the 
 ruder periods of our history. Both in England and in Scot- 
 l^d, all causes of an extraordinary^ nature, and to which no 
 st;a,tutory enactment was found applicable, weie reserved for 
 t\).p 4!ecision of tlie King in Count il. A great variety of 
 Qaijii^s,, founded qii duties of Uic law qf nature, and for 
 
 ■wliich.
 
 232 MEMOIRS or the life 
 
 BOOK ri. 
 
 M'hich no general rules of judgment can easily be devised, 
 were likewise, from necessity, subjected to the same para- 
 mount tribunal, whose function was to determine the case 
 secundum honum et aquum. In England, this burden soon 
 became too heavy tor tlie Sovereign, who therefore devolved 
 it upon his principal law-officer, the Chancellor, to be exe- 
 cuted by him, with the aid of skilful men, in his Court of 
 Chancery. Equity, therefore, was understood to be the pro- 
 vince of the Chancery, as the municipal and statute-law of 
 the common courts, which hence were said to judge by the 
 rules of the Common Law of the land. In Scotland, the pri- 
 vilege of the Sovereign to judge in his Council, in all extra- 
 ordinary cases to Avhich the common law did not apply, Avas 
 never expressly delegated or transferred, as in England, to a 
 particular tribunal ; but was gradually assumed by the Su- 
 preme Court of the Kingdom, which, in the plenitude of its 
 functions, was necessarily obliged to resort to equit}^ from 
 the imperfection of the common law, and the very narrow 
 limits within which the wiitten or statute-law is comprised. 
 
 The power of a cOurt of equity, originally confined to 
 the supplying of the defects of the common law, were, by a 
 very natural progress, gradually extended to the equally im- 
 portant function of mitigating its rigours. In particular 
 cases, summum jus est summa injuria ; and the former re- 
 medy, as is well observed by Lord Bacon, would be altoge- 
 ther imperfect without the latter. " Habeant curice prcetorice 
 
 " potestatem
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LOUD KAMES. 233 
 
 " potestatem tarn subveiiie7idi contra rigorcm legis qudm sup- chap. ii. 
 " plendi defectum legis. Si enim porrigi debet remedium ad 
 " qucm lex prateriit, multo magis ad quetn vulneravit *." 
 
 Having traced the origin of courts of equity, and marked 
 the progressive enhirgcmcnt of their jurisdiction, the author 
 proceeds to examine a general question of fundamental and 
 primary importance, Whether a court of equity ought to 
 be governed by any general rules ? He acknowledges that 
 the idea of a perfect court of this nature, implies a tribunal 
 where each particular case shall be determined upon its own 
 merits, according to what is just, equal and salutary, Avithout 
 regard to general rules : But such a tribunal must have 
 angels for its judges, and not human beings, liable to preju-^ 
 dice and error. Hence the necessity of rules, to preserve 
 uniformity of judgment in matters of equity, as in those of 
 common law. Such rules, it is true, nuist often produce de- 
 crees, that in equity, as in common law, are nuiterially un- 
 just. But this inconvenience must be tolerated to avoid a 
 greater ; that of rendering judges arbitrary, and their decrees 
 so fluctuating, that the public could never trust to them as 
 to a rule of conduct. On this point, his opinion is support- 
 ed by a great authority : " It was upon just grounds of rea- 
 " son," (says Lord Bacon), " that the album of the Pnrtor 
 " came into use ; that is, the table in which he publislied 
 
 Vol. I. G g " the 
 
 * De Aug. Scient. 1. viii. aphor. 35.
 
 MlJUJOIIiS OF TUt LIFX 
 
 " the. Tides; a.n^ formula, according to which he w^§ tp, ^- 
 
 " minister justice. An^l after this example, the judges in 
 
 *' our courts of equity should, as far as it is practicable, lay 
 
 " down for themselves certain rules, and make them known 
 
 " to the public. For, as that lavy is the best which leaves 
 
 " least to the discretion of the judge, so that judge is the 
 
 *' best who takes the least discretion to himself*." 
 
 In treating of the boundaries which separate the distinct 
 provinces of equity and the common law, the author justly 
 remarks, that the former begins where the latter finds its li- 
 mits : That all those duties among individuals which cannot 
 be enforced by positive enactment, because they arise from, 
 connexions independent of consent, are properly Avithin the 
 province of a court of equity ; as are likewise all those va- 
 rious incidents which modify the obligation of consensual 
 contracts, occasionally extending, diminishing, and even put- 
 ting an end to them altogether ; incidents which, as being 
 unforeseen, could not be provided for, and therefore can 
 have no weight in a court of common law, which looks only 
 to the declared Avill and letter of the covenant. 
 
 Courts 
 
 * •' Non sine causa in usum venerat apud Romanos Album Praetoris, in quo 
 prsescripsit et publicavit quomodo ipse jus dicturus esset. Quo exemplo 
 judices in curiis praetoriis, regulas sibi certas (quantum fieri potest) pro- 
 ponere, casque publice afRgere debent, Etenim optima est lex, quae mini- 
 mum relinquit arbitrio judicis, optimus judex qui minimum sibi." — De Aug. 
 Scitnt. lib. viii. cap. 3. apjior. 46.
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 235 
 
 Courts of equity and of common law remaining separate ,^^^^^_ "•. 
 in England, while the powers of both are united in the Su- 
 preme Civil Court of Scotland, a question of some difficulty 
 and importance hence naturally arises, namely, Avhether it 
 be expedient that the common law and equity should be 
 committed to the same, or to difFerent tribunals. Lord Ba- 
 con has declared himself explicitly in favour of a separation 
 of jurisdictions *. With becoming deference to this great 
 authority, Lord Karnes delivers a contrary opinion. The prin- 
 cipal argument against an union of the jurisdictions is, that 
 in a court endowed with those double powers, the distinction 
 betwixt common law and equity is apt to be obliterated and 
 lost ; and consequently there will be no certain rule of de- 
 cision ; while one judge will rest his opinion on the law, and 
 another on the equity of the case. On the other hand, a 
 powerful argument for the union of the jurisdictions, is its 
 expediency in preventing tedious and expensive litigation. 
 Where there is a separation of courts, the litigant is at a loss 
 where to bring his action, and must previously determine, 
 what is often a very difficult point, namely, whether the case 
 is governed by common law or by equity. This error cannot 
 
 G g 2 be 
 
 * *' Apud nonnuUos receptum est, ut jurisdictlo, quse decemit secundum se- 
 quum et bonum, atque ilia altera quae procedit secundum jus striatum, iisdem 
 curiis deputentur ; apud alios autem, ut diversis ; omnino placet curiarum 
 separatio. Neque enim servabitur distinctio casuum, si fiat commixtio juris- 
 dictionum ; sed arbitrium legem tandem trahet." — De Aug. Scient, lib. viii. 
 cap. o. aphor. 45.
 
 23t> MEMOIRS OF THE LIJrE 
 
 if^^'liL ^^ corrected but by a circuitous and expensive process. A 
 defendant prosecuted at common law, cannot avail himself 
 in that court of the best founded plea in equity, but must 
 seek his redress by a counter action. On balancing these 
 opposite disadvantages, the author pertinently remarks, that 
 the inconvenience of blending law and equity, which forms 
 the objection to the union of jurisdictions, may be obviated 
 by an institute or digest, which shall accurately distinguish 
 the boundaries ; but the inconvenience arising from the se- 
 paration of jurisdictions admits of no remedy. To form 
 such an institute, is the object of the work now before us. 
 
 The Treatise on the Principles of Equity attracted very ge- 
 neral attention in both parts of the kingdom, and was uni- 
 versally allowed the praise of great ingenuity, and of pro- 
 found legal erudition. Its merits, however, as a system 
 were variously appretiated. In favour of the plan of the 
 work, and of its general principles, as detailed in the very 
 elaborate Introduction to the book, there cannot be a stronger 
 testimony than that of the great Judge to whom I have had 
 occasion lately to refer, I mean the Earl of Hardwicke; 
 whose letter on the subject, though of considerable length, I 
 think it necessary to insert entire ; both because it would 
 sufi'cr extremely from any abridgment, and because in many 
 parts it forms a counterpoise to the opinions of another 
 great authority in the law. Sir William Blackstone, who has 
 thought proper to censure the work of Lord Kames, as in- 
 
 cukating
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMr,S. 237 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 culcating an erroneous idea of the nature of equity, and of 
 the powers of an equitable tribunal : — a censure which, on a 
 fair and candid consideration of the matter, I trust will ap- 
 pear to be unfounded. 
 
 The Earl o/IIakdwicke to Lord Kames. 
 
 " Mv Loud, Grosvcnor Square, June 30. 17 o9- 
 
 " It has happened to me ao;ain, as it did in the former in- Lord Hard- 
 
 1 ^ •-' wicke s opi- 
 
 stance of our coiTCspondence, that I have not been able to nion of Prm. 
 
 ciphi of Equi- 
 
 acknowledge as I ought your Lordship's obliging communi- O'. 
 cation of the Introduction to the Treatise upon Equity, till 
 the session was over. I ought indeed to be one of the men 
 of leisure, but it generally falls out, whilst the Parliament is 
 sitting, that business enough is cut out for me. As your 
 performance is the fruit of deep consideration, the respect of 
 consideration and attention was due to it, and the honour 
 you do me by calling for my thoughts, gives you a right to 
 demand it. I have read over your papers more than once , 
 
 with care, and not without much approbation of the inge- 
 nuity and industry of your researches and reflections. The 
 field is wide, and to range the Avhole is beyond my strength ; 
 but 1 will beat a piece of ground here and there, to try if I 
 can start any thing that may be worth your Lordship's pur- 
 suing. 
 
 " Your
 
 238 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK n.^ a Your Lordship has treated very properly upon the rise 
 
 of the jurisdiction of equity in England ; a topic of much 
 controversy, and hitherto unsettled. The general idea which 
 you have flung out concerning it, appears to me to be very 
 judicious, and that, in the original formation and division of 
 courts, causes of an extraordinary nature, to be determined, 
 not by stated rules of law, but by an arbitrary, though sound 
 discretion, were reserved to the Sovereign and his Council. 
 It was natural that it should be so ; for as all power of ju- 
 dicature was derived from the Crown, so much as that did 
 not grant out or commit to others, must remain there ; with 
 this difierence, that some have been of opinion, that it was 
 reserved to the King in his great Council, that is, the Parha- 
 ment. 
 
 " It is now many years ago that I read over a MS. trea- 
 tise of one of our most able lawyers and antiquarians, my 
 Lord C. J. Hale, concerning Jurisdiction, from Avhich I tran- 
 scribed some passages on this subject in his own Avords. The 
 great character of the author may give your Lordship a cu- 
 riosity to see them. 
 
 " In one part he has these words : " There were many 
 " petitions referred to the Council (meaning either the Pri~ 
 " vatum Concilium, or Legale Concilium Regis), from the 
 " Parliament, sometimes by the answers to particular peti- 
 *' tions, and sometimes whole bundles of petitions in Par- 
 
 " liament.
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 239 
 
 " liamcnt, Avhich, by reason of a dissolution, could not be chap, ii. 
 
 " there determined, were referred, in the close of the Par- 
 
 *' liamcnt, sometimes to the Council in general, and some- 
 
 " times to the Chancellor; and this I take to be the true 
 
 " original of the Chancery's jurisdiction in matters of equity, 
 
 " and gave rise to those multitudes of equitable causes to 
 
 " be there arbitrarily determined." A little lower, he adds : 
 
 " Touching the equitable jurisdiction (in Chancery), though 
 
 " in ancient time no such thing was known, yet it hath now 
 
 " so long obtained, and is so fitted to the disposal of lands 
 
 " and goods, that it must not be shaken, though in many 
 
 " things fit to be bounded and reformed. Two things might 
 
 " possibly give it original, or at least much contribute to its 
 
 " enlargement. lw?o. The usual committing of particular 
 
 " petitions in Parliament, not there determined, unto the 
 
 " determination of the Chancellor, which was as frequent 
 
 " as to the Council ; and such a foundation being laid for a 
 
 *' jurisdiction, it was not difficult for it to acquire more. 
 
 " 2do, By the invention of uses, (i. e. trusts), which were 
 
 " frequent and necessary, especially in the times of dissen- 
 
 " sion, touching the Crown. In these proceedings the Chan- 
 
 " cellor took himself to be the only dispenser of the King's 
 
 " conscience, and possibly the Council was not called either 
 
 " as assistants or co-judges." 
 
 " There seems to have been a natural reason how this ju- 
 risdiction, arising originally from such references, came to be 
 
 devolved
 
 240 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK II. devolved into the hands of the Lord Chancellor, rather than' 
 of any other branch or member of the Council. The Chan- 
 cery is with us the grand Officina Justitia, out of which all ori- 
 ginal writs, (brieves, as they are called in Scotland), issue un- 
 der the Great Seal, returnable in the courts of common law to 
 found proceedings in actions, competent to the common law 
 jurisdiction. The Chancellor, therefore, Avas the most pro- 
 per judge, whether upon any petition so referred, such a 
 writ could be framed and issued by him, as might furnish an 
 adequate relief to the party ; and if he found the common 
 law remedies deficient, he might proceed according to the 
 extraordinary power committed to him by the reference, Ne 
 ciivia Regis clejiceret in justitid exhibendd. I don't know 
 whether a certain law-book, published here not long ago, 
 has reached Scotland, I mean the Reports of Sir John 
 Strange, late Master of the Rolls. If it has, your Lordship 
 will find, in the first volume, an argument of mine, in a re- 
 markable cause of Sir Robert Walpole's, Avhich passes un- 
 der the name of The King against Hare and Man. It was 
 made when I was a very young Advocate, before I was So- 
 licitor-General, but it is correctly reported ; for I remember 
 Sir John Strange borrowed my papers to transcribe, so that 
 the favdts in it are all my OAvn. In arguing that cause, 
 which turned upon a critical exception to the return of a 
 writ of scire facias in Chancery, I found, or at least fancied 
 it to be necessary to shew, that all the various powers of 
 1 hat Court were derived from ^ or had relation to the Great 
 
 Seal ;
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 241 
 
 Seal; and as I had not then seen my Lord Hale's manu- l^^lZL 
 
 script, endeavoured to prove, that the equitable jurisdiction 
 
 exercised by the Chancellor, took its rise from his being the 
 
 proper officer to whom all applications were made for writs 
 
 or brieves, to ground actions at common law ; and from 
 
 many cases being brought before him, in which that law 
 
 would not afford a remedy, and thereby being induced, 
 
 through necessity or compassion, to extend a discretionary 
 
 one. 
 
 " If this account of the original of the jurisdiction in 
 equity in England be historically true, it will at least hint 
 one answer to the question. How the Forum of Common 
 Law and the Forum of Equity came to be separated with 
 us? It was stopt at the source, and in the first instance; 
 for if the case appeared to the Chancellor to be merely of 
 equity, he issued no original writ, without which the Court 
 of Common Law could not proceed in the cause, but retain- 
 ed the cognizance of it to himself. 
 
 o 
 
 " Whether the jurisdiction of common law and equitv 
 ought to be committed to the same, or to different courts, is 
 a question of another nature, and is very properly said by 
 you to be no less intricate than important. It is a question 
 of policy and legislation, depending upon general reasons of 
 civil prudence and government. You have treated it with 
 great modesty ; and for my own part, I am fearful of being 
 
 Vol. I. H h influenced
 
 242 MEMOIRS or the live 
 
 BOOK. II. 
 
 influenced by some pi'ejudice or bias contracted from long 
 habit, and the usages of my own country. But I must con- 
 fess I have always been of the opinion delivered by the 
 gi-eat and sagacious author you have cited *, That to keep 
 the two jurisdictions separate is the most eligible. I agi'ee, 
 that in considering this point upon different principles, there 
 is room for different determinations. All the arguments 
 drawn from the ease and convenience of the suitors, the pre- 
 venting vexation and delay, and saving of expence, seem to 
 conclude for uniting them in the same court. On the other 
 hand, the arguments drawn from the necessity or utility of 
 preserving the iniles of law enth'e, and not leaving it in the 
 power of Judges to new-mould and vary those rules at dis- 
 cretion, by insensibly blending law and equity together, hold 
 for keeping them divided. These reasons regard the consti- 
 tution of the Government, and have always appeared to me 
 to outweigh the others, inasmuch as what is of general and 
 public consequence, ought to be preferred to private or par- 
 ticular convenience. My Lord Bacon says, Si Jiat comniix- 
 tiojuriscJictiomim, arhitrium tandem legem trahet, and 1 think 
 I have in some instances seen that effect produced. No 
 wonder, then, that a people jealous of their liberties, and 
 fond of their laws, and therefore desirous to bind the hands 
 of their Judges by stated rules, should lean against so dan- 
 gerous an institution. Besides the tendency it would have 
 
 to 
 
 * Lord Bacon. — De Aug, Sciait. lib. viii. c. 0. aphor. 45.
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORn KAMES. 243 
 
 to make the Judc-es of" the common law lawmakers in mat- t^"AP. ir. 
 ters of property, I think, in time, it avouUI have an effect of 
 the like kind upon cases of crime, which aflcct life and liberty. 
 In most countries, the genius of the civil and criminal law is 
 the same ; and the rules both of the one and of tl)e other 
 are analogous. Arguments are often drawn from the rules 
 in civil cases to influence the decision of criminal ones, 
 where doubtful questions arise. Suppose, then, for a mo- 
 ment, that in such a mixed jurisdiction, the Judges have let 
 in certain principles of equity to become rules of law, though 
 not originally founded in the common or statute law ; sup- 
 pose also, that in tract of time, the commencement of this 
 change is forgot and lost ; the points thus established Avill 
 pass for original common law, and be argued from to govern 
 decisions in criminal matters ; in Avhich the most obvious 
 points that occur to the mind may be questions of evidence. 
 If tliis had been allowed in England, I fear the common law 
 would have sunk long ago, and every thing been resolved 
 into the arbitrium boni viri. 
 
 " The mention of this most liberal description of equi- 
 table jurisdiction, the arbitrium boni viri, puts me in mind 
 to sa}"^ a few words upon another question very properly 
 stated by you, Whether a court of equity ought to be governed 
 hy any general rules ? 
 
 H h 2 "It
 
 244 " MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK. 11.^ a j^ is impossible to answer this question in a satisfactory 
 
 manner without running into several distinctions. 
 
 " Some general rules there ought to be, for otherwise the 
 great inconvenience of Jus vagum et incei-tiim will Ibllow ; 
 and yet the Praetor must not be so absolutely and invariably 
 bound by them, as the Judges are by the rules of the com- 
 mon law ; for if he were so bound, the consequence would 
 follow which you very judiciously state, that he must some- 
 times pronounce decrees, which would be materially unjust, 
 since no rule can he equally just in the application to a whole 
 class of cases, that are far from being the same in every cir- 
 cumstance. 
 
 " This might lay a foundation for an equitable relief even 
 against decrees in equity, and create a kind of superfoeta- 
 tion of courts of equity. 
 
 " This consideration brings to my mind a cause which 
 happened in the Court of Chancery very early in my first at- 
 tendance of Westminster-Hall as a student, which occasion- 
 ed some mirth as well as attention. The decision is not re- 
 ported in any book, and my memory does not serve me to 
 state all the circumstances of it. In the law of England, 
 there is a process called an Audita Querela, which is a suit 
 at common law, whereby a defendant may be relieved after 
 and against a judgment or execution, upon particular equi- 
 table
 
 AND WRITINGS Ol- LORD KAJMES. ' 245 
 
 table circumstances, but limited and bound l)y certain rules. ^"'^''- "• 
 A defendant in a judgment had, by some fraudulent contri- 
 vance, artfully brought his case within some of those rules, 
 and sued his Audita Querela ; against which the plaintiff in 
 the judgment was advised he could make no defence at law, 
 and brought his bill in Chancery to be relieved against the 
 Audita Querela. It happened, that both my Lord Cowper, 
 then Lord Chancellor, and the Master of the Rolls, were 
 called away upon public business, and Mr Justice Eyre, a 
 strict common lawyer, who had never practised at all in a 
 court of equity, sat in Chancery that day, by virtue of the 
 standing commission, to hear causes in the absence of the 
 Chancellor. The counsel for the defendant in Cliancer}^ who 
 was plaintiff in the Audita Querela, thought themselves sure 
 of victory, when so extraordinary a cause as a bill in Chan- 
 cery, to be relieved against a common law suit of equity, 
 came to be heard before a common laAv judge ; and the coun- 
 sel for the plaintiff were proportionably in despair. But the 
 judge found that the plaintiti' in Chancery had the merits on 
 his side ; and yet the court of common law must, by reason 
 of their general rules established, have given judgment against 
 him, and therefore he decreed an injunction to stay the pro- 
 ceeding in the Audita Querela. This decree was, upon a re- 
 hearing, affirmed by my Lord Cowper, not without some ob- 
 servation upon the singularity of the case. 
 
 « I
 
 246 • MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 ,^°°^ "^^ " ■'■ '^^^ apprehensive that if general rules were to be fixed 
 
 invariably to govern a court of equity, many cases would 
 happen similar to this old story of the Audita Querela. 
 
 " In our courts of equity general rules are established, as 
 far as it has been judged the nature of things would admit, 
 especially since the time of my Lord Keeper Coventry, who 
 was very able, and contributed a great deal toward^ model- 
 ling the Court of Chancery. In the construction of trusts, 
 which are one great head of equity, the rules are pretty well 
 ascertained. So they are in cases of redemption of mort- 
 gages, which makes another great branch of that business. 
 But as to relief against frauds, no invariable rules can be 
 established. Fraud is infinite, and were a court of equity 
 once to lay down rules, how far they would go, and no far- 
 ther, in extending their relief against it, or to define strictly 
 the species or evidence of it, the jurisdiction would be cramp- 
 ed, and perpetually eluded by new schemes, which the ferti- 
 lity of man's invention would contrive. 
 
 " To this fertility of invention, and luxuriant growth of 
 fraud, is owing the increase of causes in courts of equity, 
 which has been observed in modern times ; and not to that 
 encroachment upon the common law, which my Lord Ba- 
 con, in his 43d aphorism, calls an overflowing of the banks 
 in praetorian courts. Maxime omnium interest certitudinis 
 legum, ne curia pnetorice intumescant et exundent in tantiitn, 
 
 ut
 
 AXD WRITINGS 01' LOKD KA^ri.S. 247 
 
 ut i)rattxtu rigoris legum mitigandi, etlam rohiir ct nervos ih cii m'. n. 
 incidant, aut laxtnt, omnia truhcndo ad arbitrium. 
 
 " The judges Avho have presided in Chancery since the 
 Revolution, have, for the most part, endeavoured with much 
 anxiety, to preserve the boundaries of the two jurisdictions 
 of connnon law and equity from being confounded ; and 
 have sent forth their injunctions to stop the course of the 
 common law, with a cautious and sparing hand. But new 
 discoveries and inventions in commerce have ffiven birth to 
 new species of contracts ; and these have been followed by 
 new contrivances to break and elude them, for which the an- 
 cient simplicity of the common law had adapted no reme- 
 dies ; and from this cause, courts of equity, which admit of 
 a greater latitude, have, under the head, adjuvandi vel sup- 
 plendi juris civilis, been obliged to accommodate the wajits 
 of mankind. 
 
 " Another source of the increase of business in courts of 
 equity, has been the multiplication and extension of trusts. 
 New methods of settling and encumbering land-property 
 have been suggested by the necessities, extravagance, or real 
 occasions of mankind. But what is more than this, new 
 species of property have been introduced, particularly by the 
 establishment of the public funds, and various transferable 
 stocks, that required to be modified and settled to answer 
 the exigencies of families, to which the rules and methods of 
 
 conveyancing
 
 248 - MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK 11. conveyancing provided by the common law would not ply 
 or bend. Here the liberality of courts of equity has been 
 forced to step in and lend her aid. 
 
 " I cannot put an end to this conversation with you, with- 
 out taking notice of one point, which is introduced obiter^ 
 and not essential to the plan of your work ; I mean what is 
 delivered concernins; universal benevolence. 
 
 o 
 
 " Nothing can be more just than the proposition laid 
 down by you, " That the connexions which excite benevo- 
 " lence differ widely in degree, from the most remote to the 
 " most intimate ; and that benevolence is excited in a just 
 " proportion to the degree of the connexion." — I have not 
 the Essaj/s on Moraliti) and Natural Religion, to which you 
 refer, just now at hand to resort to ; but it is a plain conse- 
 quence from this proposition, that the degrees of duty will 
 differ according to the nearness or remoteness of the objects : 
 However, I cannot help wishing that you would reconsider 
 3'our conclusion. That the doing good to one of our own spe- 
 cies, merely as such, never is a duty. Mankind is one great 
 family derived from the same common parents. From hence 
 arises a natural connexion ; and people are too apt to ne- 
 glect the obligation of doing good in practice, to want 
 to be taught where it ceases in doctrine and precept. I 
 know you have too much candour to be offended with 
 the freedom of this observation. I am, with the greatest 
 
 esteem,
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 
 
 esteem, my Lord, your Lordship's most obedient humble 
 
 servant, 
 
 Hardwicke." 
 
 On the foregoing letter, it is deserving of particular re- 
 mark : 
 
 Imo, That in speculating on the origin of the jurisdiction 
 of the Chancery in England in matters of equity, a subject 
 of much uncertainty, and where conjecture must come in 
 place of positive evidence or authority, the notion of Lord 
 Kames coincides very nearly with that entertained by Sir 
 Matthew Hale. 
 
 2Jo, That on the important question, Whether the juris- 
 dictions of common law and equity should be committed to 
 the same, or to separate courts. Lord Hardwicke, though 
 inclining, (from a natural prejudice, as he himself suspects), 
 to the opinion of Lord Bacon, and to the policy of his own 
 country, where the jurisdictions are separated, admits the 
 force of every reason advanced by Lord Kames for their 
 union ; and ingenuously confesses, that there are partial ad- 
 vantages and inconveniences in either system ; so that there 
 is fairly room for a difference of sentiment on the subject. 
 
 3tio, The whole strain of Lord HardAvicke's observations 
 
 tends to shew, (in conformity with the opinion of Lord Ba- 
 
 VoL. I. I i con),
 
 250 
 
 MEMOIRS OF TIIK LIFE 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 con), That a court of equity, as well as a court of common 
 law, ought to be subjected to some general rules, for the 
 purpose of establishing an uniformity of proceedings, and a 
 consistency in its judgments ; though the rules of the former 
 neither can nor ought to be so fixed and invariable as those 
 of the latter, but must leave a latitude, in many cases, of de- 
 termining solely according to conscience, and the arbitrhtm 
 boni viri : a position explicitly assented to by the author of 
 the Principles of Equity, and exemplified through the whole 
 of his work ; although perhaps he is disposed to admit a 
 greater number of those rales than his enlightened corre- 
 spondent, or indeed any of the English lawyers, would deem 
 necessary or expedient. 
 
 Sir William 
 Black~tone'.s 
 ideas of 
 equity, and 
 courts of 
 equity. 
 
 But the very ingenious author of Commentaries on the 
 Lazi's of England, has, in the course of a desultory treatment 
 of the subject of equity, and the equitable powers of the 
 Court of Chancery, in ditl'erent parts of his work, thrown out 
 a censure of the opinions of Lord Kames, as giving erro- 
 neous ideas both of the nature of equity, as distinguished 
 from strict law, and of the powers of a court of equity, and 
 particularly^ of the English tribunal specially vested with 
 that jurisdiction. 
 
 As the fundamental proposition on which the work of 
 Lord Kames is framed, is. That equity is a science of which 
 it is possible to ascertain the principles, and to methodize 
 
 the
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 251 
 
 the rules and doctrines, Sir William IMackstone has, in the ,^""^''- "•, 
 outset, positively denied this primary proposition ; though, in 
 the sequel of his discussion, he admits it in the most direct 
 terms, and builds upon it as the foundation of his own rea- 
 sonings. " E(|uity," (sa^'s this author, vol. i. Introd. § 2.) 
 " is thus defined l^y Grotius, " The correction of that where- 
 " in the law, by reason of its universality, is deficient." — 
 " Equity thus depending," (he adds), " essentially upon the 
 " particular circumstances of each individual case, there can 
 " be no established rules and fixed precepts of equitij laid 
 " down, without destroijing its very essence, and reducing it to 
 " a positive law." Again, " What equity is, and how impos- 
 " sible in its very essence to be reduced to stated rules, hath 
 " been shewn in the preceding section." Ibid. Introd. § 3. 
 in fine. 
 
 Yet the same author, in his third volume, when treating 
 ex professo of the proceedings in courts of equity, has adopt- 
 ed the very opposite of this proposition Avhich he has thus 
 deliberately laid down, and is now, all at once, a keen anta- 
 gonist of his former opinion, and of all who support it. In 
 opposition to the opinion of Seldcn, that a court of equity is 
 not bound by rules or precedents, but acts from the opinion 
 of the Judge, founded on the circumstances of every particu- 
 lar case, he lays it down, that, " on the contrary, the system 
 " of our courts of equity is a laboured connected system, go- 
 " verned by established rules, and bound down by precedents, 
 
 112 « from
 
 253 
 
 BOOK 11. 
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 from which they do not depart, although the reason of some 
 of them may perhaps be hable to objection." Book iii. 
 
 27- Again, in a subsequent part of the same chapter : 
 
 If a court of equity were still at sea, and floated upon the 
 occasional opinion which the Judge Avho happened to pre- 
 side might entertain of conscience in any particular case, 
 the inconvenience that Avould arise from this uncertainty 
 would be a worse evil, than any hardship that could fol- 
 low from rules too strict and inflexible. — But a set of gi"eat 
 and eminent lawyers, who have successively held the Great 
 Seal, have by degrees erected the system of relief admi- 
 nistered by a court of equity into a I'egular science, which 
 cannot be attained without study and experience, any 
 more than the science of the law : but from which, when 
 understood, it may be known what remedy a suitor is en- 
 titled to expect, and by what mode of suit, as readily, and 
 with as much precision, in a court of equity as in a court 
 of law."— Vol. iii. p. 440. 
 
 His censure 
 of Lord 
 Karnes's 
 work on 
 Equity exa- 
 mined. 
 
 Of the above apparent contradictions, the reader shall be 
 left to form his own judgment. 
 
 But the learned author of the Commentaries on the Laws 
 of England has, in various parts of his disquisition on this 
 subject, made particular reference to the doctrines of Lord 
 Kamcs, and intimated his dissent from them in strong terms. 
 Let us briefly examine on what foundation. 
 
 " Every
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 253 
 
 " Every definition," (says Sir William Blackstonc, Book iii. ^^^^ " 
 c. 27.), " or illustration to be met with, which draws a line 
 " between the two jurisdictions, by setting law and eciuity 
 " in opposition to each other, will be found cither totally 
 " erroneous, or erroneous to a certain degree. Thus, in the 
 " first place, it is said, (Lord Karnes, Friiiciples of Equitt/, 
 " 44.), that it is the business of a court of equity in Eng- 
 " land to abate the rigour of the common law. ]>ut no 
 " such power is contended for." — And here the author gives 
 some examples where the common law is rigorous, as in the 
 case of bond-creditors, whose debtor has devised away his 
 real estate, and where no redress can be given by a court of 
 equity, to the creditor against the devisee, &c. But allow- 
 ing that there are some examples of the rigour of common 
 law, which are beyond the remedy of a court of equity, docs 
 it therefore follow in the abstract, that it is not the business 
 of a court of equity to abate the rigour of the common law ? 
 What are we to think of so strange an opinion, delivered in 
 contradiction to the authority of every writer Avho has treat- 
 ed of the subject of equity, as distinguished from strict 
 law * ? 
 
 )ir 
 
 * " jfus pnetorium est quod prat ores introduxerunt , adjuvandi vcl supphndi, 
 vel corrigendi Juris ciniilis gratia, propter utilitatem publicam.' — L. 38. § 1. F. f. 
 De yustitia et yure, " Prator plane modo emendat et quasi impugnat jus ci- 
 
 vile ;
 
 254 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK II. 
 ' u— / 
 
 Sir William Blackstone proceeds : " 2. It is said, (Lord 
 " Karnes, Principles of Equit I/, l??-)? that a court of equity 
 " determines according to the spirit of the rule, and not ac- 
 " cording to the strictness of the letter : But so also does a 
 " court of law. — There is not a single rule of interpreting 
 " laws, whether equitably or strictly, that is not equally used 
 " by the judges in the courts both of law and equity." — 
 Ibid, vol. iii. p. 430. Now granting that the learned author 
 were right in this opinion, that a court of law followed a rule 
 of equity in the interpretation of the laws, it would not re- 
 fute the proposition, that a court of equity determined ac- 
 cording to the spirit, and not according to the strictness of 
 tlie letter: it would only shew that such were likewise the 
 powers and practice of a court of law. 
 
 The same author proceeds : " It has been said, that a 
 " court of equity is not bound by rules or precedents, but 
 " acts from the opinion of the Judge, founded on the cir- 
 " cumstances of ever^^ particular case ; (Selden, Tab. talk. 
 " tit. of Equity), whereas, the system of our courts of cqui- 
 
 " ty, 
 
 vile ; detrahit plurtma de jure ciiiili, corrigit jus civile." — CujACli Comment, in 
 
 tit. De Justitia et Jure, 1. 8. " Haheant curiee pratorice, (Lord Bacon is here 
 
 speaking expressly of the proper constitution and province of the courts of 
 equity in 'E.n^^i.ndi), potestatem tiun subveniendi contra rigorem legis, quam sup- 
 plendi defectum legis. Si enim porrigi debet remedium ei quern lex prateriit, 
 mult'o miigis ci quern ■vulneravit." — De ^ug. Scient. \. viii. c. 3. aphor. 35-
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LOUD KAMKS. 255 
 
 " ty, is a laboured connected system, governed by general 
 " rules" &c. — Ibid. vol. iii. p. 432. 'J'he former notion is no 
 doubt the opinion of Selden ; and was likewise, as we have 
 seen, the opinion of this learned author himself, in the fust 
 volume of his Commentaries, Introduction, § 2. and §3. But 
 it never was the opinion of the author of the Principles of 
 Equity, whose work is an elaborate system built upon the 
 very converse of that proposition. 
 
 With respect to Sir AVilliam Bhickstone's own notions on 
 this subject, the general scope of his reasoning seems to con- 
 clude. That there is no ground for drawing any distinct line 
 of separation betwixt the provinces of law and equity, either 
 as forming different rules of judgment in any matters of ju- 
 dicial controversy, or as influencing the practices of separate 
 courts in England or any where else : but that every tri- 
 bunal of law is virtually and essentially a court of equity. 
 How far he is well founded in this doctrine, so contrary, as 
 we have seen, to the sentiments of those great Judges I have 
 before referred to*, whose reason for a separation of the 
 provinces of law and equity, was the just apprehension, 
 qnod sijiat commixtio jurisdictionum, arbitrium tandem legem 
 trahet, I forbear farther to examine. I shall onh^ remark, 
 that the learned writer, in his strictures on the opinions of 
 Lord Karnes, has at least given proof of an imperfect ac- 
 quaintance 
 
 * Bacon and Lord Hardwicke. 
 
 CHAP. II.
 
 256 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOO K II quaintance with the work which he has censured, and has 
 mistaken altogether its very end and object ; which, instead 
 of enlarging the jurisdiction of a court of equity, and making' 
 its practice " the result of mere arbitrary opinion, or of a 
 " dictatorial power riding over the laws of the land," is cal- 
 culated to restrain that jurisdiction within positive limits, to 
 make its decisions the result of settled principles, and render 
 equity not the tyrannical controller, but the friendly as- 
 sistant and coadjutor of positive law. 
 
 I do not mean, however, in what I have said on this sub- 
 ject, (perhaps at too great a length), to hold forth the Trea- 
 tise on the I*rinciples of Eqiiittj as exhibiting a perfect sys- 
 tem, or as meriting the praise of a faultless work. I am 
 far from thinking so. I am sensible, as the author himself 
 acknowledges, that in a new undertaking, (which this cer- 
 tainly was), there must be many omissions ; and I am aware, 
 that a strict examination may detect in it even errors of doc- 
 trine, and mistakes in point of reasoning *. But with every 
 
 abatement 
 
 * A remarkable example occurs in the author's reasoning with regard to 
 the Lex Rbodia dejactu (Book i. Part i. art. 2.) where, in opposition to every 
 other writer, and indeed to the most obvious rules of equity, he maintains, 
 That the proprietors of the goods saved by throwing overboard a part of the 
 cargo to lighten the ship in a storm, must contribute to make up the owner's 
 loss, not according to the respective values of the goods saved, but according 
 to their respective weights : so that the owner of a large diamond, or of a 
 
 baak-
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 257 
 
 abatement which the rigour of judgment may demand, the 
 work will remain a monument of the genius and learning of 
 its author, and will afford no mean instruction both to the 
 rational student of jurisprudence, and the intelligent judge 
 in a court of equity. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 bank-bill of L. 10,000 value, ought not to pay a thousandth part of the sal- 
 vage to be paid by the owner of a log of wood, or a bar of iron. In thii 
 example, as in a few others, the metaphysical subtlety of the author has per- 
 verted his judgment. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 • u ' 
 
 Vol. I. K k
 
 a3S 
 
 ilEMOIRS Of TIIF, LITE 
 
 CIL\PTER III. 
 
 Lord Karnes's various literary occupations. — Introduction to the 
 Art of Thinking. — Correspondence with Dr B. Franklin. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 1 ^ ' 
 
 Lord Kames' 
 various lite- 
 rary occupa- 
 tions. 
 
 The active mind of Lord Kames, earnestly occupied for 
 some years, as we have seen, by studies and researches con- 
 nected with his profession, appears now to have sought a re- 
 laxation for a while, by turning to pursuits of a nature alto- 
 gether different in their object, yet sufficiently interesting to 
 give full employment to his comprehensive powers, and a 
 grateful exercise to his ruling passion, the desire for the im- 
 provement of mankind. A strong sense of the parental du- 
 ties led him to turn his attention to the education of his 
 children, as soon as he judged the infant mind capable of 
 receiving elementary instruction, the passions beginning to 
 exert their influence, so as to require a judicious guidance 
 and controul, and a dawning of the moral sense sufficient to 
 lay the foundation of just impressions of right and wrong, 
 vice and virtue. 
 
 It
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMK-i. £59 
 
 It occurred to him, that the faculty of reflecting and form- "^^^- "' 
 ing general observations, — a faculty weak aiul imperfect in 
 t|ie state of infancy, is capable of great improvement by ju- 
 dicious culture. It was his opinion, that this, though a 
 most essential branch of education, is seldom cultivated with 
 due care. " Nature," he observes, " in her course, begins 
 *' with particulars, and ascends gradually to what is general 
 " and abstract. But nature is ill seconded in the ordinary 
 " course of education. We are first employed, it is tme, in 
 " languages, gcograph}', history, natural philosophy, sub- 
 " jects that deal in particulars. But at one bound, we are 
 " carried to the most abstract studies ; logics, for example, 
 " and metaphysics. These indeed give exercise to the rea- 
 " soning faculty ; but it will not be said, that they are the 
 " best qualified for initiating a young person in the art of 
 " reasoning. Their obscurity and intricacy unfit them for 
 *' that office. Here then is evidently a void, which must be 
 " filled up, if we wish that education should be successful. 
 " To improve the faculty of abstracting, and gradually lead 
 " us from particular facts to general projx)sitions, the ten- 
 " der mind ought at first to be exercised in observations of 
 " the simplest kind, such as may easily be comprehended. 
 " To that end, the subject ought by all means to be fami- 
 " liar ; and it ought also to be agreeable and instinctive '*." 
 
 K k 2 These 
 
 * Lord Karnes was of Montagne's opinion. " La philosophic a des discours 
 pour la naissance des homines, commc pour la decrepitude. Prenez les sim- 
 ples
 
 260 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK 11. These purposes Lord Karnes had it in view to accomplish 
 
 Art of Think, by the composition of an elementary work, which should be 
 '"^' suited to the minds of children when reason first begins to 
 
 open, and should be calculated to serve at once the pur- 
 poses of improving the understanding, and cultivating just 
 notions of morality. This little work, which he found to be 
 attended with some advantage in the education of his own 
 children, he justly deemed it improper to confine in its ob- 
 ject, while it might be extended to a purpose of general uti- 
 lity; and in I76I, he published it in a small volume, with 
 the title of Introduction to the Art of Thinking. It is divid- 
 ed into two parts ; the former containing a series of moral 
 and prudential maxims, and the latter a regular illustration 
 •of those maxims, by stories taken either from real history or 
 ■fictitious narratives. 
 
 The plan of this work is judicious ; the execution is in ge- 
 neral adequate to its purpose, and the matter and style suf- 
 ficiently suited to the capacity of children, at that stage of 
 life, when the power of reflection first begins to display it- 
 self. The maxims are partly original, and partly borrowed 
 from ancient and modern moralists: and they are for the 
 
 most 
 
 pies discours de la philosophic ; s^achez les cholsir et traiter a point, ils sont 
 plus aises a concevoir qu'un conte de Boccace. Un enfant en est capable au 
 partir de la nourrice, beaucoup mieux que d'apprendre a lire ou a ecrire."— 
 MoNTAGNE, liv. i. ch. 25.
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 26'1 
 
 most part very happily illustrated by historical anecdotes, ,^"^/ - '"• 
 apologues and fables. It must be owned, however, that the 
 author seems occasionally to have deviated iVom his plan, 
 by adapting his maxims and examples to a more advanced 
 period of education ; and in a few instances, it may perhaps 
 be doubted whether some of his observations on life and 
 manners, though just in themselves, and consonant to human 
 nature, be altogether so well calculated for the purpose of 
 useful instmction in a very early period of life, as the author 
 perhaps imagined, and assuredly intended them to be *. 
 
 The 
 
 * Of those maxims which are too refined for the capacity of children, the 
 following are examples : 
 
 " He who incessantly vaunts of his probity and honour, and swears to gain 
 •' belief, has not even the art of counterfeiting." — P. 7. 
 
 " It is harder than is commonly thought to dissemble with those we de- 
 " spise." — P. 11. 
 
 <« Generally we speak ill of others rather out of vanity than malice." — 
 P. 13. 
 
 «' The good humour of some, is owing to an inexhaustible fund of self-con- 
 " ceit."— P. 13. 
 
 •' Self-conceit is none of the smallest blessings from heaven." — Ibid. 
 
 *' You may sooner expect a favour from him who has already done you 
 " one, than from him to whom you have done it." — P. 16". 
 
 " Something to be wished like home that is not home, like alone that is not 
 *' alone, found in a friend only, or in his house." — P. 17. 
 
 From
 
 262 MEMOIRS OP THE LI IE 
 
 BOOK II. rpjjg book, however, is extremely well adapted to its prin^ 
 
 cipal end, the cultivating in the minds of children the habits 
 of reflection, and of forming general observations ; and though 
 now little known, or overlooked amidst the great number of 
 elementary works and tkaetates on education which have of 
 late years issued from the press, has obtained its just com- 
 mendation from those best qualified to estimate its merits. 
 It has, among others, the sutfrage of Dr Benjamin Frank- 
 lin, who thought very favourably both of the design and 
 execution : " In your truly valuable Art of Thinking," (says 
 that judicious writer, in a letter to the author), " you sow 
 *' thick in the young mind the seeds of goodness concerning 
 " moral conduct. — Permit me to say, that I think I never 
 " saw more solid useful matter contained in so small a com- 
 
 " pass; 
 
 From maxims such as the following, a child can derive no useful instruc- 
 tion : 
 
 " The le^st coldness or Incivility from our betters, makes us hate them : 
 " but they need not be in pain, the first smile sets all to rights." — P. 37. 
 
 " To women that have been conversant in the world, a gardener is a 
 »' gardener, and a mason a mason : to those who have been bred in a retired 
 •» way, a gardener is a man, and a mason is a man." — P. 30.. 
 
 •< Women engage themselves to the men by the favours they grant : Men 
 " disengage themselves from the women by the favours they receive." — 
 P. 32. 
 
 " In the first passion, women have commonly an affection for the lover; 
 «' afterwards they love for the pleasure of loving." — P. \\). 
 
 " To shew precipices on all sides, is the best way to bring weak persons 
 " into your path." — P. b'J.
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LOUD KAMKS. 263 
 
 " pass ; and yet the method and expression so clear, tluit ^"'^^- "'■ 
 " the brevity occasions no obscurity." 
 
 Dr Franklin, who, together with his eldest son, made a Correspon- 
 
 o 1 1 • 1 1 r ^ V 1 1 • dence with 
 
 asit to Scotland m the end or the autumn 1759? had recei- DrB.Franic- 
 
 ved particular attentions from Lord Kames, and had passed 
 with him some days at his countrj' seat in Berwickshire. 
 This laid the foundation of a friendship and correspondence 
 between these two eminent men, which subsisted during 
 their joint lives. 
 
 In return to a request made by Lord Kames to obtain 
 from Dr Franklin copies of his printed writings, the latter 
 thus addresses him : 
 
 " My dear LoRb, London, January 3. I76O. 
 
 " You have been pleased kindly to desire to have all my 
 publications. I had daily expectations of procuring some of 
 them from a friend to whom I formerly sent them, when I 
 was in America, and postponed writing to you, till I should 
 obtain them ; but at length he tells me he cannot find them. 
 Very mortifying this to an author, that his Avorks should so 
 soon be lost ! So I can now only send you my Observations 
 on the Peopling of Countries, which happens to have been re- 
 printed here ; The Description of the Pennsylvania Fire-place, 
 a machine of my contriving ; and some little Sketches that 
 have been printed in the Grand Magazine, which I should 
 
 hardly 
 
 lin.
 
 264 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BooKir. hardly own, did I not know that your friendly partiaUty 
 would make them seem at least tolerable. 
 
 " How unfortunate I was, that I did not press you and 
 Lady Karnes more strongly to favour us with your company 
 farther. How much more agreeable would our journey have 
 been, if we could have enjoyed you as far as York. — We 
 could have beguiled the way by discoursing of a thousand 
 things that now we may never have an opportunity of con- 
 sidering together ; for conversation warms the mind, enlivens 
 the imagination, and is continually starting fresh game, that 
 is immediately pursued and taken, and which would never 
 have occurred in the duller intercourse of epistolary corre- 
 spondence. So that whenever 1 reflect on the great pleasure 
 and advantage I received from the free communication of 
 sentiments in the conversations we had at Kames, and in 
 the little agreeable rides to the Tweed-side, 1 shall for ever 
 regret our premature parting, 
 
 " No one can more sincerely rejoice than I do, on the re- 
 duction of Canada ; and this, not merely as I am a Colonist, 
 but as I am a Briton. 1 have long been of opinion, that the 
 foundations of the future grandeur and stability of the British 
 empire lie in America; and though, like other foundations, 
 they are low and little seen, they are nevertheless broad, and 
 strong enough to support the greatest political structure 
 human wisdom ever yet erected. I am therefore by no 
 
 means
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 2(j5 
 
 means for restoring Canada, li' we keep it, all the country 
 from St Lawrence to Misissippi, will in another century be 
 filled with Britisii people ; Britain itself Avill become vastly 
 more populous, by the immense increase of its commerce; the 
 Atlantic sea avIII be covered with your trading ships ; and 
 your naval power thence continually increasing, will extend 
 your influence round the whole globe, and awe the world ! — 
 If the French remain iu Canada, they will continually ha- 
 rass our colonies by the Indians, impede, if not prevent their 
 groAvth ; your progress to greatness will at best be slow, and 
 give room for many accidents that may for ever prevent it. — 
 But I refrain, for I see you begin to think my notions ex- 
 travagant, and look upon them as the ravings of a mad pro- 
 phet. 
 
 " Your Lordship's kind offer of Penn^s picture is extreme- 
 ly obliging. But were it certainly his picture, it would be 
 too valuable a curiosity for me to think of accepting it. I 
 should only desire the favour of leave to take a copy of it. 
 I could wish to know the history of the picture before it 
 came into your hands, and the grounds for supposing it his. 
 I have at present some doubts about it ; first, because the 
 primitive Quakers used to declare against pictures as a vain 
 expence ; a man's suffering his portrait to be taken, was con- 
 demned as pride ; and I think to this day it is very little 
 practised among them. Then, it is on a board ; and I ima- 
 gine the practice of painting portraits on boards, did not 
 
 Vol. I. LI come 
 
 CHAP. HI.
 
 266 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK II. come down so low as Penn's time ; but of this I am not 
 certain. My other reason is, an anecdote I have heard, viz. 
 That when old Lord Cobham was adorning his gardens at 
 Stowe with the busts of famous men, he made inquiry of the 
 family, for a picture of William Penn, in order to get a bust 
 formed from it, but could find none : That Sylvanus Bevan, 
 an old Quaker apothecary, remarkable for the notice he 
 takes of countenances, and a knack he has of cutting in ivory 
 strong likenesses of persons he has once seen, hearing of 
 Lord Cobham's desire, set himself to recollect Penn's face, 
 ■with which he had been well acquainted ; and cut a little 
 bust of him in ivory which he sent to Lord Cobham, with- 
 out any letter or notice that it was Penn's. But my Lord, 
 who had personally known Penn, on seeing it, immediately 
 cried out, " Whence comes this ? It is William Penn him- 
 " self!" and from this little bust, they say, the large one in 
 the gardens was formed. — I doubt, too, whether the whisker 
 was not quite out of use at the time when Penn must have 
 been of the age appearing in the face of that picture. — And 
 yet, notwithstanding these reasons, I am not without some 
 hope that it may be his ; because I know some eminent 
 Quakers have had their pictures privately drawn and depo- 
 sited with trusty friends ; and I know also that there is ex- 
 tant at Philadelphia a very good picture of Mrs Penn, his 
 last wife. After all, I own 1 have a strong desire to be satisfied 
 concerning this picture ; and as Bevan is yet hving here, and 
 some other old Quakers that remember AVilliam Penn, who 
 
 died
 
 ■V 
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 267 
 
 died but in 1718, I would wish to have it sent me carefully chap. hi. 
 
 packed in a box by the waggon, (for 1 would not tnist it l)y 
 
 sea), that I may obtain their opinion. The charges I shall 
 
 very cheerfully pay ; and if it proves to be Penn's picture, I 
 
 shall be greatly obliged to your Lordship for leave to tiike a 
 
 copy of it, and will carefully return the original *. 
 
 " My son joins with me in the most respectful compli- 
 ments to you and to Lady Kames. — Our conversation till 
 we came to York, was chiefly a recollection of what we had 
 seen and heard, the pleasure we had enjoyed, and the kind- 
 nesses we had received in Scotland, and how far that country 
 had exceeded our expectations. On the whole, I must say, 
 I think the time we spent there, was six weeks of the densest 
 happiness I have met with in any part of my life : and the 
 agreeable and instructive society Ave found there in such 
 plenty, has left so pleasing an impression on my memory, 
 
 L I 2 that 
 
 * In Grainger's Biographical History of England, there is no mention of 
 any portrait of William Penn. In Bromley's Catalogue of Engraved British 
 Portraits, an engraving of him is mentioned, as done by J. Hall, in 177j, 
 from a bust at Philadelphia, which has probably been copied from that in the 
 gardens at Stowe, of which we have here the history. In an historical paint- 
 ing by B. West, Esq; representing the Treaty with the Indians at the founda- 
 tion of the colony of Pennsylvania, of which there is an excellent engraving 
 by Hall, William Penn is introduced together with all his family; but it is 
 probable the likeness has been taken from one of those busts, of which Be- 
 
 van's ivory sculpture furnished the model. The picture here mentioned, 
 
 was sent to Dr Franklin, according to his wish ; and it was never returned.
 
 268 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 ^BooK n.^ ^i^r^j^ ^[([ j^oj; strong connexions draw me elsewhere, I be- 
 lieve Scotland would be the country I should choose to 
 spend the remainder of my days in. — I have the honour to 
 be, with the sincerest esteem and affection, my dear Lord, 
 &c. &c. 
 
 B. Franklin." 
 
 In the conversations alluded to in the foregoing letter, 
 the subject of the relative interests of Britain and her Ame- 
 rican colonies had been frequently discussed ; and Lord 
 Kames, impressed with some of the sentiments which he had 
 heard his friend deliver, had requested him to digest them in 
 order, and give them to the public. 
 
 In a letter, dated London 3d May 1760, Dr Franklin thus 
 writes to him : 
 
 " My dear Lord, 
 
 " I have endeavoured to comply with your request in wri- 
 ting something on the present situation of our affairs in Ame- 
 rica, in order to give more correct notions of the British in- 
 terest with regard to the colonies, than those I found many 
 sensible men possessed of. Inclosed you have the produc- 
 tion, such as it is. I wish it may in any degree be of ser- 
 vice to the public, I shall at least hope this from it, for my 
 own part, that you will consider it as a letter from me to 
 
 you,
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 20"9 
 
 you, and take its length as some excuse for its being so long 
 
 a-coming *. 
 
 *' I am now reading with great pleasure and improvement 
 your excellent work, The Principles of Equity. It will Ik; of 
 the greatest advantage to the Judges in our colonies, not on- 
 ly in those which have Courts of Chancery, but also in those 
 which, having no such courts, are obliged to mix equity with 
 the common law. It will be of the more service to the colony 
 Judges, as few of them have been bred to the law. I have 
 sent a book to a particular friend, one of the Judges of the 
 Supreme Court in Pennsylvania. 
 
 " I will shortly send you a copy of the chapter you are 
 pleased to mention in so obliging a manner ; and shall be ex- 
 tremely obliged in receiving a copy of the Collection of 
 Maxims for the Conduct of Life, which you are preparing for 
 the use of your children. I purpose likewise a little work 
 for the benefit of youth, to be called the Art of Virtue. From 
 the title I think you will hardly conjecture what the nature 
 of such a book may be. I must therefore explain it a little. 
 Many people lead bad lives that would gladly lead good 
 ones, but know not how to make the change. They have 
 frequently resolved and endeavoured it ; but in vain, because 
 
 their 
 
 * The Remarks here alluded to, are printed in the late edition of Dr 
 Franklin's works, vol. iii. p. 89. 
 
 CHAP. ni.
 
 270 mi:moirs of the life 
 
 BOOK n. their endeavours have not been properly conducted. To ex- 
 hort people to be good, to be just, to be temperate, &c. with- 
 out shewing them how they shall become so, seems like the 
 ineffectual charity mentioned by the Apostle, which consist- 
 ed in saying to the hungry, the cold, and the naked, Be ye 
 fed, be ye warmed, be ye clothed, Avithout shewing them 
 how they should get food, fire, or clothing. Most people 
 have naturally some virtues, but none have naturally all the 
 virtues. To acquire those that are wanting, and secure what 
 ■\ve acquire, as well as those we have naturally, is the sub- 
 ject of an art. It is as properly an art as painting, naviga- 
 tion, or architecture. If a man would become a painter, 
 navigator, or architect, it is not enough that he is advised to 
 be one, that he is convinced by the arguments of his adviser, 
 that it would be for his advantage to be one, and that he re- 
 solves to be one, but he must also be taught the principles 
 of the art, be shewn all the methods of Avorking, and how to 
 acquire the habits of using properly all the instruments ; and 
 thus regularly and gradually he arrives by practice at some 
 perfection in the art. If he does not proceed thus, he is apt 
 to meet with difficulties that discourage him, and make him 
 drop the pursuit. My Art of Virtue has also its instruments, 
 and teaches the manner of using them. Christians are di- 
 rected to have faith in Christ as the effectual means of ob- 
 taining the change they desire. It may, when sufficiently 
 strong, be effectual with many : for a full opinion, that a 
 Teacher is infinitely wise, good, and powerful, and that he 
 
 will
 
 AND WHITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 271 
 
 will certainly reward and punish the obedient and disobe- • ^"'^''- "^• 
 dient, must give great weight to his precepts, and make 
 them much more attended to by his disciples. But many 
 have this faith in so weak a degree, that it does not produce 
 the efiect. Our A7i of Virtue may, therefore, be of great 
 service to those whose faith is unhappily not so strong, and 
 may come in aid of its weakness. Such as are naturally 
 well-disposed, and have been carefully educated, so that 
 good habits have been early established, and bad ones pre- 
 vented, have less need of this art ; but all may be more or 
 less benefited by it. It is, in short, to be adapted for uni- 
 versal use. I imagine what I have now been writino; will 
 seem to savour of great presumption : I must therefore 
 speedily finish my little piece, and communicate the manu- 
 script to you, that you may judge whether it is possible to 
 make good such pretensions. I shall at the same time hope 
 
 for the benefit of your corrections *. 1 am, &;c. 
 
 B. Franklin." 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 • It does not appear that the little work here mentioned was ever given to 
 the public.
 
 273 
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFB 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Elements of Criticism." — Origin and Progress of Criticism. — 
 Mr Harris's notions on that subject examined. — Aristotle's 
 Critical and Rhetorical Writings. — His Art of Poetry. — 
 His Art of Rhetoric. — Demetrius Phalereus on Elocution.— 
 Longinus. — Lord Komes's plan original, but the way paved 
 by former writers. — Dr Hutcheson's Essay on Beauty and 
 Virtue. — Akenside's Pleasures of Imagination. — Other wri- 
 ters, Gerard, Burke, SfC. — Scope and Object of " Elements of 
 Criticism." — Advantages of such Disquisitions. — The Author's 
 method of Discussion. — Examples. — Utility of the work, in- 
 dependent of the rectitude of its theoretical Opinions. — Cer- 
 tain disadvantages of this sort of Criticism. — Natwe of the 
 Author's Taste. — Works proceeding from the school of Lord 
 Karnes. — Campbell's Philosophy of Rhetoric. — Mr Alison's 
 Essay on Taste. — Other works in Philosophic Criticism^ 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 Elements of 
 Criticism. 
 
 It appears from the letters of several of Lord Karnes's cor- 
 respondents, and in particular from those of Dr Franklin 
 and Mr Hans Stanley, that he had for several years medita- 
 ted an extensive Avork on the Principles of Criticism. In 
 
 treating
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 273 
 
 treating tliis subject, it was his design to proceed altogether ,^11^:^:^ 
 on a new plan, and to adopt a mode of investigation diffe- 
 rent from that wliich had been followed by any preceding 
 writers, either among the ancients or moderns : a design, 
 therefore, in which, 1 think, he has the merit of originality, 
 and is justly entitled to the praise of being the inventor of a 
 science ; I mean that which has been with propriety termed 
 Philosophical Criticism. As this may at first sight appear a 
 bold assertion, it is necessary to be at some pains in illustra- 
 ting and supporting it. 
 
 In speculating on the moral and intellectual nature of 
 man, a subject which seems to have been the favourite study 
 of Lord Karnes in every period of his life, and in reflecting 
 on the various sources of our enjoyments, it had often oc- 
 curred to him as a matter of surprise, that ingenious and 
 able men had never turned their attention to investigate, in 
 a truly philosophical manner, the causes of that pleasure 
 which is derived from the productions of the fine arts of 
 Poetry, Painting, Sculpture, Music, and Architecture : in 
 other words, to trace the rules of criticism to their true prin- 
 ciples in the constitution of the human mind, and the nature 
 of the passions and affections. 
 
 It is an obvious remark, that works of genius in the fine Origin and 
 arts existed before the knowledge or the discovery of any Criticism. 
 rules for the formation of such works, and that the first cri- 
 
 VoL. I. M m tics
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 tics drew the laAvs of their art from a nice examination of 
 the productions of the poets, painters, sculptors, musicians 
 and architects, which were found to have given pleasure to 
 the general taste. But it is an observation etjually worthy 
 of notice, though perhaps it Avill not be so readily assented 
 to, that not only those first critics, but all who have followed 
 them in the same department, down to modern times, had, 
 till very lately, founded their rules of criticism on no other 
 basis than authority, or the practice of the poets, painters 
 and other artists ; and that not one of those critics had ever 
 thought of ascending but a single step higher in the inquiry, 
 by putting the following question. Whether those rules are 
 agreeable to human nature, and have a solid foundation in 
 the moral constitution of man ? 
 
 Mr Harris's 
 notions on 
 that subject 
 examined. 
 
 The ingenious Mr Harris of Salisbury, in his zeal for 
 vindicating to his favourites the ancients, every important 
 discovery connected with philosophy, has, it is true, endea- 
 voured to shew, that this species of criticism, justly termed 
 philosophical, is to be traced up to the works of Aristotle ; 
 and that the principles of the science, which he seems to 
 think is properly the invention of that philosopher, are to be 
 found in his Foetics and Art of Rhetoric. But a very few 
 words will suffice to prove, that what has been termed Phi- 
 losophical Criticism by Mr Harris, and which he professes to 
 find in the works of Aristotle, falls altogether short of that 
 science to which Ave now allude; and that in reality Ari- 
 stotle
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 275 
 
 stotle has not in any part ol" his writings, wlicrc criticism is ,^"^^ '^■ 
 the subject, made the smallest attempt to found the rules of 
 that art on any other basis than authority, or dropped the 
 most remote liint of their real foundation, namely, the con- 
 sonance of those rules to the immutable principles of our 
 nature, or the laws of the human constitution. 
 
 Let us attend to Mr Harris's opinions on the subject, as 
 we find them in his Philological Inquiries. 
 
 " Antient Greece," (says he), " in its happy days, waa 
 " the seat of liberty, of sciences, and of arts. In this fair 
 " region, fertile of wit, the Epic writers came first; then the 
 " Lyric ; then the Tragic ; and, lastly, the Historians, the 
 " Comic Avritcrs, and the Orators,; each in their turn delisht- 
 *' ing whole multitudes, and commanding the attention and 
 " admiration of all. Now, when wise and thinking men, 
 " the subtile investigators of principles and causes, observed 
 " the wonderful effects of these works upon the human 
 " mind, they were prompted to inquire, IVhence this should 
 " proceed ? for that it should happen inerely from chance, 
 " they could not Avell believe. Here, therefore, Ave have the 
 ♦' rise and origin of criticism, which, in its beginning, was a 
 " deep and philosophical search into the primary laws and 
 •' elements of good writing, as far as they could be collected 
 " fi-om the most approved performances. In this contem- 
 " plation of authors, the first critics not only attended to 
 
 M m 2 " the
 
 276 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK. ir. 
 
 " the powers and dift'erent species of words ; the force of 
 " numerous composition, whether in prose or verse ; the ap- 
 " titude of its various kinds to various subjects ; but they 
 " farther considered that which is the basis of all, that is to 
 " say, in other words, the meaning or the sense. This led 
 " them at once into the most curious of all subjects ; the 
 " nature of man in general ; the different characters of men, 
 " as they differ in rank or age, their reason and their pas- 
 " sions ; how the one "was to be persuaded, the others to be 
 " raised or calmed ; the places or repositories to which we 
 " may recur, when we Avant proper matter for any of these 
 " purposes. Besides all this, they studied sentiments and 
 " manners ; what constitutes a work one ; what a zaJiole and 
 " parts; what the essence of probable and even natural 
 " fiction, as contributing to constitute a just dramatic fable. 
 " Much of this may be found in different parts of Plato. 
 " But Aristotle his disciple, who may be called the systema- 
 " tizer of his master's doctrines, has, in his two Treatises of 
 " Foetry and Rhetoric, with such wonderful penetration, de- 
 " veloped every part of the subject, that he may be justly 
 " called The Father of Criticism, both from the age when he 
 " lived, and from his truly transcendent genius. The cri- 
 " ticism which this capital writer taught, has so intimate a 
 " correspondence and alliance with philosophy, that we can 
 " call it by no other name than that of Philosophical Cri- 
 " ticism*." 
 
 Here 
 
 * Harris's Philological Inquiries, Part i. p. 6.
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 277 
 
 Here we have, indeed, a positive opinion of iSfr Harris, 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 that the criticism tauoht by Aristotle was that which, Aristoik's 
 
 from its alhance with phiUjsophy, may be called Philosophical rhetorical 
 
 Criticism. But though distinguished by the same name, it 
 
 remains to be inquired, whether that species of criticism 
 
 taught by Aristotle, be in reality the same science, to which 
 
 we now allude, under tiie title of Philosophical Criticism, 
 
 and which consists in founding the rules of judgment in the 
 
 fine arts upon the principles of human nature. A\'e must 
 
 not allow ourselves to be misled by an identity of terms : it 
 
 is things and not names to which we must attend in order to 
 
 form sound opinions. Now, a very few observations on 
 
 those principles of criticism contained in Aristotle's two 
 
 Treatises on Foetry and Rhetoric, will enable us to determine 
 
 this preliminary question. 
 
 ]\:[r Harris allows, that the ancient critics, when inquiring His Art oP 
 into the causes of the pleasure which the mind receives fi'om °^ '^^* 
 the works of taste, in order thence to lay down the rules of 
 good writing, sought for them in the most approved perfor- 
 mances ; that is, they held that to be a law of composition, 
 which they found to be the practice of Homer, iEsch3dus, 
 Sopliocles, Euripides, &c. Now, this is the total amount of 
 what Aristotle has done in his Treatise of Poetry ; he has 
 placed the foundation of his laws of criticism on the autho- 
 rity of the great writers of antiquity ; and beyond this rule 
 of practice he has not proceeded a single step. In the whole 
 
 of
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 of his Treatise De Poeticd, there is not the slightest attempt 
 to deduce those laws from the nature of man, or from any 
 analysis of the human passions. That work is exclusively 
 confined to the description of the different species of poetical 
 composition ; the requisite ingredients of each species Avith 
 respect to subject ; and a brief detail of certain rules for the 
 structure and style of each species ; for the adoption of 
 which, the author assigns no reason whatever, but illustrates 
 them, by the practice of Homer and the elder Greek poets ; 
 or, in other words, recommends them to observation, for this 
 reason alone, that the best writers have observed them. In 
 the JPoetics of Aristotle, we see the author's predominant ta- 
 lent for arrangement and classification, and for drawing nice 
 distinctions ; but not a tincture of that philosophical ana- 
 lysis of the human mind and passions ; much less the at- 
 tempt of deducing from that source his rules of criticism, 
 for which he has been thus gratuitously praised by Mr 
 Harris *. 
 
 His Art of 
 Rhetoric. 
 
 But it is in the Art of Bhetoric, as well as in the Poetics 
 of Aristotle, that Mr Harris professes to find the science of 
 
 Philosophical 
 
 * It is true, that the treatise He^i IloitiTiHt);, is generally regarded as an im- 
 perfect or mutilated work, and only a part of a larger treatise on the subject } 
 but we can form our judgment only from what appears, and are not entitled 
 to suppose the lost works of an author to contain particular opinions, of which 
 his existing writings exhibit no trace : De non apparentibns ct non existentibus 
 tadem est ratio.
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 279 
 
 Philosophical Criticism : and here his position, if not actually cha?. iv. 
 more true, is at least more approaching to the truth. In the 
 Ti'eatise de Rhetoricci, the author has given a very elaborate 
 analysis of the passions, and of" the sources oC ])ain and j^lca- 
 sure, happiness and unhappiness : because liis purpose was 
 to instruct his orator or rhetorician in the art both of swaying 
 the passions to his own purposes, and of persuading the judg- 
 ment. An analysis of the passions was absolutely necessary 
 for those ends. But Aristotle, in his Treatise of Tthetoric, 
 had no design of teaching the yJr^ of Criticism: and accord- 
 ingly we find not in that work any application of his theory 
 of the passions to the works of taste and genius, so as to di- 
 rect our judgment of those works, or lead to a just estimate 
 of their merits and defects, as artificial compositions. He 
 sometimes quotes passages from the poets, as illustrating or 
 confirming his theoretical opinions ; just as a modern mora- 
 list might illustrate a particular observation by a passage of 
 Shakespeare or of Milton, without any view of displayino- the 
 merits of those authors * : and those passages are but very 
 rarely introduced. It is obvious, that there is an essential 
 diflerence between the illustration of a philosophical theory 
 
 of 
 
 * Thus, in Lib. i.e. 11 ., after observing, that of those recollections which 
 afford pleasure, some consist in the remembrance of things which were agree- 
 able at the time they happened ; and otheis of things disagreeable at the time, 
 but attended with beneficial effects with regard to our fame or fortune, he 
 adds,* "Whence it is well said, 'A?^^' n$u roi a-x^snoi ixeix,vri(^^s» tcovuv, Sweet is the 
 
 " memory
 
 280 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK II. of the powers of the mind, and of the passions, by examples 
 taken from the works of genius in poetry and the other fine 
 arts ; and an exposition of the merits and defects of the works 
 of genius in the fme arts, by shewing their agreement or dis- 
 agreement with a rational theory of the powers of the mind, 
 or analysis of the passions. The former is, strictly speaking, 
 philosophy borrowing aid from criticism ; the latter, criti- 
 cism borrowing aid from philosophy. An example will make 
 this distinction obvious to every mind. David Hume was 
 both an acute philosopher, and a great historian. In his Phi- 
 losophical Essai/s, he frequently makes an admirable use of 
 history to illustrate his speculative opinions in morals, meta- 
 physics and politics ; and in his History of England, he 
 every where intersperses his narrative with philosophical sen- 
 timents, giving enlarged and general views of human nature, 
 
 in 
 
 " memory of past dangers to the man who is in safety ;" which is a verse of 
 Euripides : And again. 
 
 For he who much has suffered much will know, 
 And pleas'd remembrance builds delight on woe. 
 
 Pope, 
 
 which is a distich from the 15th Book of the Odyssey. It is evident, that by 
 these quotations, Aristotle meant no more than to confirm his own observa- 
 tions by the authorities of Euripides and Homer : he had no intention of 
 shewing the propriety of sentiment in those two passages of the poets, front 
 their consonance to a principle of human nature.
 
 AND WIIITINOS OF LORD KAMES. 281 
 
 in aspects both moral and political ; wiicnce it is justly tenii- chap^iv. 
 ed a Philosophical History. The one species of composition, 
 it is easily seen, is essentially different from the other ; al- 
 tliough in some point's they mutually encroach upon each 
 others peculiar province. 
 
 It may therefore be allowed, that in the Treatise of Rhe- 
 toric, Aristotle has discoursed with admirable precision on 
 the nature of the passions, and has developed with great sa- 
 gacity their most delicate modifications, and the power they 
 have of balancing each other's influence ; and likewise, that 
 he is often very happy in illustrating his sentiments by apt 
 quotations from the poets, historians and rhetoricians : But 
 in all this, he is only an acute moral philosopher, and able 
 instructor in the art of rhetoric ; he is neither a critic, nor su 
 teacher of criticism. 
 
 The assertion, therefore, of Mr Harris, that we OAve to 
 these two treatises of Aristotle, the art of Philosophical Cri- 
 ticism, is not built on any just foundation ; if by Philosophi- 
 cal Criticism we mean, that Avhich draAVS its rules, not from 
 authority, and the practice of eminent Avriters, but from its 
 native and primary source, the structure of the human mind 
 and the nature of the passions *. 
 
 Vol. I. N n If 
 
 * Mr Harris's own critical writings, though excellent in their kind, do not 
 properly come under the denomination of Philosophical Criticism, in the sense 
 
 in
 
 ^82 
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK n. 
 
 Demetrius 
 Phalereus on 
 Elocution. 
 
 If the principles of Philosophical Criticism had truly been 
 discoverable in those works of Aristotle which treat of poetry 
 and rhetoric, we should in all probability have discovered 
 them in the treatise of his scholar Demetrius Phalereus 
 on Elocution, (lls^) 'E^f^m'tca), who, as Mr Harris obseiTCs, 
 was the most masterly of the disciples of Aristotle, and who 
 appears to follow the precepts, and even the text of his ma- 
 ster, with far greater attention than any of the rest : but the 
 treatise of Demetrius is directed entirely to the mechanism 
 
 of 
 
 in which I have endeavoured to explain it. He is very ample in the descrip- 
 tion of the several figures of speech which enter into the different species of 
 composition ; but it is only by starts that he glances at the philosophical foun- 
 dation of the pleasure we derive from what we term the beautiful or the excel- 
 lent in composition. Thus, after announcing, " That nothing excellent in any 
 " literary performance happens merely by chance ; but that there is an intel- 
 " ligent and rational cause for every effect," {Philolog. hiquir. Part ii. Introd. 
 and ch. 1.) ; and after observing with great justness, that nothing contributes 
 more to the attainment of a truly critical taste, than on every occasion to in- 
 vestigate this cause ; an observation from which we. are led naturally to ex- 
 pect, that he is to enter into a full Investigation of those causes which produce 
 all the excellencies of literary composition ; we are much disappointed, when 
 we find, that he limits the proof of this important proposition to two solitary 
 examples ; " the amazing force which, on the one hand, contraries acquire, 
 " either bv juxta-position or quick succession; and, on the other hand, the 
 " force which similar and congenial incidents acquire by concatenation or ac- 
 
 " cumulation." And tliis is, in truth, all that this ingenious author has 
 
 given us upon the subject of philosophical criticism, according to its true 
 meaning ; or that science which founds the rules of judgment in the produc- 
 tions of the fine arts, upon tlic principles of human nature.
 
 AXD WRITINGS OF LOKD KAMES. 283 
 
 CHAP. rv. 
 
 1 ,, J 
 
 of composition, that is to say, tlic structure of" oratonal 
 periods, and the different styles of prose-Avriting, as distin- 
 guished by their several characters, of simple, magnificent, 
 grave, or ornate. These he distinguishes with great accu- 
 racy, and illustrates his distinctions by apt examples from 
 the most eminent writers among iiis countrymen. He is 
 likewise copious in the description of the different figures of 
 rhetoric, and the aptness or propriety of each to the nature 
 of the composition, or the purpose of the orator or writer: 
 but in all this, we discover not a trace of philosophical criti- 
 cism : The only appeal for the truth or justness of his obser- 
 vations, is to the taste of the reader, and the authority of 
 writers of acknowledsed merit. 
 
 Of all the ancient authors, Longinus has made the near- Longinus. 
 est approach to that species of criticism to which Ave allude ; 
 yet it is only in a few detached passages, as if it were through 
 accident that he had stumbled upon it. The general scope 
 of his Avork, is like those of his predecessors in the critical 
 art, to deliver a scries of judicious precepts or rules for the 
 attainment of that sublimity in Avriting, of Avhich he points 
 out the different sources ; and to give an illustration of those 
 precepts by happy examples, taken from Homer, the Ijuic 
 and dramatic Avriters, and the orators and historians. Occa- 
 sionally indeed, though very rarely, Ave meet Avith an obser- 
 vation drawn from the nature of the passions, to justify the 
 use of certain figures of speech Avliich are serviceable to the 
 
 N n 2 production
 
 284 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK ir. Qf ^Yie sublime : As where he says, " That the Ili/perbaton is 
 " a transposing of words or thoughts out of their natural or- 
 " der ; a figure stamped Avith the truest image of a most 
 " forcible passion : ^^ hen men are actuated either by wrath, 
 " or fear, or indignation, or jealousy, or any of those num- 
 " berless passions incident to the mind, they fluctuate in 
 " their resolutions, and change their purposes without any 
 " apparent reason ; and as their thoughts and resolutions 
 " vary, so their language and expression become perplexed 
 " and contradictory : And hence a happy imitation of those 
 " transpositions by a skilful writer, gives the greatest resem- 
 " blance to the real workings of the passions in nature ; and 
 " the Avork becomes then consummate and perfect in its 
 " kind */' This is philosophical criticism ; but it is very 
 thinly scattered through the treatise of Longinus ; avIio, 
 therefore, seems to have hit upon it purely through acci- 
 dent, and to have been very far from ever suspecting, that 
 the laws of the human mind were the radical and universal 
 foundation, not only of the rules of the sublime, but of our 
 judgment of all that is excellent in the productions of the 
 iine arts. 
 
 One general remark may be made on the writings of the 
 ancient critics, or teachers of the critical art, That their at- 
 tention is almost exclusively confined to the artificial struc- 
 ture 
 
 » * Longinus, c. 22.
 
 AND M'UITINGS Ol" LOUD KAMIiS. i!85 
 
 ture of literary compositions, tlicir style, luid tlic ligures of t^"Ai '^ iv.^ 
 speech which they employ ; and is very rarely directed to 
 the sentiments, or the power which these have of affecting the 
 jnind through the medium of the passions. The Poetics of 
 Aristotle, the Treatise of Demetrius on Elocution, and that 
 of Dio7ii/sius of Halicm-nassus on Composition, are all di- 
 rected to the mechanical structure of the works of literature 
 in their various kinds, the figures of speech most appro- 
 priate, and the style best suited to each species. With re- 
 spect to the Oratorial Institutions of Quinctilian, it would 
 be to entertain too limited an idea of that great and useful 
 work, to class it among the treatises of criticism. It is a 
 most comprehensive digest of all that regards the education, 
 or forms the accomplishment of a perfect orator ; embracing 
 even what concerns the natural endowments of his mind 
 and person, as well as the rules of discipline in his peculiar 
 art. Yet even as to this work, the observation holds good, 
 that in every thing regarding the art of oratory, the mecha- 
 nical part or the artificial is much more the object of the 
 author's precepts than the thoughts or sentiments. 
 
 The sole exception to this remark is, as I have already 
 hinted, the Treatise of Longinus, which, from the nature of 
 the subject, must be directed in a considerable degree to the 
 ideas or sentiments ; as these are a principal source of the 
 sublime : yet it appears that even this critic was of opinion, 
 that much of the essence of the subhine is to be found in 
 
 the
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE XAFZ 
 
 the raode of expression and peculiar structure of the style ; 
 as we see from his enumeration of the Jive sources of the 
 sublime; of which the latter three regard the artificial part 
 alone, that is, the nature of the composition, and not the 
 sentiment *. It is true, that one capital part of this Treatise 
 on the Sublime, which probably regarded chiefly the nature 
 of the sentiments, is altogether lost ; namely, his Disquisition 
 on the Passions : and it seems indeed not improbable that 
 the author, in handling that subject, may have entered upon 
 that species of criticism, properly termed philosophical ; but 
 this we can only conjecture ; for the work, as it has come 
 down to us, forms no exception to the general remark apply- 
 ing to all the ancient critics. 
 
 Lord Kames' 
 plan original, 
 but the way 
 paved by for- 
 mer writers. 
 
 But while we are thus disposed to assign to Lord Karnes 
 the merit of having been the first writer who has raised phi- 
 losophical criticism to the rank of a science, by reducing it 
 to general principles, methodizing its doctrines, and support- 
 ing 
 
 * After stating, in his 8th chapter, that the two first sources of the su- 
 blime are a grand and noble thought, and an enthusiastic display of the pas- 
 sions, UfUTOv ixiv xai Kpcnirov, to iti^i raf vowels a5'fEB■^^i3o^o», — oevrepov ?£, ToapoSfov xai ev- 
 Saa-iariKov Huiof, which, says he, are the natural and inborn sources of the su- 
 blime, TK viJ-Bj Kara to otXeov auSivsrsij curaatii : the other three, he observes, relate 
 to what is artificial, and may be acquired by discipline : and these are an apt 
 disposition of the figures, a grave and manly diction, and a dignified and ele- 
 vated structure of the periods, i te iioux tuv (7xijit«Twi/ a-Xaa-jj, — h yinaia f f«(7if,— ii tv
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 
 
 287 
 
 ing them every -where by the most copious and beautiful il- 
 lustrations ; it is not to be denied, that he may have borrow- 
 ed many useful hints from some of the works of preceding 
 authors, which seem to have paved the way for that system, 
 which it was reserved for his ingenuity to rear. 
 
 CI!AP. IV. 
 
 The peculiar direction of the studies of the Scottish men 
 of letters to metaphysical speculation, for which of late they 
 have been so remarkably distinguished, seems to have been 
 first given by the writings of Dr Francis Hutcheson, who, in 
 the year 1725, published his Iihqiiiri/ into the Original of our 
 Ideas of Beauty and Virtue. Within a short time from that 
 period, Mr Andrew Baxter published his Inquiry into the 
 Nature of the Human Soul ; which was followed, a few years 
 afterwards, by Mr David Hume's Essay on Human Nature ; 
 a work, which we have seen, gave immediate origin to Lord 
 Kames's Essays on Morality and Natural Beligion. It is not 
 improbable, that the Tnquiry into the Original of the Ideas 
 of Beauty and Virtue, may also have led, though indirectly, 
 to the first general idea of the Elements of Criticism. 
 
 Dr Hutcheson, in the first part of the Inquiry just men- 
 tioned, had, with great ingenuity, endeavoured to account 
 for the pleasure the mind derives from the contemplation 
 both of physical beauty and the beauty of theorems or uni- 
 versal propositions, upon the same original principle of our 
 nature, — a relish for uniformity mixed with variety. He had 
 
 likewise 
 
 Dr Hutche- 
 son's Essay 
 on Beauty 
 and Virtue.
 
 288 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK II. likewise the merit of being the first philosopher who consi- 
 dered the powers of imagination as so many distinct senses, 
 to which, in this inquiry, he gave the name of the Internal 
 Senses, though afterwards with more precision he has, in his 
 latter works, termed them the Reflex Senses ; because they 
 truly consist in certain feelings Avhich arise upon the mind's 
 reflecting on some qualities belonging to objects, besides 
 those which present themselves immediately to the senses : 
 such as the feelings of Novelty, Sublimity, Beauty, Har- 
 mony, Imitation, and others *. 
 
 From 
 
 * Dr Francis Hutcheson, though an Irishman by birth, may with some 
 propriety be classed among the Scottish writers ; as he received his education 
 in Scotland, and spent the best part of his life in that country. He was elect- 
 ed Professor of Philosophy in the University of Glasgow in 17'29j in the room 
 of Mr Gershom Carmichael, and sustained a very high reputation by his Lec- 
 tures on Morals, Jurisprudence and Govcruiiieut. He posbcssed in an uncom- 
 mon degree the talent of diffusing among his pupils the ardour of improve- 
 ment, and that enthusiasm in every noble and virtuous pursuit which ftrongly 
 marked his own character. Dr Hutcheson's system of morals is, in its foun- 
 dation, very nearly the same with that of Lord Shaftesbury. He agrees with 
 the noble author in asserting a distinct class of the human afiFections, which, 
 while they have no relation to our own interest, propose for their end the wel- 
 fare of others : but in the system of Shaftesbury, this distinction is not very 
 happily made out : for he allows, that the exercise of those benevolent feel- 
 ings is attended with a calm satisfaction or pleasure to the mind : but this 
 pleasure will, of course, be felt as a motive to the performance of those ac- 
 tions which excite it ; and thus, after all, a selfish feeling may be the main- 
 spring
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. ' 289 
 
 From Dr Hutcheson's Theory of the Reflex Senses, and 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 various hints to be found in the hssarj on Beauty and Virtue, Akenside's 
 
 ' • 1 o T-\ Pleasures of 
 
 as well as from Mr Addison's papers in the Spectator, Dr imagination- 
 Akenside conceived the plan of his poem On the Pleasures 
 of Imagination. In this elegant work, (fn-st published in 
 1744), it must be acknowledged, that the principles of taste, 
 in those productions where the imagination bears a part, are 
 deduced from their true source, in the constitution of the 
 mind : But the enthusiasm of the poet is hostile to the de- 
 ductions of the philosopher ; the narrow limits of the work 
 preclude any lengthened process of reasoning, and a philoso- 
 phical thought just hinted, is seldom pursued to a satisfac- 
 tory conclusion. Enough however is done in this fine poem, 
 
 to 
 
 spring of our benevolent emotions. The system of Hutcheson involves no 
 such paralogism. He maintains, that the pleasure arising from the perform* 
 ance of a benevolent action, is not the ruling principle in prompting to such 
 actions ; but that, independently of the selfish enjoyment, which is allowed in 
 part to exist, there is in the human mind a calm desire of the happiness of all 
 rational beings, which is not only consistent with, but of superior influence in 
 regulating our conduct, to the desire of our own happiness -, in so much, that 
 whenever these principles come into opposition, the moral sense decides in fa- 
 vour of the former against the latter. This principle is the key to Mr 
 Hutcheson's theory of morals, and was certainly a new hypothesis. Lord 
 Kames has adopted Mr Hutcheson's system, in so far as he holds, that the sel- 
 fish affections are distinct from the social, and subordinate to them; which, as 
 he says, " is a wonderful and beautiful contrivance of the Author of Nature 
 " to give authority to morality." — Essays on Morality, &c. p. j8. 
 
 Vol. I. O o
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 to shew that the laws of taste are susceptible of analysis, and 
 are a fit subject of philosophical investigation. 
 
 Other wri- 
 ters, Gerard, 
 Burke, <xc. 
 
 The Treatises of Hutcheson and of Hume, evidently gave a 
 direction to the chief speculations of that Literary Society, 
 which was formed at Aberdeen about the year 1755 ; and to 
 which we owe the writings of Reid, Gregory, Campbell, Ge- 
 rard, and Beattie. 
 
 Dr Gerard's Essat/ on Taste, was pubhshed in 1758; 
 and in this work, the author, founding on Dr Hutcheson's 
 description of the internal or reflex senses, by which we per- 
 ceive and form judgments of all the objects of taste, has, in 
 this Essay, discoursed with great ingenuity of the principles 
 of taste, and of the manner in Avhich those senses co-operate 
 in forming a good taste ; and from a review of these prin- 
 ciples and their operation, he has endeavoured to assign to 
 that faculty its just rank and importance among those 
 powers of the human mind which contribute to our pleasure 
 and happiness. 
 
 But the two works last mentioned, as well as another on 
 a kindred subject, which appeared much about the same 
 time with Dr Gerard's Essay on Taste, I mean Mr Burke's 
 Inquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beau- 
 tiful, are of a nature purely philosophical ; and though ex- 
 tremely useful in laying down those principles of judgment in 
 
 the
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. '^9\ 
 
 the fine arts which form the taste, and regulate the decisions t:HAP. iv. 
 of a good critic, yet as they contain no direct apphcation of 
 those principles to the productions of the poets, orators, and 
 artists, unless a few occasional notices, which, like those of 
 Aristotle and Longinus, serve merely the purposes of illustra- 
 tion, there still remains a chasm to be filled up by making 
 that direct application, and using those principles as a canon 
 of judgment for appretiating the merits of all the produc- 
 tions of the fine arts, in poetry, painting, sculpture, music, 
 and architecture ; and that chasm has been supplied in The 
 Elements of Criticism, first published in the year 1762, in 
 three volumes 8vo. 
 
 In this elaborate work, the author proceeds on this funda- ^'^"Ps an<I 
 
 object of 
 
 mental proposition, that the impressions made on the mind Elements of 
 
 Criticism. 
 
 by the productions of the fine arts, are a subject of reason- 
 ing as well as of feeling ; and that, although the agreeable 
 emotion arising from what is beautiful, or excellent in those 
 productions, may be a gift of nature, and hke all other natu- 
 ral endowments, very unequally distributed among mankind, 
 it depends on certain principles or laws of the human con- 
 stitution which are common to the whole species : Whence 
 it follows, that as a good taste consists in the consonance of 
 our feelings with those fixed laws, our judgments on all the 
 works of genius are only to be esteemed just and perfect, 
 when they are warranted by the conclusions of a sound un- 
 derstanding, after trying and comparing them by that stan- 
 
 O o 2 dard.
 
 292 MEMOIRS OF THE LITE 
 
 BOOK ir. dard. The general scope of the work is thus announced by 
 the author in his Introduction : 
 
 " Tlie design of the present undertaking, Avhich aspires 
 not to morahty, is to examine the sensitive branch of hu- 
 man nature ; to trace the objects that are naturally agree- 
 able, as well as those that are naturally disagreeable, and 
 by these means to discover, if we can, Avhat are the genuine 
 principles of the fine arts. The man who aspires to be a 
 critic in these arts must pierce still deeper : he must ac- 
 quire a clear perception of what objects are lofty, Avhat 
 low, Avhat proper or improper, what manly, and what 
 mean or trivial. Hence a foundation for reasoning upon 
 the taste of any individual, and for passing sentence upon 
 it. Where it is conformable to principles, Ave can pro- 
 nounce with certainty that it is correct ; otherwise that it 
 is incorrect, and perhaps Avhimsical. Thus the fine arts, 
 like morals, become a rational science ; and, like morals, 
 may be cultivated to a high degree of refinement.'^ 
 
 Advantages 
 of such dis- 
 quisitions. 
 
 A philosophic inquiry into the principles of the fine arts, 
 has a very general advantage, and is useful both to those 
 who have a natural good taste, and those who want it. To 
 the former class of men, those endowed by nature with an 
 acute perception of what is excellent in the fine arts, it nmst 
 furnish an additional source of pleasure to find the decisions 
 of taste ratified by the judgment ; Avhich is a canon in their 
 
 own
 
 AND WRITINGS OV LOUT) KAMF.S. 293 
 
 own mind by which tlicy prove and verify their sentiments 
 of" approbation and disliiie ; and arc enabled to give a rea- 
 son for those decisions, which to others who arc deficient in 
 the same acuteness of feeling, would, without such proof, 
 seem altogether gratuitous and capricious. To the latter 
 class,, those who have no delicacy of perception in the ob- 
 jects of taste, this exercise of the judgment affords an arti- 
 ficial rule, which supjilies the defect of natural sensil)ility, 
 and enables them not only to estimate the opinions of 
 others, but to form just opinions for themselves. If it can- 
 not give the high and enthusiastic pleasure which results 
 from actual feeling, it gives at least that more sober satisfac- 
 tion, which, where a work is observed to be framed accord- 
 ing to the rules of an art, arises from the contemplation of 
 ingenious design and skilful execution. 
 
 But, in truth, there are many gradations between a total 
 want of sensibility to the beauties of the productions of the 
 fine arts, and the highest or most exquisite feeling of those 
 beauties ; and the great majority of mankind stand not in 
 the extremes, but in the intermediate degrees of the scale *. 
 
 " It 
 
 * Of the various measure in which the powers of the imagination, and the 
 enjoyments attending on those powers, are distributed among the human race, 
 there is a clear and elegant specification in the following passage (most com- 
 prehensive in point of thought) from. Lord Monboddo's Ancient Metaphysics : 
 
 " Had 
 
 CHAP IV. 
 
 ' >/ '
 
 294 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BooK^ii.^ " It is rare," Lord Karnes observes, " to find one bom with 
 " such dehcacy of feehng, as not to need instruction : it is 
 " equally rare to find one so low in feeling, as not to be ca- 
 " pable of instruction." To the generality of mankind, a 
 work of this nature, which presents a series of judicious pre- 
 cepts 
 
 " Had we no other desires than those belonging to the animal life, our ima- 
 
 " ginations, 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 ac- 
 
 '* tions. This love of beauty is congenial with the rational nature ; and who- 
 
 " ever is entirely void of it, hardly deserves the name of a man. But in this, 
 
 " as in other respects, man diifers much from man ; for some have the love 
 
 " and taste for beauty in a very small degree ; others, whom nature hath 
 
 " formed of her best clay, and heaven bestowed on them a more than ordi- 
 
 " nary portion of the celestial fire, have it in a very high degree. Of such 
 
 " men, the imaginations are filled with the most beautiful scenes of nature and 
 
 ♦' art, men and manners. If it be the beauty of the visible kinds which 
 
 " captivates those minds, and if their imaginations are carried into works, 
 
 " then have we painters, sculptors and poets, of an inferior kind, I mean de- 
 
 " scriptive poets. If it be the beauty of sounds, then have we musicians. 
 
 " But if the turn of mind be towards beauties of a higlier 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. Tlie capacity of performing in these several arts, is what we 
 
 " call Genius ; and the perception of beauty in them, and the capacity of di- 
 
 " stinguishing true beauty from what is false and afl'ected, is what we call 
 
 " Taste."— .^/;c/<.«^ Metaphyiics, vol. ii. p. 26j.
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMTS. 295 
 
 Cepts or rules oi" criticism, oi' which tlic truth is put beyond ^"^^- '^• 
 dispute, by an appeal to the judgment of all who arc able to 
 try them by that standard ; and which are illustrated by a 
 vast variety of beautiful and striking examples taken from 
 the Avorks of art, is productive both of high pleasure, and of 
 real improvement of the sensitive faculties, which even, where 
 naturally acute, are wonderfully sharpened and refined b}' 
 exercise. 
 
 " So advantageous is practice," (says an eminent writer), 
 " to the discernment of beauty, that before we can give 
 " JLidgment on any work of importance, it will even be re- 
 " quisitc, that that very individual perlbrmance be more 
 " than once perused by us, and be surveyed in different 
 " lights Avith attention and deliberation. There is a flutter 
 " or hurry of thought which attends the first perusal of any 
 " piece, and which confounds the genuine sentiment of 
 " beauty. The relation of the parts is not discerned : the 
 " true characters of style are little distino;uished : The seve- 
 " ral perfections and defects seem wrapped up in a species 
 " of confusion, and present themselves indistinctly to the 
 " imagination. Not to mention, that there is a species of 
 " beauty, Avhich, as it is florid and superficial, pleases at 
 " first; but being found incompatible Avith a just expression 
 " either of reason or passion, soon palls upon the taste, and 
 " is then rejected Avith disdain, at least rated at a much 
 *' loAver value. It is impossible to continue in the practice 
 
 " of
 
 296 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK II. a QJ- contemplating any order of beauty, without being fre- 
 " quently obliged to form comparisons between the several 
 " species and degrees of excellence, and estimating their 
 " proportion to each other, A man who has had no op- 
 " portunity of comparing the different kinds of beauty, is 
 " indeed totally unqualified to pronounce an opinion with 
 " regard to any object presented to him. By comparison 
 " alone we fix the epithets of praise or blame, and learn 
 
 " hoAv to assign the due deo;ree of each. One accustom- 
 
 " ed to see, and examine, and weigh the several perform- 
 " ances, admired in dift'erent ages and nations, can alone 
 " rate the merits of a work exhibited to his view, and assign 
 *' its proper rank among the productions of genius *." 
 
 The principal advantages arising from the study of criti- 
 cism as a rational science are enumerated by the author, in 
 his introduction to the work. Among these, perhaps not 
 the least in value, is the superior duration of the pleasures 
 derived from the fine arts when so cultivated ; and their sub- 
 sisting as a source of enjoyment to the latest period of life, 
 when the natural sensibility has lost its acuteness, from the 
 decay of the animal machine. As we advance in life, we 
 are conscious of a gradual diminution in the force of those 
 impressions created by Avorks of genius, which operate on 
 
 the 
 
 * Hume's Essays, vol. i. Essay Q3. On the Standard of l"aste.
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LOUD KAMES. 297 
 
 the imagination or on the passions. No man at the a<re of ^^lllJ^lL 
 sixty-five is equally impressed with tlie sublime and daring 
 flio-hts of Milton, the romantic fictions of Ariosto and Tasso, 
 the melting tenderness of Otway, or the deep pathos of 
 Southerne, as he was at the age of five and twenty. It were a 
 hard part of our lot, if our maturer years had no substitute 
 for those vivid pleasures which constituted the charm of our 
 brighter days : yet such would be our gloomy destiny, if the 
 exercise of the judgment came not to our relief in the decay 
 of our feelings. But this happy succedaneum, this cordial, 
 this medicine of the mind, {-^"Z^? la-r^na), will not volun- 
 tarily present itself. It is to be sought, prepared, cultivated 
 and skilfully applied ; nor is it till after long use and repeat- 
 ed experiment, that we become thoroughly acquainted with 
 its virtues. " To the man who resigns himself," (says the 
 author), " to sentiment or feeling, without interposing any 
 " sort of judgment, poeby, music, painting, are mere pas- 
 " time. In the prime of life indeed they are delightful, be- 
 " ing supported by the force of novelty, and the heat of 
 " imagination : but when no longer thus supported, they 
 " lose their relish ; and are generally neglected in the matu- 
 " rity of life, which disposes to more serious and more im- 
 " portant occupations. To those who cultivate criticism as 
 " a regular science, governed by just principles, and giving 
 " scope to judgment as Avell as to fancy, the fine arts are a 
 " favourite entertainment; and in old age, maintain that 
 Vol. I P p " relish
 
 298 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 " relish which they produce in the morning of hf'e *." The 
 truth of this proposition, I presume, was never more com- 
 pletely demonstrated, than in the instance of the author 
 himself, who in the wane of life, could derive enjoyment 
 from those contemplations, and apply himself with ardour 
 to those studies and pursuits, which enabled him, at the age 
 of sixty-six, to compose and publish his Elements of Criti- 
 cism. 
 
 The author's 
 method of 
 discussion. 
 
 Of the mode of disquisition adopted in this comprehen- 
 sive work, a better idea may be obtained from a few ex- 
 amples, than can be conveyed by any general description : 
 and in giving these examples, I shall choose such as will not 
 only convince the reader of the truth of the principles, but 
 will furnish an agreeable specimen of the author's ingenuity 
 and acuteness. 
 
 It may be previously observed, that his method is, to be- 
 gin with laying down some general observation, or moral 
 sentiment relative to the passions, which is commonly either 
 of so simple a nature as to be verified immediately by our 
 own consciousness, or is explained with such precision, that 
 the mind, upon a very short reflection, yields its assent as to 
 an axiom. The truth of the theoretical observation thus 
 established, and assumed, the author proceeds to apply it to 
 
 practice, 
 
 * Introduction to Elements of Criticism.
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 299 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 practice, by using it as a canon of criticism to try certain 
 passages of the poets, or specimens of the works of the fine 
 arts ; which accordingly, are held to be perfect or deficient, 
 as they coincide or disagree with the canon. 
 
 I. Thus, after explaining the difference between deliberate Examples, 
 anger, and that w^hich, arising before all thought, is properly 
 instinctive, he says : 
 
 " Instinctive anger is frequently raised by bodily pain, 
 " (by a stroke, for example, on a tender part), which rulHing 
 " the temper and unhinging the mind, is in its tone similar 
 " to anger : and when a man is thus beforehand disposed 
 " to anger, he is not nice or scrupulous about an olijcct ; 
 " the person who gave the stroke, however accidentally, is 
 " by an inflammable temper, held a proper object, merely 
 " by having occasioned the pain. It is still more remark- 
 " able, that a stock or a stone by which I am hurt, becomes 
 " an object for my resentment : I am violently incited to 
 " crush it to atoms. The passion indeed in that case can 
 " be but a single flash ; for being entirely irrational, it must 
 " vanish Avith the first reflection. Nor is this irrational ef- 
 " feet confined to bodily pain : inward distress, when exces- 
 " sive, may be the occasion of efi'ects equally irrational : 
 " When a friend is in danger, and the event uncertain, the 
 " perturbation of mind occasioned thereby, will, in a fiery 
 " temper, produce momentary fits of anger against that 
 
 P p 2 " very
 
 300 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 " very friend, however innocent : Thus Shakespeare, in the 
 " Tempest : 
 
 " Alonzo. — Sit down and rest. 
 
 " Even here I will put off my hope, and keep it 
 " No longer for my flatterer : he is drown'd 
 " Whom thus we stray to find ; and the sea mocks 
 " Our frustrate search on land. Well, let him go. 
 
 " Act III. Sc. 3. 
 
 " The final Avords, Well, let him go, are an expression of 
 " impatience and anger at Ferdinand, Avhose absence great- 
 " ly distressed his father, dreading that he Avas lost in the 
 " storm. This nice operation of the human mind, is by 
 " Shakespeare exhibited upon another occasion, and finely 
 " painted. In the tragedy of Othello, lago, by dark hints 
 " and suspicious circumstances, had roused Othello's jea- 
 " lousy ; w'hich, however, appeared too slightly fovmded to 
 " be vented upon Desdemona, its proper object. The per- 
 " turbation and distress of mind thereby occasioned, pro- 
 " duced a momentary resentment against lago, considered 
 " as occasioning the jealousy, though innocent : 
 
 " Othello. Villain, he .sure thou prove my love a whore ; 
 
 " Be sure of it : give me the ocular proof; 
 
 " Or by the wrath of man's eternal soul *, 
 
 '' Thou 
 
 * The more commmon reading is : 
 
 " Or by the worth of mine eternal soul."
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 301 
 
 " Thou liadst been better have been born a clog, chap^iv. 
 
 " Than answer my wak'd wrath. 
 
 " lago. Is't come to this ? 
 
 " Othello. Make me see't; or at the least so prove it, 
 " That the probation bear no hinge or loop 
 " To hang a doubt on ; or wo upon thy life ! 
 
 " lago. My noble lord 
 
 " Othello. If thou dost slander her, and torture me, 
 " Never pray more ; abandon all remorse ; 
 " On horror's head horrors accumulate ; 
 " Do deeds to make heaven weep, all earth amaz'd : 
 " For nothing can'st thou to damnation add 
 " Greater than that. 
 
 i 
 
 " Othello, Act III. Sc. 8."— El. of Grit. Ch. ii. sect. 6. 
 
 II. On the subject of contending passions he thus ob- 
 serves : " Two passions having opposite tendencies may exist 
 ' in the same breast ; but the opposition of their aim pre- 
 ' vents any sort of union ; and accordingly they are not felt 
 ' otherwise than in succession : the consequence of which 
 ' must be, either that the passions will balance each other, 
 ' and prevent external action ; or that one of them will pre- 
 ' vail and accomplish its end. Ovid paints in lively colours 
 ' the vibration of mind between two opposite passions di- 
 rected to the same object. Althea liad two brothers much 
 beloved, who were unjustly put to death by her son Me- 
 leager, in a fit of passion ;, she was strongly impelled to 
 revenge ; but the criminal was her own son. This ought 
 to have withheld her hand ; but the story is more interest- 
 
 " ing.
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 " ing, by tLe violence of the struggle between resentment 
 " and maternal love : 
 
 " Dona Deiim templis nato victore ferebat, 
 
 " Cum videt extinctos fratres Althaea referri : 
 
 " Qu£e plangore dato, mcestis clamoribus uibem 
 
 " Implet, et auratas mutavit vestibus atris. 
 
 " At simul est auctor necis editus, excidit omnis 
 
 " Luctus, et a lacrymis in poenas versus amorem est." 
 
 She had long kept with the utmost care a consecrated 
 brand, to which the Fates had declared that the destiny of 
 her son was attached, who was no longer to enjoy life than 
 while that brand was preserved ft-om the fire. In the vio- 
 lence of her passion, she brings out the brand with a deter- 
 mined purpose to burn it : 
 
 " Turn conata quater flammis imponere ramuni 
 
 " Coepta quater tenuit. Pugnat materque, sororquCj 
 
 " Et diversa trahunt unum duo nomina pectus. 
 
 " Incipit esse tamen melior geraiana parente, 
 
 " Et consanguineas ut sanguine leniat umbras, 
 " Impietate pia est. Nam postquam pestifer ignis 
 " Convaluit, Rogus iste cremet mea viscera, dixit ! 
 " — Vos modo fraterni manes, aninifeque recentes, 
 
 " Officium sentite meum 
 
 " Hei mihi, quo rapior ! fratres ignoscite matri ! 
 " Dcficiunt ad coepta manus." 
 
 The struggle is at last decided, and the brand is burnt. 
 
 On
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMF.S. 303 
 
 On this fine passage, tlie author makes the following re- ^"-^'' ^^ 
 mark, which is singularly acute and ingenious : " In cases of 
 
 * this kind, one circumstance always augments the fiuctua- 
 
 * tion : after balancing between two actions, a resolution to 
 ' prefer one of them is an inchoated gratification of the 
 ' prevailing passion, which moderates it in some degree ; 
 
 * and this circumstance tends to give a superiority to the 
 ' opposite passion : Another cirumstance also concurs, that 
 ' this opposite passion has by restraint acquired in the in- 
 ' terim some additional force." — Elements of Criticism, Cii. ii. 
 
 Part 4. 
 
 III. On the subject of the representation of the passions 
 in fictitious composition, the author is not less just and inge- 
 nious in his reflections, than happy in exemplifying them : 
 
 " To talk in the language of music, each passion hath a 
 certain tone, to which every sentiment proceeding from it 
 ought to be tuned with the greatest accuracy : this is no 
 easy work, especially where such harmony ought to be 
 supported during the course of a long tlieatrical represen- 
 tation. In order to reach such delicacy of execution, it is 
 necessary that a writer assume the precise character and 
 passion of the personage represented ; which requires an 
 uncommon genius. But it is the only difficulty ; for the 
 M^'iter who, annihilating himself, can thus become another 
 person, need be in no pain about the sentiments that be- 
 
 " long
 
 304 
 
 MEMOIKS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 long to the assumed character : these will flow without the 
 least study, or even preconception ; and Avill frequently be 
 as delightfull}^ ncAv to himself as to his reader. But if a 
 lively picture, even of a single emotion, require an effort 
 of genius, how much greater the effort to compose a pas- 
 sionate dialogue, with as many difterent tones of passion 
 as there are speakers ? With what ductility of feeling must 
 that writer be endowed, who approaches perfection in such 
 a work ; when it is necessary to assume different, and even 
 opposite characters and passions, in the quickest suc- 
 cession ? and yet this work, difficult as it is, yields to that 
 of composing a dialogue in genteel comedy, exhibiting 
 characters Avithout passion. The reason is, that the diffe- 
 rent tones of character are more delicate, and less in sight 
 than those of passion : and, accordingly, many writers Avho 
 have no genius for drawing characters, make a shift to re- 
 present tolerably well, an ordinary passion in its simple 
 
 movements. ^The art of mimicking any singularity in 
 
 gesture or in voice, is a rare talent, though, directed by 
 sight and hearing, the acutest and most lively of our ex- 
 ternal senses : how much more rare must the talent be, of 
 imitating characters and internal emotions, tracing all their 
 different tints, and representing them in a lively manner 
 by natural sentiments properly expressed ? The truth is, 
 such execution is too delicate for an ordinary, genius ; and 
 for that reason, the bulk of writers, instead of expressing 
 a passion as one does who feels it, content themselves with 
 
 " describing
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 30.5 
 
 " describing it in the language of a spectator. 'J'o awaken chap^iv 
 
 " passion by an internal effort merely, without any external 
 
 " cause, requires great sensibility : and yet this operation is 
 
 " necefssary, not less to the writer than to the actor ; because 
 
 " none but tliose who actually feel a passion, can represent 
 
 " it to the life. The writer's part is the more complicated : 
 
 " he nmst add composition to passion ; and must in the 
 
 " quickest succession adopt every different character, liut 
 
 " a very humble flight of imagination may serve to convert 
 
 " a writer into a spectator ; so as to figure in some obscure 
 
 " manner an action as passing in his siglit and hearing. In 
 
 " that figured situation, he entertains his readers with his 
 
 " own reflections, Avith cool description and florid declama- 
 
 " tion ; instead of making them eye-witnesses, as it were, to 
 
 " a real event, and to every movement of genuine passion." 
 
 These observations are verified by contrasted examples ta- 
 ken from the two great masters of the drama in England 
 and France, Shakespeare and Corneille. 
 
 " Lear. Filial ingratitude ! 
 
 " Is't not as if this mouth should tear this hand 
 " For lifting food to't ? — But FU punish home, — 
 
 " No, I will weep no more. In such a night, 
 
 " To shut me out ! Pour on, I will endure. 
 " In such a night as this ! O Regan, Goneril, 
 " Your old, kind father, whose frank heart gave all — 
 Vol. I. Q q " O !
 
 306 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK u. " O ! that way madness lies : let me shun that : 
 " No more of that. 
 
 " Kent. Good, my lord, enter here. 
 
 " Lear. Prythee, go in thyself; seek thine own ease; 
 " This tempest will not give me leave to ponder 
 " On things^ would hurt me more : — hut 111 go in : 
 " In, boy, go first. — You houseless poverty 
 
 *' Nay, get thee in ; I'll pray, and then I'll sleep. 
 
 " Poor naked wretches, wheresoe'er you are, 
 " That bide the pelting of this pityless storm ! 
 " How shall your houseless heads, and unfed sides, 
 " Your loop'd and window'd raggedness defend you 
 " From seasons such as these ? — O, I have ta'en 
 " Too little care of this ! Take physic, pomp ; 
 " Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel, 
 " That thou may'st shake the superflux to them, 
 
 " And show the heavens more just ! 
 
 " A'. Lear, Act. in. Sc. 5, 
 
 " The sentiments here displayed, flow so naturally from 
 " the passions represented, that we cannot conceive any 
 " imitation more perfect. With regard to the French au- 
 ^ thor, truth obliges me to declare, that he describes in the 
 " style of a spectator, instead of expressing passion like one 
 " who feels it ; Avhich naturally betrays him into a tiresome 
 
 " monotony, and a pompous declamatory style. In the 
 
 " tragedy of Cinna, iEmilia, after the conspiracy was dis- 
 *' covered, having nothing in view but racks and death to 
 
 " herself
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 30"? 
 
 " herself and her Jovcr, receives a pardon from Augustus, 
 
 " attended with the brightest circumstances of magnanimity 
 
 *' and tenderness. Tliis is a lucky situation for representing 
 
 " the passions of surprise and gratitude in their different 
 
 " stages, which seem natur3.11y to be what follow. These 
 
 " passions, raised at once to their utmost pitch, and being 
 
 " at first too big for utterance, must for some moments be 
 
 " expressed by violent gestures only : so soon as there is 
 
 *' vent for words, the first expressions are broken and inter- 
 
 " rupted : at last we ought to expect a tide of intermingled 
 
 " sentiments, occasioned by the fluctuation of the mind be- 
 
 " tween the two passions. iEmilia is made to behave in 
 
 " a very different manner : AVith extreme coolness she de- 
 
 " scribes her own situation, as if she Avere merel}' a specta- 
 tor ; or rather the poet takes the task off her hands : 
 
 " Et je me rends, Seigneur a ces hautes bontes, 
 
 " Je recouvre la vue aupr^s de leur clart^s, 
 
 " Je connois mon forfait qui me sembloit justice, 
 
 '' Et ce que n'avoit pu la teneur du supplice, 
 
 " Je sens naitre en mon ^me un lepentir puissant, 
 
 " Et mon ccKur en secret me dit, qu'il y consent. 
 
 " Le del a r6solu votre grandeur supreme, 
 
 " Et pour preuve, Seigneur, je n'en veux que moi-m^mc. 
 
 " J'ose avec vanit6 me donner cet 6clat, 
 
 " Puisqu'il change mon cocur, qu'il veut changer letat. 
 
 " Ma haine va mourir que j'ai crue immortelle, 
 
 " Elle est morte, et ce coeur devient sujet fidele, 
 
 Q q 2 " Et 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 ((
 
 '308 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOO K II. " ^^ prenant d^sormais cette haine en horreur, 
 
 " L'aideur de vous servir succ^de a sa fureur. 
 
 " Act V. Sc. 3." 
 
 y. I shall close these examples of the author's method 
 with a few passages from the chapter on Comparisons. 
 
 " It is evident, that a comparison is not proper upon 
 " every occasion : a man, Avhen cool and sedate, is not dis- 
 " posed to poetical flights, nor to sacrifice truth and reality 
 " to the delusive operations of the imagination : far less is 
 " he so disposed, when oppressed with care, or interested 
 " in some important transaction that occupies him totally. 
 " On the other hand, it is observable, that a man, when ele- 
 " vated or animated by an}^ passion, is disposed to elevate 
 " and animate all his objects : he avoids familiar terms, 
 " exalts objects b}^ circumlocution and metaphoi', and gives 
 " even life and voluntary action to inanimate beings. In 
 " this warmth of mind, the highest poetical flights are in- 
 " dulged, and the boldest similes and metaphors relished. 
 " But without soaring so high, the mind is frequently in a 
 " tone to relish chaste and moderate ornament ; such as 
 " comparisons that set the principal object in a strong point 
 " of view, or that embellish and diversify the narration. In. 
 " general, when by any animating passion, whether pleasant 
 " or painful, an impulse is given to the imagination, we are 
 " in that condition disposed to every sort of figurative ex- 
 
 " prcssion^
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 
 
 *' prcssion, and in particular to comparisons. Love, for 
 
 " example, in its infancy, rousing the imagination, prompts 
 
 " the heart to display itself in figurative language and in 
 
 " similes : 
 
 " Troilus. Tell me, Apollo, for thy Daphne's love, 
 " What Cressid is, what Pandar, and what we ? 
 " Her hed is India; there she lies, a pearl : 
 " Between our Ilium and where she resides 
 " Let it be calfd the wide and wandering flood ; 
 " Ourself the merchant, and this sailing Pandar 
 " Our doubtful hope, our convoy, and our bark. 
 
 " Troilus and Cressida, Act. i. Sc. 1 . 
 
 " The dread of a misfortune, however imminent, invol- 
 " ving alwa3's some doubt and uncertainty, agitates the 
 " mind, and excites the imagination : 
 
 " JFolsey. Nay then, farewell ; 
 
 " I've touch'd the highest point of all my greatness ; 
 " And from that full meridian of my glory, 
 " I haste now to my setting. I shall fall, 
 " Like a bright exhalation in the evening, 
 " And no man see me more. 
 
 " Henry VIII. Act iii. Sc. 4. 
 
 " But it will be a better illustration of the present head, 
 " to give examples where comparisons are improperly intro- 
 
 " duced.-
 
 310 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK II. li Juced. I have already had occasion to observe, that si- 
 " miles are not the language of a man in his ordinary state 
 " of mind, dispatching his daily and usual work : for that 
 " reason, the following speech of a gardener to his sei"vants 
 " is extremely improper : 
 
 " Go, bind thou up yon dangling apricots 
 
 " Which, like unruly children, make their sire 
 
 " Stoop with oppression of their prodigal weight : 
 
 " Give some supportance to the bending twigs. 
 
 " Go thou, and, like an executioner, 
 
 " Cut off the heads of two fast growing sprays, 
 
 " That look too lofty in our commonwealth : 
 
 " All must be even in our government *. 
 
 " Richard II. Act in. Sc. 7. 
 
 The 
 
 * The author's observation is perfectly just as a general proposition, and 
 the illustration applying to it as such, is sufficiently happy : but the poet is 
 not censurable here on the score of impropriety. He meant to shew, that in 
 the period represented in this drama, such was the state of the times, that the 
 miserable disorders of the realm were the universal theme of conversation, 
 and engrossed the attention of the lowest of the people. The Queen, on 
 seeing the gardener in conversation with his servants, says to her attendant, 
 
 " My wretchedness unto a row of pins, 
 
 " They'll talk of state ,- for every one doth so 
 
 " Against a change," '■■ 
 
 And
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LOUD KAMKS. 311 
 
 " The fertility of Shakespeare's vein betrays him frequent- 
 " ly into this error. Tiiere is the same impropriety in ano- 
 " ther simile of his : 
 
 " Hero. Good Maig'rct run thee into the parlour : 
 *' There shalt tliou find my cousin Beatrice : 
 " Whisper her ear, and tell her, I and Ursula 
 " Walk in the orchard, and our whole discourse 
 *' Is all of her : say that thou overheard'st us ; 
 " And bid her steal into the pleaclied bow'r 
 " Where honeysuckles ripen'd by tiie sun, 
 " Forbid the sun to enter ; like to favourites 
 " Made proud by princes, that advance their pride 
 " Against that power that bred it. 
 
 " Much ado about Nothing, Act in. Sc. 1. 
 
 " Rooted grief, deep anguish, terror, remorse, despair, 
 *' and all the severe, dispiriting passions, are declared ene- 
 
 And the servant, in reply to the gardener's figurative speech, answers with 
 equal propriety, 
 
 " Why should we, in the compass of a pale, 
 " Keep law, and form and due proportion, 
 " Showing as in a model our firm state, 
 " When our sea-walled garden, the whole land 
 " Is full of weeds, her fairest flow'rs chok'd up, 
 *' Her fruit-trees all unprun'd, her hedges ruin'd, 
 •' Her knots disorder'd, and her wholesome herbs- 
 *' *' Swarming with caterpillars ?" 
 
 CHAP. IV.
 
 312 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 " mies, perhaps not to figurative language in general, but 
 " undoubtedly to the pomp and solemnity oi" comparison. — 
 " Nothing appears more out of place, nor more awkwardly 
 " introduced than the followino- simile : 
 
 'O 
 
 " Lucia. ■ — Farewell, my Fortius, 
 
 " Farewell, though death is in the word, For-ever ! 
 
 " Portius. Stay, Lucia, stay; what dost thou say ? Jbr-ever .' 
 
 " Lucid. Have I not swoni ? If, Portius, thy success 
 " Must throw thy brother on his fate, farewell, 
 " Oh, how shall I repeat the word, For-ever ! 
 
 " Portius. Thus, o'er the dying lamp, the unsteady flame 
 
 " Hangs quiv'ring on a point, leaps off by fits, 
 
 " And falls again, as loth to quit its hold. 
 
 " Thou must not go, my soul still hovers o'er thee, 
 
 " And can't get loose. 
 
 " Cato, Act III. Sc. 2. 
 
 " A man spent and dispirited after losing a battle, is not 
 " disposed to heighten or illustrate his discourse by similes : 
 
 " York. With this we charg'd again ; but out, alas ! 
 ^* We bodg'd again ; as I have seen a swan 
 " With bootless labour swim against the tide, 
 " And spend her strength with overmatching waves. 
 
 " 3d Part of Henry VI. Act i. Sc. 6. 
 
 " Queen Katherine, deserted by the King, and in the 
 " deepest affliction upon her divorce, could not be disposed 
 
 " to
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LOUD KAMES. 
 
 " to any sallies of iniaoination : and for that reason, the fol- 
 " lowing simile, however beautiful in "the mouth of a specta- 
 " tor, is scarce proper in her own : 
 
 " I am the most unhappy woman living, 
 
 " Shipwieck'd upon a kingdom, wliere no pity, 
 
 " No friends, no liope ! no kindred weep for me ! 
 
 " Almost no grave allow'd me ! like the lily 
 
 " That once was mistress of the field, and flourish'd, 
 
 " I'll hang my head, and perish. 
 
 " King Ilcury VIII. Act rir. Sc. 1." 
 
 On the subject of comparisons, which are faulty in their 
 own nature, he says : " The strongest objection that can lie 
 " against a comparison is, that it consists in words only, not 
 " in sense. Such false coin, or bastard Avit, does extremely 
 " well in burlesque ; but it is far below the dignity of the 
 " epic, or of any serious composition : 
 
 " The noble sister of Poplicola, 
 
 " The moon of Rome ; chaste as the icicle 
 
 " That's curdled by the frost from purest snow, 
 
 " And hangs on Dians temple. 
 
 " Coriolanus, Act v. Sc. 3, 
 
 " There is CAddently no resemblance between an icicle, 
 " and, a woman chaste or unchaste : but chastity is cold in 
 " a metaphorical sense, and an icicle is cold in a proper 
 
 Vol. I. R r " sense.
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 " sense, and this verbal resemblance, in the hurry and glo^r 
 
 " of composition, has been thought a sufficient foundation 
 
 " for the simile *. Such phantom similes are mere witti- 
 
 " cisms, which ought to have no quarter, except where pur- 
 
 " poscly introduced to provoke laughter. Lucian, in his 
 
 " dissertation on history, talking of a certain author, makes 
 
 " the following comparison, which is verbal merely : 
 
 Utility of 
 the work, in- 
 dependent of 
 the rectitude 
 of its theore- 
 tical opini- 
 ons. 
 
 " This author's descriptions are so cold, that they surpass the 
 " Caspian snow, and all the ice of the North." 
 
 The foregoing examples are sufficient to give an idea of 
 the method of disquisition and illustration pursued in the 
 Elements of Criticism. It is very evident, that the justness 
 of those particular opinions which the author has pronoun- 
 ced on the various objects of taste which he has reviewed, 
 must depend in a great measure on the rectitude of his theo- 
 retical principles ; for if these happen in any instance to be 
 erroneous, the canon is in that case untrue ; and every criti- 
 cism founded on the supposition of its truth, though not ne- 
 cessarily false, is in so far unsound, or must seek for support 
 on some other principle than that which the author has as- 
 signed. 
 
 * This comparison bears no evidence of- hurry of composition: it is ela- 
 borate and complicated •, and has that sort of refinement, (especially in the 
 latter part, where the icicle is figured hanging on Diatt's temple), which is the 
 fruit of thought : it is therefore to be set down purely to the score of bad 
 taste.
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KA:\rnS. 315 
 
 signed. But of the tiulli or rcclitiulc of the tlicorclical ,f^1^ 
 principles, we have no other test than individual conscious- 
 ness : every reader must judge by making the appeal to his 
 own feelings ; an appeal which indeed is the ultimate crite- 
 rion of the truth or laisehood of all metaphysical opinions: 
 for as these derive their origin from the consciousness of the 
 writer, they draw assent no otherwise than as they are con- 
 firmed by the consciousness of the reader. It is the quality 
 of a work of this nature, to make the reader judge for him- 
 self on every subject handled by the author ; and therefore 
 it has a manifest utility, whether the particular opinions it 
 contains be just, or the contrary. They put the mind in a 
 train of useful exercise ; and if we detect the author in an 
 error, we make so far an advance towards the discovery of a 
 truth *. 
 
 R r 2 But 
 
 * Thus, while I attend to the author's opinions on the subject of Humour, 
 and on the distinguishing characteristics of humorous writing, I think I can 
 perceive that his doctrine is erroneous ; though perhaps the distinction I 
 should wish to substitute in its place, may to others appear no less liable to 
 objection. " Nothing just or proper" (says Lord Kames) " is denominated 
 " humour, nor any singularity of character, words or actions, that is valued 
 " or respected. When we attend to the character of an humourist, we find 
 " that it arises from circumstances both risible and improper, and therefore 
 " that it lessens the man in our esteem, and makes him, in some measure, ri- 
 " diculous." Of the same opinion is the author of the Philosophy of Rheto- 
 ric, who says, that " humour universally awakens contempt," and that " con- 
 ** tempt is the passion which it addresses as its object." Now, although it 
 
 may
 
 Certain dis- 
 advantages 
 of this soft 
 of criticism. 
 
 MEMOIRS OP THE LIFE 
 
 But hoAvever evident may be the general utility of this 
 species of criticism, properly termed Philosophical, it must 
 
 be acknowledged that it has some disadvantages. By 
 
 teaching 
 
 may be allowed, that in every thing justly called humorous, there is a singula- 
 rity of character, which, as deviating from the general standard, may be 
 termed improper, yet it cannot be so readily admitted, that it is the quality 
 of that character to excite contempt. This latter emotion is universally at- 
 tended with a degree of dislike or aversion : But a humorous character may, 
 on the contrary, strongly conciliate our affection, our esteem, and even our re- 
 spect. I instance the characters of Sir Roger de Coverley and Isaac Bicker- 
 \ staff, in the Spectatcr and "Tatler ; and of Uncle lohy in Tristram Shandy. 
 These characters excite no emotion of contempt. While we are amused by 
 their ludicrous improprieties, we esteem and even respect them. The same 
 is the case with Torn Bowling, and the Welshman Morgan, in Roderick Ran- 
 dom. In these characters, humour is associated with a degree of dignity, 
 which is absolutely exclusive of the emotion of contempt. It is no doubt 
 true, that humour may occasionally be conjoined with meanness ; as in the 
 characters of Fa/staff, Bardo/ph, Captain Bohadil ; and in the latter instances, 
 our contempt is excited along with our ludicrous emotions : but the preceding 
 examples shew to demonstration, that this union is not, as has been supposed, 
 essential : On the contrary, the displeasing ingredient of meanness in the lat- 
 ter characters, seems to lessen, and derogate from, the purer pleasure we re- 
 ceive from the equally ludicrous characters in which it has no place. To be 
 highly pleased with the expression of any emotion, we must completely sym- 
 pathise with the person who displays it : but the feeling of contempt is in a 
 great degree hostile to sympathy. Where then lies the true characteristic of 
 humour ; and wherein is it essentially distinguished from wit ? In my opi- 
 nion, Congreve, whom Lord Karnes has censured for his definition, has come 
 the nearest to the truth, though he has not altogether reached it. " Humour" 
 
 (says
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMKS. 317 
 
 teaching that every judgment pronounced on any of the pro- 
 ductions of the fine arts n)ust rest on certain fixed principles 
 of human nature, it has a tendency to substitute leason and 
 argument in the room of feehng, and to encourage a de- 
 ceitful persuasion, that the conclusions of the understanding 
 
 o 
 
 arc 
 
 (says that author) " is a singular and unavoidable manner of doing or saying 
 " a thing ; peculiar, and natural to one man only, by which his speech and 
 " actions are distinguished from those of other men." This definition con- 
 tains nothing but what is true ; but it does not contain the whole truth ; and 
 therefore it is not accurate or perfect. Lord Kames rightly observes, that 
 " were this definition just, a majestic and commanding air, which is a singu- 
 " lar property, would be humour ; as also, a natural flow of correct and com- 
 " manding eloquence, which is not less singular." But this objection proves 
 only, that Congreve's definition is too general, and that it will apply to other 
 C2ualities, as well as to humour. The fault, therefore, lies in this, that some 
 particular is wanting to the definition, which shall confine it to that quality 
 alone ; and tliis I apprehend we shall find, if to the requisite of singularity of 
 character, we add that degree of impropriety or absurdity which moves laugh- 
 ter. This latter quality, as we have seen, is not necessarily allied to mean- 
 ness, nor has it any proper tendency to excite contempt. As to the distinc- 
 tion between humour and wit, we may observe, that a ludicrous impropriety 
 may be equally characteristic of wit, as of humour : But humour is essential- 
 ly distinguished from wit, by the circumstance noted by Congreve, namely, 
 that hurnour always expresses a singularity of the human character ; whereas 
 wit consists in the unexpected association of ideas apparently incongruous, 
 
 and is always a quality of thoughts and expressions. If I am not mistaken, 
 
 a great deal of the obscurity observable in the discussion of this subject, by 
 various writers, has arisen from the want of a due attention to this distinc- 
 tion. 
 
 CHAI'. IV.
 
 318 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 are at all times sufficient to enable us to form just opinions 
 on all the objects of taste, without possessing any natural ca- 
 pacity, or inborn sensibility to the impressions of beauty or 
 of grandeur which those objects are fitted to excite. It is 
 forgotten, that it was the natural feeling of pleasure, from 
 certain objects, and disgust or pain from others, that led phi- 
 losophers to inquire into the causes of those emotions, and 
 enabled them to find those causes in certain laws of our 
 constitution ; and it is vainly and presumptuously imagined, 
 that the knowledge of those laws, which is to' be acquired by 
 study and reflection, is alone sufficient to direct the judg- 
 ment in all matters of taste, independently of any extraor- 
 dinary nativ e sensibility ; — a faculty of which such factitious 
 critics are disposed either to deny the existence, because 
 they feel it not in themselves, or to depreciate it as a blind 
 and erring guide. Thus it happens, that the great body of 
 the public, or at least that numerous class to whom the pro- 
 ductions of the fine arts form an object of attention, are, for 
 the most part, guided in their judgments, and dictated to, by 
 a set of literary pedants, who, Avithout any superior portion 
 of natural discernment or feeling, dogmatise in all matters 
 of taste, and allow nothing to be excellent but what they 
 pronounce to be so, after trial, by their metaphysical stan- 
 dard. 
 
 Another disadvantage attendant on this species of criti- 
 cism, even where there is a native sensibility to the pleasures 
 
 arising
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 319 
 
 arising from the line arts, is, that it gives rise to a sickly and cn.\ p. iv. 
 fastidious dehcacy of taste, and a difficulty of being pleased 
 by any productions where there is a mixture of imperfection 
 or irregularity : For, by laying down the laws of perfect com- 
 position, it awakens the attention, and sharpens the facul- 
 ties of the learned critic to the perception of blemishes and 
 defects, which, to another of equal, or perhaps superior 
 feeling, but of less erudition, would have lain hid altogether, 
 as overpowered, (and rightly so), by the prevalent impres- 
 sion of beauty or sublimity which truly belonged to the ob- 
 ject surveyed. But this, it must be observed, is a disadvan- 
 tage which cannot be said to belong exclusively to philoso- 
 phical criticism ; since it is the natural and obvious conse- 
 quence of all regular criticism Avhatever ; and results equally 
 from that Avhich appeals to the authoritative precepts of 
 Aristotle and Bossu, as from that which ascends to metaphy- 
 sical principles. 
 
 It is indeed an undeniable fact, that every species of cri- 
 tical examination into the merits and defects of any produc- 
 tion of the fine arts, is in so far hostile to a lively sense of 
 its beauties, that by giving occasion to an exercise of the 
 judgment, it suspends for the time the impression made up- 
 on the feelings, and all that delightful play of the imagina- 
 tion, which arises in a mind of genuine sensibility, on its first 
 attention to an object fitted to excite the emotions of subli- 
 mity or beauty. Criticism is a severe, and, if I may use the 
 
 expression,
 
 .320 JU^MOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK II. expression, an ascetic employment of the faculties, which de- 
 mands a cool and dispassionate frame of mind, and a so- 
 briety of thought remote from all enthusiasm ; and where 
 the habit of criticism prevails, the ardour of feeling is pro- 
 portionally abated and subdued *. But, on the other hand, 
 
 this 
 
 * This effect has been well remarked by an elegant writer, whose Essay on 
 the Nature and Principles of 'Taste stands in the first rank among the works of 
 philosophical criticism. 
 
 " When we sit down to appreciate the value of a poem, or of a painting, 
 " and attend minutely to the language or composition of the one, or to the 
 " colouring or design of the other, we feel no longer the delight which they 
 " at first produce. Our imagination in this employment is restrained, and 
 " instead of yielding to its suggestions, we studiously endeavour to resist 
 " them, by fixing our attention vipon minute and partial circumstances of the 
 " composition. How much this operation of the mind tends to diminish our 
 " sense of its beauty, every one will feel, who attends to his own thoughts 
 " on such an occasion, or who will recollect how difl'erent v/as his state of 
 " mind, when he first felt the beauty either of the painting or of the poem. 
 " It is this chiefly which makes it so difficult for young people, possessed of 
 " imagination, to judge of the merits of any poem or fable, and which in- 
 " duces them so often to give their approbation to compositions of little va- 
 " lue. It is not, that they are incapable of learning in what the merits of 
 " such compositions consist, for these principles of judgment are neither nu- 
 " merous nor abstruse. It is not that greater experience produces greater 
 " sensibility ; for this every thing contradicts : but it is, because every thing, 
 " in that period of life, is able to excite their imaginations, and to move their 
 " hearts, because they judge of the composition not by its merits, when com- 
 *' pared with other works, or by its approach to any abstract or ideal stan- 
 
 " dard
 
 AND WJilTlNGS 01" LOUD KA.MllS. G21 
 
 this moderation of our emotions is absolutely essential to the ' ""^^ ^^• 
 formation of a good taste, which is not a simple and original 
 endowment of the mind, but a compound faculty, the result 
 of natural sensibility, and of judgment exercised in the 
 weighing of means as adapted to their ends, in the compa- 
 ring 
 
 '* dard, but by Its effect in agitating their imaginations, and leading them in- 
 " to that fairy land, in which the fancy of youth has so much delight to wan- 
 " der. It is their own imagination which has the charm, which they attri- 
 " bute to the work that excites it ; and the simplest talc, or the poorest no- 
 '* vel, is, at that time, as capable of awakening it, as afterwards the elo- 
 " quence of Virgil or Rousseau. All this, however, all this flow of ima- 
 " gination, in which youth, and men of sensibility, are so apt to indulge, and 
 " which so often brings them pleasure at the expence of their taste, the la- 
 " bour of criticism destroys. The mind, in such an employment, instead of 
 *' being at liberty to follow whatever trains of imagery the composition be- 
 " fore it can excite, is either fettered to the consideration of some of its mi- 
 " nute and solitary parts ; or pauses amidst the rapidity of its conceptions, 
 " to make them the objects of its attention and review. In these operations, 
 " accordingly, the emotion, whether of beauty or sublimity, is lost ; and if 
 " it is wished to be recalled, it can only be done by relaxing this vigour of at- 
 " tention, and resigning ourselves again to the natural stream of our thoughts. 
 " The mathematician who investigates the demonstrations of the Newtonian 
 " philosophy, the painter who studies the designs of Raphael, the poet who 
 " reasons upon the measure of Milton, all, in such occupations, lose the de- 
 " light which these several productions can give ; and when they are willing 
 " to recover their emotion, must withdraw their attention from those minute 
 " considerations, and leave their fancy to expatiate at will, amid all the great 
 " or pleasing conceptions, which such productions of genius can raise." — 
 Alison's Essay en the Nature and Principles of Taste, p. ~. 
 
 Vol. I. S s
 
 322 MEMOIRS OF THE LITE 
 
 ;"°"^ "• , ring of objects, and observing their conformity in a regular 
 
 V ■ 
 
 work, to the laAvs of order, decorum, and congruity. With- 
 out this disciphne of the mind, there may be much natural 
 acuteness of feehng, and yet not a tincture of good taste ; 
 as we observe every day in children, and in rustics, who ex- 
 hibit often the most lively emotions from the productions of 
 the imitative arts ; but are pleased with a very small degree 
 of excellence, and are insensible often to the grossest defects 
 and improprieties. The pleasure enjoyed by the rude and 
 uninstructed mind, is, no doubt, equally genuine, and may 
 perhaps be equally acute with that which is the fruit of the 
 most cultivated taste ; but none surely will contend, that it 
 is aUke dignified in its nature, or equally worthy of a ra- 
 tional being *. 
 
 * Those distinct faculties of the mind which are necessary to the produc- 
 tion of all the works of imagination that are fitted to give rational pleasure, 
 and the separate function of each in the composition of such works, have been 
 most happily described by the philosophic pen of D'Alembert, who, at the 
 same time, combats a mistaken notion of very general currency. That the ge- 
 nlus which creates, and the judgment which corrects and chastises, are fre- 
 quently at variance, and instead of giving mutual aid, are often destructive 
 of each other's power and operation. " Ajoutons qu'il n'est point a craindre 
 «' que la discussion et I'analyse emoussent le sentiment, ou refroidlssent le 
 " genie dans ceux qui possedent d'ailleurs ces prccieux dons de la nature. Le 
 " phllosophe salt, que dans le moment de la production, le genie ne veut au- 
 •' cune contrainte, qu'll aime a courlr sans frcin et sans regie ; a produire le 
 
 " monstrueux
 
 AND WRITINGS 01' LOUD KAMJ-.S. 
 
 I am led by the train of the preceding observations, here 
 to take notice of a question which I have lieard frequently 
 canvassed, namely, whetlier the author of Elements of Cri- 
 ticism was real)}' possessed of a great portion of native sen- 
 sibility, and warmly awake to the emotions excited by the 
 productions of the fine arts ; or whether his taste was not 
 rather the result of study, and of attention to those very 
 rules and canons of criticism, which he had framed from a 
 careful examination of those great productions of the fine 
 arts of which the excellence is universally acknowledged. A 
 presumption, it must be owned, arises from the very nature 
 of his work, which displays a continued exercise of the rea- 
 soning powers, and the most minute and patient attention 
 to the operations of the mind, that the man thus eminently 
 qualified for the investigation of the laws which regulate our 
 
 S s 2 emotions. 
 
 32.1 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 Nature of 
 the autlior's 
 taste. 
 
 " monstrueux a cote du sublime, a rouler impetueusement I'or et le limon 
 " tout ensemble. La raison donne done au genie qui cree ime liberte entiere, 
 " elle lui permet de s'epuiser, jusqu'a ce qu'il ait besoin de repos ; comme 
 " ces coursiers fougueux, dont on ne vient a bout qu'en les fatiguant. 
 " Alors il revient severement sur les productions du genie, ellc conserve ce 
 " qui est Teifet du veritable enthousiasme, elle proscrit ce qui est I'ouvragc 
 " de la fougue, et c'est ainsi qu'elle fait eclorre les chefs-d'ceuvres. Quel 
 " ecrivain, s'il n'est pas entierement dcpourvu de talent et de gout, n'a pas re- 
 " marque que dans la chaleur de la composition, une partie de son esprit reste 
 " en quelque maniere a I'tcart, pour observer celle qui compose, et pour lui 
 " laisser uu libre cours, et qu'elle marque d'avance ce qui doit etre efface."— 
 D'AlEMBERT Melanges de Litcrat, ct de Philos.
 
 324 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 emotions, was not himself subject to those emotions in a 
 A'ery acute degree, of M'hich a too hvelj feehng impedes for 
 the time all capacity of speculating on their causes. A 
 strong native sense of the sublime and beautiful is constant- 
 ly attended with a degree of rapture and enthusiasm, which 
 gives its tincture to all the thoughts and expressions of the 
 man who possesses it, and prompts to impassioned elo- 
 quence whenever its objects are the matter of his discourse 
 or writings. Now the reader of the Elements of Criticism 
 cannot fail to remark, that this criterion of feeling is want- 
 ing in that most ingenious work. It may, no doubt, be 
 plausibly argued, that, as the author's undertaking demand- 
 ed a spirit of cool and sober thought, and an exercise of the 
 judgment, purged, if possible, from all allay of passion or 
 enthusiasm, he made it a law to himself to avoid all rap- 
 turous expressions, and even to suppress the emotions that 
 prompt them : but besides that it may reasonably be que- 
 stioned whether such violence to the feelings were truly ne- 
 cessary, and, on the contrary, were not in many places ra- 
 ther felt as a palpable defect than as an excellence, I am 
 inclined to believe, that such a rigorous discipline of the 
 feelings, supposing them to have much native strength, is ut- 
 terly impracticable. They must at times have manifested 
 tliemselves, in spite of every effort to repress them ; Natu- 
 ram expe lias fur cd licet, usque recurret. But when, to these 
 presumptions, is added the positive proof arising from erro- 
 neous judgment in matters of taste, which we sometimes find 
 
 in
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMI'S. 
 
 .'325 
 
 in the Elements of Criticism ; as, for example, tlie unquali- 
 fied censure bestowed on the Gothic architect ui'e, as posses- 
 sing no degree of excellence whatever, but as something ut- 
 terly barbarous and grotesque ; and the ecpially unqualified 
 panegyric of the Mourning Bride of Congreve, as the most 
 perfect specimen of the English drama, without any reproof 
 of its unnatural sentiments and bombast ; this evidence 
 seems to be decisive of the cpicstion, and to leave no room 
 for doubt, that the general correctness of the author's taste 
 was more the result of study and attention, than of any ex- 
 traordinary sensibility in the structure of his mind to the 
 emotions excited by the productions of the fine arts. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 The science of philosophical criticism has been, with pro- 
 priety, termed a New Country ; and as it must be admitted 
 that the author of Elements of Criticism was the first disco- 
 verer, so it may be observed to his honour, that he has made 
 farther advances into the interior of that country than any 
 traveller who has pursued the same track. This praise has 
 been assigned him by one of the most able of his followers, 
 I mean Dr Campbell, the author of the Philosopbi/ of Rhe- 
 toric *, who, in that useful Avork, has successfully applied to 
 
 the 
 
 Works pro- 
 ceeding from 
 the school of 
 Lord Kames. 
 Campbell's 
 Philosophy of 
 Rhetoric. 
 
 * In describing the progress of the critical art, Dr Campbell observes, 
 " By the first step, (the examination of the works of genius), the critic is 
 " supplied with materials. By the second, these materials are distributed 
 " and classed ; the forms of argument, the tropes and figures of speech are 
 
 *' explained.
 
 326 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BOOK 11. ^jjg science which he treats, the same method of investiga- 
 tion which Lord Kames has prescribed and exemplified in 
 tracing out the principles of a right judgment in all the works 
 of genius and imagination. The Philosophy of Hhetoric, is 
 a work modelled upon the plan of Aristotle's Treatise on 
 that subject, in so far as it professes to delineate the hu- 
 man mind, as well in its active principles, as in its pas- 
 sions or moral feelings ; and it involves, in addition to this 
 plan, the application of these principles to the art of rhe- 
 toric, in all its branches ; in the manner in which Lord 
 Kames has applied them to the more comprehensive science 
 of criticism in all the fine arts *. Both authors illustrate 
 
 their 
 
 " explained. By the third, the rules of composition are discovered, or the 
 
 •' method of combining and disposing the several materials. By the fourth, 
 
 " we arrive at that knowledge of human nature, which, besides its other ad- 
 
 " vantages, adds both weiglit and evidence to all precedent discoveries and 
 
 " rules. — This last step may be said to bring us into a neiu country, of which, 
 
 " though there have been some successful incursions occasionally made upon 
 
 " its frontiers, we are not yet in full possession. The performance, which, of 
 
 " all those I happen to be acquainted with, seems to have advanced farthest 
 
 " in this way, is, 'T^he Khments of Criticism." — Introduction to Philosophy of 
 Rhetoric, p. !8.— 20. 
 
 * Dr Campbell, in his preface, observes, " It is his purpose in this work, 
 '' on the one hand, to exhibit, he does not say a correct map, but a tolerable 
 " sketch of the human mind ; and aided by the lights which the poet and the 
 " orator so amply furnish, to disclose its secret movements, tracing its princi- 
 
 " pal
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAIMES. 
 
 their theoretical principles by the most copious examples 
 drawn from the works of genius ; and in the fitness and 
 beauty of those illustrations, lies perhaps the most certain, 
 as well as the most general utility, of their several hibours. 
 ". No criticism," (says David Hume), " can be instructive 
 " which descends not to particulars, and is not full of ex- 
 "^ amples and illustrations * ;" and it may be added, that 
 none can be devoid of instruction which is so illustrated. 
 
 327 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 I have formerly alluded, in a note, to a work which bears 
 a high character among those which treat of philosophical 
 criticism, I mean Mr Alison's Essay on the Nature and 
 Principles of Taste. In this truly classical performance, the 
 author has the merit of devising a new theory of the origin 
 of our feelings of the sublime and beautiful. It is his opi- 
 nion, that the emotions of sublimity and beaut}^ depend ::!- 
 together on the association of material with mental qualities : 
 that no material objects are truly in themselves either su- 
 bhme or beautiful ; but that the emotions thence arisins:, 
 proceed entirely from the trdin of thought which those ob- 
 jects 
 
 Mr Alison's 
 Essay on 
 Taste. 
 
 " pal channels of perception and action, as near as possible to their source : 
 
 •' And, on the other hand, from the science of human nature, to ascertain with 
 
 " greater precision, the radical principles of that art, whose object it is, by the 
 
 " use of language, to operate on the soul of the hearer, in the way of inform- 
 
 " ing, pleasing, moving, or persuading." — Philosophy of Rhetoric, Pref. p. 7. 
 
 * Hume's Essays, vol. i. Essay 20. On Simplicity and Refinement,
 
 328 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 BO OK ir.^ jects excite in the mind. The simple perception of the ob- 
 ject may be pleasing, but it is insufficient to awaken those 
 emotions of beauty or sublimity which amount to delight, 
 imless it is accompanied with this operation of the mind ; 
 unless the imagination is seized, and the fancy busied in the 
 contemplation of the chain of ideas Avhich that object sug- 
 gests. Thus, the sight of the ocean is no otherwise sublime, 
 than as it excites in the mind a train of ideas of immensity, 
 danger and uncontrollable power, which altogether produce 
 the emotion of sublimity : the scenery of the country in 
 spring, is no otherwise beautiful, than as it suggests a train 
 of ideas of cheerfulness, gladness, tenderness and serene en- 
 joyments. The author brings a positive proof of his propo- 
 sition from an elaborate detail of the various trains of asso- 
 ciation which the qualities of objects are fitted to produce ; 
 and a negative demonstration, from the invariable phenome- 
 non, that when these associations are dissolved, or when the 
 material qualities cease to produce them, there is an end 
 to the emotions of sublimity or beauty. On this theory, 
 which rests upon one beautiful philosophic thought, and 
 which is not only supported by great acuteness of reasoning, 
 but by a surprising variety of ingenious and apposite illus- 
 trations, I shall only remark, that if there should still remain 
 ' a doubt, whether the principle of association be, as the au- 
 thor supposes, absolutely exclusive of all others in the excite- 
 ment of the emotions of beauty and sublimity, he has at 
 least brought the most convincing evidence, that it has a 
 
 very
 
 AND WRITINGS OF LORD KAMES. 
 
 329 
 
 very universal and powerful influence, both in the produc- ^^^^^L ^^: 
 tion, and in the improvement of those emotions. 
 
 It were tedious to enter into a particular account of all 
 the works of merit in the department of criticism which have 
 proceeded from the same school ; as, the Essai/.s of Dr Beat- 
 tit on Poetry and Music, and his Illustrations on Sublimitij ; 
 the Observations on Modern Gardening by Mr Wkutely ; Mr 
 J3roK7i'5 llemarks on the Poetry and Music of the Italian 
 Opera ; the ingenious Essays of Professor Richardson on 
 Shakespeare's Dramatic Characters ; or the excellent speci- 
 mens of similar disquisition by Mr Mackenzie, and other wri- 
 ters, in the Mirror and Lounger. From these and other re- 
 cent works of taste, it will be seen, that criticism has of late 
 years assumed a new character, and is now as generally as- 
 sociated with philosophy, as formerly it was limited to me- 
 chanical rules, or didactic precepts, resting on the sole foun- 
 dation of authority, and the })ractice of the ancient v/riters. 
 
 Other works 
 in pliiloso- 
 phic criti- 
 cism. 
 
 END OF BOOK SECOND, 
 
 Vol. L 
 
 Tt 
 
 APPEN-
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 TO 
 
 VOLUME FIRST.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 No. I. 
 
 Biographical Notices of some Scotsmen, eminent in Classical 
 Literature, who flourished in the period from the end qf the Six- 
 teenth to the beginning of the Eighteenth Century. 
 
 1. Robert Johnston was rmthov o? Historia Rerum Britannicarwn, 
 Sgc. ah anno 1572 ad annum 1628, Anistel. 1655, a work of great merit, 
 whether we consider the judicious structure of the narrative, tlie sa- 
 gacity of the reflections, the acute discernment of characters, or the 
 classical tincture of the style. In those passages of his History 
 where there is room for a display of eloquence, he is often singular- 
 ly happy in touching those cliaracteristic circumstances which pre- 
 sent the picture strongly to the mind of the reader, without a vain 
 parade of words, or artificial refinement of sentiment. We may cite 
 as an example his description of the death of Mary Queen of Scots, 
 lAb. iv. sub anno 1586; and the circumstances attending the death of 
 Essex, with the author s reflections on that event. Lib. ix. sub anno 
 1601. A translation of this work, with notes, in the manner of 
 commentary, would be a most acceptable present to the public ; but 
 it would require a writer of superior ability, and deeply read in 
 
 Vol. I. • c 2 the
 
 4 APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. [NO. 1. 
 
 the histoiy of the times, to do justice to such an undertaking. 
 Johnston was one of the executors of George Herriot, jeweller to 
 King James VI. the founder of the mag-nificent Hospital for the 
 education of orphans at Edinburgh, which bears his name : and the 
 historian informs us that the endowment, splendid as it is, would 
 have been greatly more so, si Reges (meaning James and Charles) et 
 Buckingamius obligatamjideni Uberdssent. 
 
 2. Robert Baillie, author of a very learned work. Opus Histo- 
 ricum et Chronologicwn in quo Historia sacra et prof ana compendiosh 
 deducitur ex ipsis fontibus, a creatione mundi ad Constant. Alagn. 
 Amstel. 1688; but better known as the author of Letters and Jour- 
 nals fro^n 1637 to 1662, published at Edinburgh in 1775, which give 
 a very curious account of the negotiations between the Scots Co- 
 venanted Presbyterians and their brethren of England in the lat- 
 ter part of the reign of Charles I. Baillie had been educated at 
 Glasgow, in. the time when Episcopacy was established in Scotland, 
 ■and had received holy orders from Law, Archbishop of Glasgow ; 
 but in 1640, he devoted himself entirely to the paity of the Cove- 
 nanted Lords, who sent him to London to draw up heads of accusa- 
 tion against Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, on the score of the 
 innovations which that prelate had introduced into the ritual and 
 mode of worship in Scotland. He was a man of considerable pene- 
 tration, whose active and intriguing spirit fitted him for perfonning 
 a distinguished part in times of anarchy and national commotion. 
 His talents had recommended him to the Duke of Lauderdale, by 
 whose interest he was made Principal of the University of Glasgow 
 in 1661. It has been already mentioned, (in the first Note upon the 
 text), that a daughter of Robert Baillie, married to I\Ir Walking- 
 $haw of Barrowfield, was the grandmother of Lord Karnes. 
 
 3. Alexander
 
 No. 1.] APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. 3 
 
 3. Alexander Cunninghahe, author of the Hhtory of Great Bri- 
 tainfrom the Revolution in 1(588 to the Accession of George I. in 1714, 
 (translated from the Latin original by Dr Tlionison, and published 
 at London in 1787, in two volumes 4to). This work, which com- 
 prehends tlie annals of a very interesting period, is written with 
 judgment and candour ; and being the composition of a person ac- 
 tively engaged in several of the public transactions which he records, 
 contains many curious anecdotes and fiicts not to be found in other 
 historians. Cunninghame, by birth a Scotsman, was educated in 
 Holland, where he lived in intimacy witli, the Scottish and English re- 
 fugees at the Court of the Prince of Orange ; and particularly with the 
 Earls of Argyle and Sunderland, and Mr Carstares, afterwards confi- 
 <iential secretary for Scottish affairs to King William. ;The Earl of Ar- 
 gyle appointed him tutor to his son Lord Lorn, a young man of uncom- 
 mon talents, known, at a subsequent period, in the first rank of Bri- 
 tish statesmen, by the title of John, Duke of Argyle. Cunninghame, 
 while abroad, carried on a regular confidential correspondence with 
 the Ministry, and was afterwards honoured with the office of Resi- 
 ■dent from the British Court to the Republic of Venice. A coincidence 
 of name has led to the confounding of the historian with Alexander 
 Cunninghame, the celebrated editor and emendator of Horace, and 
 the antagonist of Bentley ; but the evidence produced by Dr Thom- 
 son, in a very elaborate preface to Cunninghame's History, leads to a 
 strong presumption that they were different persons : and a late 
 writer, under the signature of Crito, in the Scots Magazine for Octo- 
 ber 1804, seems to have put this fact beyond question ; the editor of 
 Horace having died at the Hague in 1730, and the historian at Lon- 
 don in 1737. The style of the originalwork, as appears from the 
 specimens given by the translator, is in general correct, and suf- 
 ficiently perspicuous ; but has no pretension either to elegance or 
 
 classical
 
 6 APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. [NO. 1. 
 
 classical purity. It is chiefly remarkable for expressing with ease, 
 ideas peculiar to modern life and manners. It was a difficult matter, 
 as his translator justly remarks, " to express the humours of the 
 " people of England on the occasion of a general election, the ex- 
 " travagance of the Londoners at the time of Dr Sacheverells trial ; 
 " and the temporary importance of butchers with marrow-bones and 
 " cleavers, chairmen, porters, chimney-sweeps, link-boys, and black- 
 " guards." But that a task even of this kind could be atchieved, 
 in consistence with the purity of the Latin idiom, had been before 
 evinced by Buchanan and Robert Johnston ; not to mention the wri- 
 ters of other nations, Strada, Grotius, and Thuanus. 
 
 4. Patrick Hume, author of a most elaborate and learned Com' 
 •mentary on the Paradise Lost of Miltoti, published, London 1 695, in 
 folio, " to which, (says Mr T. Warton), " some of his successors 
 " in the same province, apprehending no danger of detection from a 
 " work rarely inspected, and too pedantic and cumbersome to at- 
 " tract many readers, have been often amply indebted, without even 
 " the most distant hint of aclvnowledgment," (Warton's edition of M\\- 
 tons Lesser Poems, ^c. Pref). That great depredations have been fre- 
 quently made on the labours of Patrick Hume is certain ; but the 
 wonder is, that the plunderers should ever have hoped for conceal- 
 ment ; for the edition to which the commentary is usually sub- 
 joined, is one of the most splendid and beautiful that have ever been 
 published of the Paradise Lost; and the notes display such a depth 
 of erudition and elaborate research, as could scarcely fail to procure 
 them the attention of all the learned readers of Milton. But it is a 
 disgrace to his age, that their author should have met with so much 
 neglect that not a trace is now to be discovered of his history or 
 character. 
 
 5. Mr
 
 No. i.] APPENDIX TO VOLUME ^IBST. 7 
 
 S. Mr John Sage, a Bishop of the Old Episcopal Church of Scot- 
 land, a man of great learning, worth and piety, and of uncommon 
 acutehess as a controversial writer in defence of the church to which 
 he belongfed. He was profoundly skilled in all the ancient lan- 
 guages, which gave him an eminent advantage over his adversaries, 
 the most distinguished of whom was Mr Gilbert Rule, Principal of 
 the College of Edinburgh, who, with much zeal, and no mean abi- 
 iity, was overmatched by the superior learning and historical know- 
 ledge of his antagonist. Sage was born in l65Q, the son of Captain 
 Sage, a gentleman of Fifeshire, and an officer of merit in Lord 
 D^rflFus's regiment, who fought on the side of the Royalists when 
 Monk stoiTned Dundee in 1651. Tlie chief writings of Bishop Sage 
 are, T/ie Fundamental Charter of Presbytery, London 1693; The 
 Principles of the Cyprianic Age, London 1 695 ; A Vindication of that 
 Work, London 1701 ; The Life of Gawin Douglas, Bishop of Dunkeld, 
 prefixed to Ruddiman's edition of The Translation of Virgil's ^neis^ 
 Edinburgh 1710; An Introduction to Drummond''s History of the 
 Five Jameses, Edinburgh 1711- The Life of Sage was well written 
 by Mr John Gillari, a Bishop of the same church, published at Lon- 
 don in 1714; and several interesting notices of him are given in 
 Mr Chalmers's iristmctive and curious Life of Ruddiman. 
 
 I shall mention a few other writers who do honour to Scotland, 
 and who may be ranked in the class of elegant, though not pro- 
 • found scholais, during tlie same unfavourable period, from the be- 
 g-inning of the reign of Charles 1. till the Revolution. 
 
 I. Wii.LiAU Drxjmuonb of Hawthornden, whose Various talents, 
 improved by a most liberal education, and polished by a long resi- 
 dence in foreig-n countiies, fitted him to be the ornament of a court, 
 
 and
 
 8" APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. [NO. 1.. 
 
 and to shine conspicuously as a public character ; from an amiable 
 diffidence and modesty, and a mind insensible to the allurements ot 
 ambition, chose to devote his life to studious retirement, and the 
 cultivation of polite literature ; for which he had the best accom- 
 plishment, in the knowledge he possessed of most of the ancient and 
 modern languages. He inherited a native poetic genius, but vitia- 
 ted by the false taste which prevailed in his age, — a fondness for the 
 conceits of the Italian poets, Petrarch and Marino, and their imita- 
 tors among the French, Rofisard, Bellai, and Du Bartas. Yet many 
 of his sonnets contain simple and natural thoughts clothed in great' 
 beavity of expression. His poem entitled Forth Feasting, which at- 
 tracted the envy as well as the praise of Ben Johnson, is superior, in 
 harmony of numbers, to any of the compositions of the contemporary 
 poets of England ; and is, in its subject, one of the most elegant pa- 
 negyrics that ever were addressed by a poet to a prince. In prose 
 writing, the merits of Drummond are as unequal as they are in 
 poetry. When an imitator, he is harsh, turgid, affected and unnatu- 
 ral ; as in his History of the Five Jameses, wliich, though judicious, 
 in the arrangement of the matter, and abounding in excellent politi-, 
 cal and moral sentiments, is barbarous and uncouth in its style, from; 
 an affectation of imitating partly the manner of Iavj, and partly, 
 that of Tacitus. Thus, there is a perpetual departure from ordinary 
 construction, and frequently a violation of the English idiom. In 
 others of his prose compositions, where he followed his own taste, as 
 in the Irene and Cypress-Grove, and particularly in the former, tliere 
 is a remarkable purity and ease of expression, and often a very high 
 tone of eloquence. The Irene, written in 1638, is a persuasive to 
 civil union, and the accommodation of those fatal differences be- 
 tween the King and the People, then verging to a crisis : It is a mo- 
 del of a popular address ; and, allowing for its pushing too far the 
 
 doctrine
 
 No. 1.] APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. 9 
 
 (loctriiic of passive obedience, bears ecjual e\'i(lence of the political 
 sagacity, copious historical infonnatioii, and great moral worth and 
 benevolence of its author. — Drummond died in 1G4.9, in the sixtj'- 
 fourth year of his age, a few months after the murder of his so\e- 
 reign Charles I. 
 
 2. The Reverend Mr Ninian Paterson, author of an amusing 
 miscellany, entitled, Epigrammatian Libri Octo, cum aliquot Psalnw- 
 rum poraphrasi poetia'i, Edinburgi 1678. He was minister of Liber- 
 ton in the reigns lof Charles II. and James II. He designs himself 
 Glasguensis, and was probably a relation of John Paterson, Bishop of 
 Galloway, afterwards Archbishop of Glasgow, to whom he ad- 
 dresses several of his poems. His Epigramynata are curious, as com- 
 memorating all the remarkable men of his own time. They arc of- 
 ten extremely happy in the turn of thought, and written in easy 
 numbers and g-ood Latinity : I give the following as a specimen : 
 
 AdJUhan injantan dum ejularet. 
 
 Parve, quid, heu, lacrymis teneros corrumpis ocellos ? 
 
 An cum luce tibi sors quoque damna dedit ? 
 Nulla tuum laedit mendax infamia nomen, 
 
 Nee nocet insani lis rabiosa fori : 
 Praesentis non cura ■coquit, terrorve futuri, 
 
 Lasci\Tisve vorat mollia corda furor. 
 Te neque suspensis ludit spes anxia votis, 
 
 Nee tibi pauperies horrida tela quatit. 
 Damna gemis forsan nimium mea, praecoce cura, 
 
 Plus nimis (O infans !) hac mihi parte loquax s 
 MoEStave praeludunt propriis praesagia fatis, 
 
 Et tecum tenero crescit ab ungue dolor ! 
 
 Vol. I. b At,
 
 JO APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. [XO. I. 
 
 At, precor, hos fletus matures differ in annos, 
 
 Turn plus forte satis cur lacrymeris erit : 
 Quin potius senii solamen vivito nostri. 
 
 Si datur, et matri gaudia longa feras, 
 
 Peterson appears to have suffered much calumny from the puritani- 
 cal party of his times, whom his poetical satire probably galled and 
 exasperated. In a miserable production, entitled. An Answer to 
 Scots Presbyterian Eloquence Displayed, (the original piece and the 
 answer, equally infamous and disgraceful libels), he is stigmatized as 
 a hypocrite in religion, and a profligate in his manners : but, from 
 his writings, he appears to ha\e been a man of piety and virtue. 
 
 3. Sir George Mackenzie of Rosehaugh, one of the most distin- 
 guished characters of his time, was the son of Simon Mackenzie of 
 Lochsline, and nephew of George, first Earl of Seaforth. He was 
 born at Dundee in 163(5, and educated at the Universities of Aber- 
 deen and St Andrew's. At the age of sixteen, he went abroad, and 
 studied the civil law in the University of Bourges. He put on the 
 gown of a barrister in the twentieth year of his age ; and although 
 his mind seems to have had a strong bent to the prosecution of general 
 literature, the ardour with which he applied himself to the profession 
 of the law, together with a copious and animated elocution, raised 
 him in a few years to the greatest eminence at the Scottish bar. 
 Yet, judging from his writings, his talents appear to have been ra- 
 ther s])lendid than solid. He certainly possessed uncommon assi- 
 duitv iind activity of mind, as the number and variety of his compo- 
 sitions testify : and perhaps the superficial manner in which he has 
 treated many of those sid)jects foreign to his profession, is tlic less 
 to be wondered at, in a nuiu whose time was so occupied in profes- 
 sional
 
 KO. 1.] APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. 11 
 
 sional duties. The obscurity and confusion that are discernible in 
 some of his juridical discussions, may have arisen in a great measure 
 from the rude, unmethodized, and almost chaotic state of the law of 
 Scotland, both civil and criminal, in his days. "W'c do not judge 
 candidly of the merit of those older authors, who wrote before the 
 law was systematized, and who were themselves the first to bring it 
 into method, when we compare their early eflibrts in clearing a path 
 through a trackless forest, to the advances of their successors on a 
 beaten road, and through an impro\'cd and polished country. We 
 ought never to forget the difficulties which the former had to en- 
 counter, nor the advantages which the latter have derived from tlieir 
 labours ; availing themselves of all their discoveries, and profiting 
 even by their errors. On one account alone, although every other 
 merit were forgotten. Sir George Mackenzie is entitled to respect as 
 a lawyer. He was the first who exploded from the practice of the 
 criminal courts of Scotland, that most absurd and iniquitous doc- 
 trine. That no defence was to be admitted in exculpation from a cri- 
 minal indictment which was contrary to the hbel : as, if John were 
 accused of having murdered James, by giving him a mortal wound 
 with a sword, it was not allowable for John to prove in his defence, 
 that the wound was not given in any vital part, and that James died 
 of a fever caught afterwards by contagion. It appears strange to us, 
 that a doctrine or rule so repugnant to common sense, should require 
 a serious confutation ; but the annals of our criminal court, and the 
 writings of foreign jurists, shew, that it was of long and inveterate 
 prevalence, not only in this country, but in the most polished na- 
 tions of Europe. — Sir George Mackenzie, in the exercise of his duty 
 of King's Advocate in the reign of Charles II. incurred of necessity 
 the resentment of the party of the CoAcnanters ; and he has been ac- 
 cused by Burnet, and other writers of similar principles, of stretch- 
 
 k 'Z ing
 
 ■12 APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. [XO. 1. 
 
 ing the laws for constructive treasons, in the noted trials of Baillie 
 of Jerviswood, and the Earl of Argjde, and in the prosecutions 
 against Mitchel and Leannonth ; but his own defence will fully jus- 
 tify his conduct in the breast of every man, whose judgment is not 
 perverted by the same prejudices, hostile to all good government, 
 which led those infatuated offenders to the doom they merited. (See 
 Mackenzie's works. Vindication of the Government of Charles II.). — But 
 it is not so much the public character of Sir George JVIackenzie, or 
 even his private virtues, which were great and exemplary, that war- 
 rant any notice of him in this place. It is in the capacity of an ele- 
 gant scholar, that I have ranked him among the ornaments of his 
 country. His Latin compositions are correct and ornate in no com- 
 mon degree. His style is evidently fonned on the writings of Cicero 
 and the Younger Pliny ; and though a little tinctured with the more 
 florid eloquence of Quinctilian, is entirely free from the false embel- 
 lishments and the barbarisms of the writers of the lower ages. His 
 Idea Eloqiientia forensis, is a masterly tractate, which enumerates 
 and eloquently describes all the important requisites of a pleader, 
 and gives the most judicious precepts for the cultivation of the va- 
 rious excellencies, and the avoiding of the ordinary defects of foren- 
 sic elocution. His Characteres quorundam apud Scotos Advocatorum, 
 evince a happy talent of painting, not only the great and prominent 
 differences of manner in the pleaders of his age, but of discrimina- 
 ting, with singular nicety, and in the most appropriate tenns, the 
 more minute and delicate shades of distinction, which a critical judg- 
 ment alone could perceive, and which could be delineated only by a 
 master's hand. It is highly to the honour of this eminent man, that 
 he appears to have possessed a true sense of the dignity of his pro- 
 fession ; and that he perpetually endeavoured, as much by his ex- 
 ample as by his precepts, to mark the contrast between the prosecu- 
 tion
 
 NO. 2.] APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIKST. 13 
 
 tion ol' the law as a liberal and ingenuous occupation, and its exer- 
 cise (too common) as a mercenary craft. — Sir George Mackenzie re- 
 tired at the Revolution from all j)ublic employment ; and died, a 
 short time after, at London, 169 1, in the lifty-fifth year of his age. 
 
 APPENDIX.— No. II. 
 
 Letter y)w;j J/r Henry Home to the Reve?'CfHl Dr Samvel 
 
 Clarke. 
 
 Reverend Sir, Edinlmrgh, August 1723. 
 
 The same inclination for the benefit and instruction of mankind, 
 that engaged you first to publish to the world your excellent Ser- 
 mons upon the Being and Attributes of the Deity, will, I am hopeful, 
 prevail upon you frankly to give your assistance to a young philoso- 
 pher, though a stranger, whose misfortune it is to have yet some re- 
 maining difficulties, after the strictest perusal of your book : Nor do 
 I want precedents in this boldness ; and the obliging as well as sa- 
 tisfactory returns you have given to your former correspondents, 
 makes me not despair of success. 
 
 Not to waste your time with apologies, I sliall begin with the de- 
 monstrations of your second proposition, neither of wliich, (pardon 
 my weakness), can I prevail upon myself to think accurate ; and 
 
 both
 
 1^ APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. [NO. 2. 
 
 both for the same reasons ; for you connect two ideas which in this 
 proof are necessarily distinct, viz. self-existence and necessity ; for, 
 upon the present supposition, though it is granted that not a link of 
 the chain is self-evident, yet it certainly follows, that each is neces- 
 sary ; from this plain reason, that the whole is reckoned so. It is 
 unreasonable, therefore, to take for granted, that none of the series 
 is necessary, when the direct contrary is the most immediate corse- 
 qucnce that possibly can be drawn from the supposition, which 
 stands at length thus : There has been an infinite succession of be- 
 ings produced one from another, in an endless progression, none of 
 which are self-existent, because each owes the cause of its being to 
 the preceding ; but the whole, and consequently every one, is neces- 
 sar\-, upon this account, that tlitre is something in the nature of 
 every individual that works necessarily in the production of that im- 
 mediately following. 
 
 Dear Sir, I am heartily convinced, even without a demonstration, 
 of the wildness of this position ; but I would gladly not rest here, 
 not doubting but there are data sufficient to determine your propo- 
 sition to the conviction of the most obstinate atheist. If this be 
 done already, and your demonstrations conclusive, I am confident 
 you will not grudge the trouble of giving me satisfaction. I must 
 look upon it as a most valuable favour, and mark myself down very 
 much your debtor upon that account. — But to proceed : 
 
 In Prop. 7. in your demonstrations of the Unity, you seem not ac- 
 curately enough to distinguish the hypothetical necessity, from the 
 absolute necessity a priori; and though I grant your proof conclusive 
 with respect to the first, yet by no means with respect to the other. 
 There is nothing plainer, than that but one Deity can be hypotheti- 
 cally necessary, that is to say, one being sufficiently answers for that 
 necessity, by whicii I am obliged to allow some one being at least to 
 
 be
 
 No. 2.] APPENDIX TO VOLUME FinST. • 15 
 
 be eternal, and this precisely is your argument. But though I see 
 no necessity for more than one Deity, does it from thence follow, 
 that there possibly can he no more : here lies my dilHculty, which 1 
 am vexed your arguments have not as yet brought me ovci'. 
 
 Page 107. edit. 4. you endeavour to reconcile Liberty and Pre- 
 science : I confess I never could get over this point, and I liave long 
 ago drawn up some arguments on this head, before I had it in my 
 thoughts of giving you the trouble of this epistle, and they are as 
 follows : 
 
 In page 123. the proof tljat God is true, seems not clear enough'. 
 You say the only possible reason of falsifying is either rashness or 
 forgetfulness, inconstancy, &c. Now, this looks a little like begging 
 the question; for unless it be antecedently wrong to tell a lie, it will 
 not be granted you, that rashness, forgetfulness, &c. are the only pos- 
 sible reasons of falsifying, because your antagonist would say, there 
 being no antecedent preference of tmth to falsehood in the nature 
 of things, in every case you are left at liberty to choose which of 
 them is fittest for your present purpose. 
 
 In page 127. you say, God cannot but do always what is best and 
 wisest on the whole : if you design only that best and wisest should 
 stand in opposition to error, evil and unfitness, I willingly close with 
 you; but if you mean by best and wisest, strictly, that of all possible 
 infinite varieties of actions, God cannot but choose that which, 
 taking in all considerations, is the best and most for the advantage 
 of the whole ; herein I must profess myself your antagonist. It is 
 undeniably certain, that there is a series of possible events going on 
 to infinity, each of which is more fitted than the preceding for the 
 good of mankind. To refuse this, is to set limits to God's power of 
 doing good. The case being so, to say that in any one instance 
 God has done the best upon the whole, is to maintain this absurdity, 
 
 that
 
 t6 APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIEST. [NO. 2. 
 
 that infinit}' is exhausted, at the same time that it is inexhaustible. 
 But enough of this ; I am convinced that the first meaning is only 
 yours ; and, upon reflection, I perceive your demonstration goes no 
 fiirther. 
 
 In the evidences of natural and revealed religion, you lay it down 
 as the first rule, that we keep up constantly in our minds, the high- 
 est possible honour, esteem and veneration for the Deity. It is true, 
 that most writers upon the laws of nature do the same ; but it is cer- 
 tainly too loose a way of writing. I believe it will be granted, that 
 our actions are the only proper objects of law. Now, having vene- 
 ration, honour, esteem for the Deity, is not acting. "\''eneration, 
 honour, esteem, are passions, and, therefore, not subject to laws. 
 2dly, You order us to consider him as the only Supreme Author, 
 Preserver and Governor of all things. Now, it is absurd that any 
 law should subject our thoughts, or oblige us to look upon a thing 
 to be so or so. It may indeed oblige us to act, by applying our fa- 
 culties to the consideration of the attributes of the Deity ; and this 
 truly is our duty, because thereby we learn God's will, which is the 
 nile of all our actions : for as the end is necessary, so is the means ; 
 and it must be confessed also, that if we thus apply our minds to 
 consider Gods attributes, it can hardly miss to influence our passions ; 
 but this is far from making it our duty to have these passions. 
 
 In the rule you laid down to regulate our actions with respect to 
 our neighbours, (page 67. of the second Treatise), you name two 
 branches, one of Equity, another of Love ; but the second, viz. That 
 we deal so with every man, as, in the like circumstances, we could 
 reasonably expect he should deal with us, is either no rule at all, or 
 a very undetermined one ; for if you mean by it only this, that any 
 relation I bear to you, chclnging places, you must bear to me ; in 
 this sense, it is no rule of action, but an abstract truth : and if you 
 
 design
 
 No. 2.] APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. T^ 
 
 design any thing more, it must lie in the words, " we could reasonably 
 " expect." This indeed makes it a rule, but much too general for 
 practice ; for the question still remains. What can we reasonably ex- 
 pect ? Indeed, we have the answer ready which we can draw from 
 the latter branch of this rule ; for, as you say afterwards, explaining 
 this second branch in page 72., we may expect all the good that is 
 •in our neighbour's power; and after all, I cannot possibly find the 
 reason why you should not distinguish these two branches, and call 
 the one E(|uity, and the other Love; for the second seems purposely 
 calculated to determine the too general conception of the first. 
 What you mean by Love I do not so well comprehend ; for, as you 
 lay down in page 72., if eveiy rational creature ought in its spliere 
 and station, to do all the good it can do to all its fellow-creatures, 
 the fellow-creature must have the reciprocal right of exacting ; con- 
 sequently, it will be unjust to withhold any part of this good, or to 
 disappoint the just and reasonable expectations of the fellow-crea- 
 ture. Besides, I wish you had explained this last rule, That every 
 one is obliged to do all the good he can, so as to have left no du- 
 biety ; for I cannot certainly detennine, whether your sense be, that 
 he ought to do all he can, providing that he do himself no harm ; or 
 if the rule be absolute, that he is under a positive obligation in eveiy 
 action to do what is best in the whole, without considering himself 
 in any other view but as a single particle of this Avhole. I am the 
 more importunate upon this head, because it is of great consequence, 
 no less than the foundation of all morality, that part at least which 
 regards our neighbours ; and it is strange that this matter has not, 
 as far as I could learn, as yet been taken out of the state of du- 
 biety, and fixed to some certain point by an accurate demonstration. 
 There are three diflPerent schemes which I ha\'e frequently revolved in 
 Vol. I. c my
 
 18 APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. [NO. 2. 
 
 my thoughts, but have not yet been able to detennine positively 
 Avhich to fix on. 
 
 The first goes upon the supposition, that there are certain rights 
 granted to every man indiflferently by the laws of nature ; such as 
 the right to food, right to tioith, right of punishment, &c. ; and 
 these rights contain in their idea, that the law protects every man in. 
 the exercise of them : so the rule will run thus, That every man is obli- 
 ged to act thus with relation to his neighbour, as not directly to do 
 him damage, or, which is the same thing, disturb him in the exercise 
 of his riglits ; but, on the other hand, that he is not bound to ad- 
 vance his good. The second goes also upon the foundation of 
 rights, only it carries the point a little further, viz. That every man is 
 positively bound to advance the good of others, in all cases where it 
 does not contradict his own good. The third commands, That every 
 man must directly choose that which, taking in all circumstances, 
 will do most good, without considering himself but as one of the in- 
 finite number whose good he is equally bound to advance. This last, 
 it is plain, destroys all other rights and obligations, to raise itself up- 
 on their ruins. The first, were I obliged to fix, would be my 
 scheme ; and I have the securest side of the question, the presump- 
 tion being for me, from the nature of rights. It is indeed evident, 
 that I am bound to do my neighbour no hami ; but if you carry the 
 point higher, and oblige me also to do him good, yours must be the 
 probation ; for I will never submit myself to a greater burden than 
 I see myself in duty bound : besides that, if you establish any of the 
 other schemes, of consequence you make all the common epithets, ge- 
 nerosity, benevolence, selfishness, kindness, &c. mere empty sounds, 
 without any fixed ideas ; for how can you reckon that man generous 
 or benevolent, who, in doing all the good he is capable of, does no- 
 thing more than what he is directly bound, &c, to do. Sure nobody 
 
 is
 
 NO. 2.] APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIHST. iQ 
 
 is reckoned generous for paying his just debts ; and the man also 
 who neglects this duty is not properly named selfish, but wicked. 
 But still, after all, there is no direct demonstration ; and if you ad- 
 here to your rule laid down in page 72-, you will be so kind as to ac- 
 quaint me what strictly is the meaning ; but whatever sense you put 
 upon it, I expect you will join it with some other demonstration 
 than that already given : for I cannot help thinking, that it is not 
 far from a contradiction to assert, that God does always what is ab- 
 solutely best on the whole ; though, upon the otlier hand, I shall 
 readily grant, if you prove aliunde, that this duty is incumbent upon 
 mankind, God's not doing always what is absolutely best, will be 
 no solid objection ; for it is no good consequence to say, that since 
 it is impossible God should do what is absolutely best, therefore, 
 man, (though there be no impossibility), is not obliged to contribute 
 all his endeavours. I cannot deny, even granting the reasonableness 
 of the first scheme, but there may be some exceptions, which, too, 
 may be drawn from the nature of the thing : for an example, I have 
 set down the following, which occurred to me, as I was considering 
 a short essay that a friend of mine had drawn up upon the subject 
 of Conjunctions ; and though I cannot help thinking, that I have car- 
 ried the point too far, yet I am not able for the life of me to find 
 out where the weak side hes. 
 
 The Revo-end Dr Samuel Clarke to Mr Henry Home, 
 
 Sir, 
 
 You will pardon my sending you such a brief answer, as is ac- 
 cording to my custom, and to the time allowed me for such mat- 
 ters. 
 
 c S, Though
 
 g(J AfPENDtX TO VOLUME ftmfi [NO. 2.- 
 
 iTiough the ideas of necessity and self-existence are indeed di- 
 stinctj yet evety necessity ftot founded in self-existence, is in reality 
 either riierely figurative, or merely hypothetieal. An endless succes- 
 sion of beings, produced one from another, witliout anj' self-existent 
 cause, is nothing but a verbal removing of the difficulty a little out 
 of sight : It is in reality the same supposition, as the endless (the 
 beghm'wgkss) duration of owe being, neither self-existent itself, nor ha- 
 ving its existence founded in any self-existent cause ; Avhich is ab- 
 surd and contradictor}\ 
 
 If we see no necessity for more than one Deity, (that is, if one 
 necessary being sufficiently answers for that necessity, by which I 
 am obliged to allow some one being at least to be necessary), it doth 
 from thence follow, that there can possibly be no more : Because 
 \^'hatever being can possibly be conceived not to he necessary, cannot 
 possibly be necessary ; the idea of necessity, effectually excluding all 
 possibility of being so much as conceived to be 7wt necessary. He 
 that conceives the equality of the three angles of a triangle to two 
 right ones, 7wt to be necessary, does not in truth conceive any such 
 thing, but only carelessly affirms a contradiction, of which no man 
 can ever possibly have any conception at all : It is only talking non- 
 sense in an unknown language. 
 
 Just as omnipotence is the power of doing all things possible to 
 be done, so omniscience is the power of knowing all things possible 
 to be known. Whether, therefore, future free actions be the object 
 of science, or only of infmitely perfect and unerring judgment, which is 
 a distinct attribute, is the only pertinent question, but of no import- 
 ance at all to be resolved. Undoubtedly, were there no antecedent 
 preference of ti'uth io falsehood in the ttature of things, in every case 
 every one would be left at liberty to choose which of thefn is fittest 
 for his present purpose : And for the same reason, the whole nature 
 
 and
 
 i^O. 2.] APPENDIX TO VOLUJiE FIRST, 21 
 
 and existence of things would be a mere impertinency. It is certain- 
 ly true, (speaking morally, not physically), that God cannot but do 
 always what is best and wisest on the w/wle. But then, by the word 
 •whole, you must always remember, not to mean so small a part as 
 mankind in the present time, or 7nankind in all times, but the sum to- 
 tal of the works of God (taken together as one system), through in- 
 Jinite space and injinite time ; with regard to which, injinity is by no 
 means inexhaustible. 
 
 I agree, that " actions only are the proper objects of law :" And, 
 therefore, I mean only what you rightly express, that " we are obli- 
 " ged to act, by applying our faculties to the consideration of the at- 
 " tributes of the Deity ;" the consequence of which, in a sincere mind, 
 cannot but be veneration, honour, and esteem. As to the obligation 
 upon men to do all the good they can, I take it to be, not a point or a 
 line, but a matter of great latitude. To do any xePong, is punishable 
 in proportion to the ^\'^rong done or intauled. To do barely what is 
 just, is barely not being punishable. To be totally negligent and inac- 
 tive, and to 'do no good, is (I think) a specits of ^icc, punishable. To 
 do good actually, h Vipou'^i- d!A<A. ^ duty, unlimited, and divisible in 
 uffinitnm ; commendable in pfoportioli to the innumerable different 
 possible degrees of it, and p-oposed to us as such, by the Imture of 
 things, and by the Author of our being. 1 take' k right to he, not 
 otily (wha,t yOu define it) a moral potvtr to act, but also a thoxzXjitncss 
 and capacity to recdve, which belongs as much to' infants as to 7nen. 
 
 I am, Sir, your very humble servant, 
 
 ■ S. Clarke. 
 
 Lmddn, August W- l723. 
 
 APPEN-
 
 22 APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST, [NO, 3. 
 
 APPENDIX— No. III. 
 
 On Final Causes. 
 
 A VERY striking feature in all the philosopliical writings of Lord 
 Karnes, is, his frequent reference to Final Causes. He omits no op- 
 portunity that occurs of pointing them out to tlie attention of his 
 reader ; and indulges himself with evident delight in considering all 
 the phenomena both of the natural and moral world, as evidences 
 of consummate wisdom, combined with benevolent design, and 
 therefore furnishing irresistible conviction, not only of the power, 
 but of the wisdom and beneficence of the Supreme Being. So uni- 
 versally indeed is this argument diftused through the authors wri- 
 tings, that we are induced to conclude,, he regarded it as a primary 
 object of his philosophy : A noble object, and wortliy of those supe- 
 rior endowments of intellect, with which it has pleased our Creator 
 to distinguish the highest order of his creatures. In this important 
 point of view, not less than in its subserviency to the acquisition of 
 knowledge, and the improvement of science, the consideration of 
 Final Causes has been recommended by the ablest philosophers. But 
 as it is capable of being pushed to a hurtful extreme, we willingly 
 admit, that it is to be cautiously pursued ; and it must be acknow- 
 ledged, that, in those of a warm and sanguine temperament, and in 
 whom the generous affections strongly predominate, a want of due 
 
 caution
 
 No. 3.] APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. 23 
 
 caution in sucli researches has led to error instead of truth. This 
 abuse sufficiently accounts for the strong censure which has been 
 bestowed on this mode of inquiry by speculative men of a colder 
 frame of mind, tliough of great philosophical acuteness. But every 
 argument ab abusu ought to be well weighed, before it receives our 
 implicit assent. 
 
 I propose to examine briefly the grounds of this unflivourable pre- 
 judice, to canvass the arguments that have been adduced against 
 those researches, and to evince their utility when properly and cau- 
 tiously conducted. 
 
 The inquiry into Final Causes *, or the attempt to discover tliose 
 ends which the Creator proposed to himself, in the formation of the 
 universe, and of the various species of animate and inanimate be- 
 ings with which it is lilled, has been condemned by certain philoso- 
 phers, on distinct and separate grounds of objection. These may be 
 reduced to three principal heads. 
 
 1. The possibility of tracing design from its effect, has been alto- 
 gether denied. 
 
 2. It is alleged, that it is presumptuous and impious in man to 
 pretend, that he is able to discover the ends of the Omniscient Being 
 in the formation of his creatures : And, 
 
 3. It is asserted, that such researches are a hinderance to improve- 
 ment in philosophy, and in the knowledge of nature. 
 
 I. The 
 
 * These observations on the subject of Final Causes, were first published in an 
 Account of the Life and Writings of Dr William Derham, written by the author of the 
 present work, and prefixed to an enlarged edition of the Phyuco-Theology, printed, 
 London 1798. They are now given in a more correct, and somewhat more ample 
 fonn.
 
 24 APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. [NO. 5. 
 
 1. The first of these propositions has been maintained by IVIr David 
 JJume and his followers ; who argue, that the inferences of design 
 from its effects, are neither demonstrable by reasoning, nor deducible 
 from experience. Dr Reid, who has most ably combated ]\Ir Hume's 
 argument on this subject, admits, that the inferences in question are 
 not the result of reasoning or of experience ; but he maintains at 
 the same time, that they may be made with a degree of certainty 
 equal to what the human mind is capable of attaining in any in- 
 stance whatever. " The opinions (says an able expositor of Dr 
 " Reid's philosophy) which we form of the talents of other men ; 
 " nay, our belief tliat other men are intelligent beings, are founded 
 " on this veiy inference of design from its effects. Intelligence and 
 " design are not objects of our senses ; and yet we judge of them 
 " every moment from external conduct and behaviour, with as little 
 " hesitation as we pronounce on the existence of Avhat we immedi- 
 " ately perceive *." In short, our conviction of the existence of a 
 designing cause, when we perceive certain regular and constant ef- 
 fects, is so inborn and natural to the mind, that it may be classed 
 among those intuitive truths that need no argument to demonstrate 
 them. We should justly accuse that man of insanity, Avho, on seeing 
 a well-constructed clock, and observing how nicely all its parts were 
 formed and put together, so that notWng appeared superfluous, or 
 out of its place, nor any thing wanting that was necessary towards 
 the regularity of its motion ; on finding likewise, that this beautiful 
 machine answered the useful purpose of pointing out most accurate- 
 ly the division of time by hours, minutes, and seconds, and marked 
 those greater divisions by audible sounds, so as to be equally service- 
 able 
 
 * Outlines of Moral Philosophy, by Professor Dugald Stewart, edit. 2>> p- i88.
 
 No. 3.] APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. 25 
 
 able in the niglit as in the day; — wc should justh', I say, accuse that 
 man of absolute insanity, who should deny, that those various com- 
 plicated parts were formed and put together for the very purposes 
 wliich wc see the machine so admirably fulfils. It is a law of our 
 nature that we should entertain this belief. No man can avoid it. 
 The greatest sceptic liimself is irresistibly impressed with this con- 
 viction, an<l regulates all his actions by similar conclusions drawn 
 from effect to cause. 
 
 But, says the sceptical philosopher, we can in no case judge of the 
 wisdom of an^^ design, unless we are first made acquainted with the 
 end or object which the artist proposed to attain ; for, it is not till 
 we have obtained that acquaintance, that we can form any judgment 
 of the means employed to accomplish the end. Now^, all that we 
 perceive in the universe, is, that certain things are actually accom- 
 plished ; but we are utterly ignorant what plan was proposed. 
 
 In answer to this objection it may be urged, that in many in- 
 stances we discern, with the utmost certainty, the plan that was pro- 
 posed. As, for example, we plainly perceive it to have been the in- 
 tention of the Creator, that eveiy animated being should be able to 
 jjerpetuate its kind ; so that the universe may be constantly supplied 
 with inhabitants, without the intervention of the creative power 
 exerted to form every individual animal. This plan is obvious and 
 certain ; because we perceive the power of propagation in every indi- 
 vidual of every species of the animal kind, unless it is impaired by 
 disease or accidental defect. In this instance, we are not left to 
 doubt as to the Creator's plan ; and we may, therefore, confidently 
 reason as to the fitness or unfitness of the means for accomplishing 
 that end in all the different species : And if we find those means, 
 however various in the different tribes of animals, yet all most com- 
 pletely answering the same end, and with e<jual certainty accom- 
 
 VoL. I. d plishing
 
 26 APPEXDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. [XO. 3. 
 
 plishiug one uniform purpose, Ave are compelled to pronounce, that 
 this ei^ect is a proof of design, and that the means are with consum- 
 mate skill and wisdom adapted to the end. 
 
 2. The second objection that has been urged against all inquiries 
 into Final Causes, is, That it is presumptuous and impious in man, to 
 emleavour to penetrate into the designs of the Deity, and to search 
 out those ends which He proposed to himself in the fomiation of 
 the universe. This reason is urged by Des Cartes, who rejects the 
 speculation into Final Causes altogether ; and we find several obser- 
 vations to the same purpose in the works of Maupertuis and Buftbn. 
 
 In answer to this objection, we have a single argument of j\Ir Boyle, 
 which appears sufficient completely to overthrow it. It were both pre- 
 sumption and folly for man to pretend to discover all the ends which 
 God may have proposed to himself in the formation of all his works. 
 But, to perceive some of those ends in certain of his works, is so far 
 from being presumptuous, that it would be absolute blindness and 
 stupidity not to discover them. As, for instance, he who considers 
 the complicated structure of the eye, and observes how admirably it 
 serves the purpose of conveying to the mind an idea of the figure, 
 size, and colour of external objects, cannot possibly entertain a 
 doubt, that it was intended for that purpose by the Being who 
 framed it ; and it would be egregious folly indeed, to suspend or to 
 refuse our belief of that design, from the notion of its being pre- 
 sumptuous to attempt finding out the counsels of the Deity. If a 
 peasant, says Mr Boyle, were brought into the garden of a philoso- 
 pher, and should there observe one of those curious gnomonic in- 
 struments, which shew at once the place of the sun in the zodiac, 
 his declination from the equator, the day of the month, the length 
 of the day, &c., it would confessedly be presumptuous in liim, while 
 
 both
 
 NO. 3.] APPENDIX TO VOLUME FTRST. 27 
 
 both unacquainted with niatlieniatics, and ignorant of the intentions 
 of the artist, to ])retend to ascertain all the uses of that elaborate 
 piece of work : but, observing on it the ordinaiy marks of a sun-dial, 
 and seeing that the shadow actually pointed to the hour of the day, 
 and always indicated it with exactness, it would be no presumption, 
 exen in this ignorant ])easant, to say, that this, for certain, was one 
 of the purposes for which the artificer intended it. 
 
 In addition to this argument, it may be observed, that although 
 the adoption of sii/gidar and uncommon opinions may be an evidence 
 of presumption, there can be no presuniption, properly speaking, in 
 entertaining opinions, in which we arc warranted and supported by 
 the concurring sentiments of mankind. In such a case, it is he who 
 dissents or doubts that incurs the charge of presumption, and not he 
 who adopts tiie general belief The uses of many of the works of 
 Nature, and more particularly, of many parts of the animal frame, 
 are so obvious, that they have been acknowledged by the generality 
 of mankind in all ages of the world. Even the Epicureans, who 
 taught that all things were the operation of chance, were forced to 
 acknowledge, that chance had constructed the eye with most admi- 
 rable fitness for the purpose of seeing, and the ear for hearing. If, 
 therefore, we perceive these purposes as plainly as the Epicureans, 
 and at the same time acknowledge, that the organs themselves were 
 originally framed by an intelligent artist, it seems a great absurdity to 
 refuse to believe, that this intelligent artist intended them to serve 
 those uses and purposes for M'hich we confess them to be so wonder- 
 fully adapted. Let us suppose any person to deny, that the eye and 
 ear were intended for seeing and hearing, and to assert, that they 
 were designed for other uses, we should undoubtedly regard that man 
 either with scorn or pity. But, in what respect is the absurdity the 
 less, if, while we cannot assign any other purposes for whifli those or- 
 
 d 2 gans
 
 28 APPEXDIX TO VOLUJIE FIRST. [NO, 3. 
 
 gans can serve, but are forced to acknowledge, that they serve most 
 admirably for seeing and hearing ; we should yet hesitate to affirm, 
 that, for certain, they were intended to serve those uses ? 
 
 ]\Ioreover, it seems just as unreasonable to deny, that the adapta- 
 tion of things to certain ends and uses, is a proof of Design and Wis- 
 dom in the Creator, as it would be to deny, that the creation of 
 those things is an evidence of his Power. The creation alone of 
 such an infinite variety of beings and substances, gives certain de- 
 monstration of the wonderful power of God ; but that power would 
 be idly displayed to our perceptions, if we did not at the same time 
 perceive, that it was exeited to ends which we acknowledge to be 
 wise and beneficent. We might indeed fear a being of such infinite 
 power, and fear him perhaps the more, that we could not perceive 
 his exertions to be regulated by any law of wisdom, or motive of be- 
 nevolence ; but we could not respect, adore, or love a being of this 
 nature. It is the con\ iction of the perfect wisdom of the Supreme 
 Being, manifested in all the works of the creation, and in their fit- 
 ness to answer certain ends which we acknowledge to be benevo- 
 lent, that entitles this being to the love and adoration of his crea- 
 tures *. 
 
 With 
 
 * Epicurus es animis hominum extraxit radicitus religionem, quum Diis immor- 
 talibus et opem et gratiam sustulit. Tolllt id quod niaxime proprium est optimx et 
 prsstantissimae natura:. Quid enim est melius, aut quid praestantius bonitate et 
 beneficientia ? qua cum carere Deum vultis, ncminem Dco carum, neminem ab eo 
 amari, neminem'diligi vultis. — Quod si ita sit, quid veneiamur, quid precamur Deos ? 
 Deinde, si maxime talis est Deus, ut null& gratil, nulla hominum caritate teneatur, 
 Taleat. Quid enim'dicam propitius sit ? esse enim propitius potest nemini. Cicero, 
 Si Natur, Dear. lib. i. c. 43, 44.
 
 No. 3.] APPENniX TO VOLUME FIRST. 29 
 
 3. With regard to the third oljjection, namely, That the search af- 
 ter Final Causes is a hinderance to improvement in philosophy, and in 
 tlie knowledge of nature : this objection scenes to have arisen from 
 a misconception of the sentiments of Lord Bacon, in that part of his 
 work De Augmentis Sdentiarum, where he treats of Metaphysics : 
 for Lord Bacon no otherwise condemns the search into Final Causes, 
 than in so far as they prevent our investigation into tlic immediate 
 physical causes of the phenomena of nature. As, for example, if 
 one should ask what is the cause of clouds in the atnujsplicre ? it 
 Avould, no doubt, be a very lame and unphilosophical answer to say. 
 That it was to o-ive water to the earth. This indeed mav be the 
 final cause ; but no philosopher of the present day would rest satis- 
 fied with this conviction, while there remains a ph}sical cause to be 
 assigned for the phenomenon, as, the moisture raised by the heat of the 
 sun from the sea and earth, which, when condensed, becomes visible. 
 It was no doubt a just reproach to many of the ancient philosophers,, 
 that, neglecting the immediate physical causes of the phenomena of 
 Nature, they rested satisfied with assigTiing the ultimate end or final 
 cause of those phenomena. It m as Lord Bacon's intention to ex- 
 plode that indolent and unsatisfying mode of reasoning ; and there- 
 fore, in allusion to such reasoners, he was warranted in saying, that 
 the search of Final Causes, as generally emjjloyed, was Imjumtio ste- 
 rilis, et, tanquam virgo Deo mnsecrata, riiliil pant. (De Aug. Sciai. 
 I. iii. c. 5.). But, in the manner that physical science has been cul- 
 tivated by the moderns, on the solid basis of induction from obser- 
 vation and experiment, there is not tlie smallest hazard, that the in- 
 quiry into Final Causes should retard our progress in the search of the 
 Physical. The caveat of L»rd Bacon may have been useful in his 
 time, and may have had a beneficial effect on the whole ; for it is to 
 those admirable methods of induction which he has pointed out, 
 
 that
 
 50 API'ENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. [NO. 3. 
 
 that modern philosopliy, so far as physics are concerned, is indehted 
 for its most material improvements, and science for its most sublime 
 discoveries. But, taken in a general and imqualified sense, and thus 
 employed by the materialists as an authority for excluding from 
 physics the consideration of final causes altogether, the maxim is of 
 a hurtful tendency, and has been used to support opinions which its 
 illustrious author would have reprobated with indignation. It is, 
 therefore, with great truth, that a late eminent philosopher has cha- 
 racterized this remark of Bacon as an inconsiderate expression, more 
 distinguished by its Ziit than by its solidity *. 
 
 It excites much regret, when we observe such philosophers as De 
 La Place, and others of the materialists, men certainlv of oreat abi- 
 litics, pursuing elaborate inquiries into nature, with a view only to 
 the discovery of those secondary causes which account for her phe- 
 nomena, without the slightest regard to that Supreme Intelligence, 
 who has employed those secondary causes merely as his instruments 
 in tlie execution of his infinitely Avise and benevolent designs. But 
 it is with still greater concern we observe, that the example of those 
 materialists has been foUoM'ed by some authors of our own countrv, 
 who have written with intentions very opposite to theirs, but who 
 have inadvertently adopted their plan, and without fully discerning 
 its purpose. Thus, an English writer of the best intentions, who has 
 composed a Natural History chiefly from materials furnished by the 
 French authors, sets f)ut, after their example, with a denunciation of 
 tlie mischievous consecjuences resulting to philosophy from the spe- 
 culation into final causes ; though, hi the conrse of his work, the na- 
 tural bias of his mind occasionally appears, in pointing out, in strains 
 of tlie warmest eloqutmce, to our oliservation, those veiy ends of wns- 
 dom and benevolence, of which he had before exploded the considera- 
 tion 
 
 * Ekmenis of Mechanical Philosophy, by Professor John Robison, vol. i. p. 679.
 
 No. 3.] APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. 31 
 
 tion as useless, and even pciiiici(jus to the prosecution of science. Thus, 
 in the 4th chapter of his Hislory of i lie Earth and Jnhnated Nature, 
 he retails the favourite remark of Bacon, " Tliat the iuvestigation of 
 " Final Causes is a barren study ; and, Uke a virgin dechcated to tlie 
 " Deity, brings forth nothing :"' Yet in the hist chapter of the same 
 volume, he considers " the universe as the palace in which the Deity 
 " resides, and this earth as one of its apartments, allotted to man 
 " for his habitation, and the scene of his enjoyments ;" he sees " the 
 " immense and shapeless mass of matter formed into woilds by the 
 " power of the Deity, and dispersed at intervals, to ^\ liich e\en the 
 " imagination cannot travel." lie discerns the eartli, at His com- 
 mand, " producing by its twofold motion the change of seasons, and 
 " the grateful vicissitudes of day and night." He observes it " with 
 " a steady rotation successively presenting every part of its bosom 
 " to the sun ; at once imbibing nourishment and light from that 
 " parent of vegetation and fertility." He remarks " the waters on 
 " its surface supplied in healthful abundance, to support life and 
 " assist vegetation : the mountains arising to div^ersify the prospect, 
 " and give a current to the stream : the seas extending from one 
 " continent to another, replenished with animals that may be turned 
 " to human support, and also serving to enrich the earth with a suf- 
 " liciency of vapour : breezes flying along tlie surface of the fields, 
 " to promote health and vegetation : the coolness of the evening 
 " that invites man to his rest, and the freshness of the morning that 
 " renews hira for his labour *." Tlius, this eloquent writer, in con- 
 tempt of that law which he had laid down, of banishing Final Causes 
 entirely from his speculations, unconsciously resorts to them ^\hen- 
 ever his subject points the way, and yields himself without reserve 
 
 to 
 * Goldsmith's Natural History, vol. i. chap. 4.
 
 32 APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. [XO. 3. 
 
 to that emotion of gratitude which is felt by every well-constituted 
 mind to the bountiful Author of all its multiplied enjoyments. 
 
 It is curious to remark, that the Epicureans themselves, who utter- 
 ly disclaimed a Divine Providence, as concerned either in the origi- 
 nal formation, or in the government of the universe, were yet forced 
 to acknowledge throughout the whole system, the most pregnant 
 and uncontrovertible marks of benevolent design. But how did 
 they extricate themselves from this apparent dilemma? Why, by be- 
 stowing even on insensate and brute matter that eulogium which 
 they withheld from the Divinity. Thus, Pliny, who acknowledged 
 no God as the author of all the wonders to which he solicits our 
 attention in his Natural History, indulges a vein of the most elo- 
 quent panegyric on the hcnexoknce of the Earth to man. " It is this 
 " Earth," says he, " that, like a kind mother, receives us at our birth, 
 " and sustains us when born. It is this alone, of all the elements' 
 " around us, that is never found an enemy to man. The waters de- 
 " luge him with rains, oppress him with hail, and drown him with 
 " inundations. The air rushes in storms, prepares the tempest, 
 " or lights up the thunders. But the Earth, gentle and indulgent, 
 " ever subservient to the wants of man, spreads his walk with 
 " flowers, and his table with plenty ; returns with interest every 
 " good committed to her care ; and though she produces the poison, 
 " she still supplies the antidote ; though constantly importuned 
 " more to furnish the luxuries of man than his necessities, yet even 
 " to the last she continues her kintl indulgence ; and when life is 
 " o\cr, she piously covers his remains in her bosom *." , Thus, even 
 the atheist plainly discerns in the system of Nature the traces of be- 
 nevolent design ; but imamcnlis sapientice consultus, proficient only in 
 that wisdom which argues a perverted understanding, he attributes 
 
 that 
 
 * PtiN. Hist. Nat. lib. ii. cap. 63.
 
 No. 3.] APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. 33 
 
 that design and tliat benevolence to a substance incapable itself of 
 thought or purpose of any kind, and stupidly transfers the praise due 
 to the Creator, to the inert, the lifeless, and unconscious substratum 
 of his operations. 
 
 With the true philosopher, the research into Physical and Final 
 Causes will ever go hand in hand, as they mutually assist each other's 
 progress ; and there would in most sciences be a very great bar to im- 
 provement, if we were to attempt to separate them. Let the science 
 of anatomy be taken as an example. We study tlie structure of the 
 different parts of the human body, with a constant view to the func- 
 tions which those parts are intended to serve : nay, the very end of 
 the study is in order that we may be able to correct any fault or un- 
 fitness of the organs, and restore them to that healthful tone which 
 is necessary for the right performance of their functions. We ana- 
 tomize the eye, and examine its different tunicles and humours, that 
 we may be enabled to find a cure for imperfect vision, or for abso- 
 lute blindness. We examine the structure of the stomach and 
 bowels, that we may well understand what state of these osgans is 
 best fitted for perfect digestion, and the conversion of the aliment 
 into chyle and blood, and know how to restore that state when im- 
 paired by accidental injury, or vitiated by disease. In short, it may 
 be confidently aftirmed, that in this science, which is nothing more 
 than the accurate knowledge of the animal machine, Ave could no 
 more advance a single step, without having in our view the proper 
 functions of the several parts of that machine, than we could study 
 the art of clock-making without having it in our view that all the 
 parts of the machine were intended to operate towards one ultimate or 
 final purpose, the regular division of time by hours, minutes, and se- 
 conds. In like manner, there is so necessary a connexion between 
 the science of medicine and final causes, that they may be consider- 
 VoL. I. e ed
 
 34 APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. [NO. 3. 
 
 ed as absolutely inseparable ; and it may be affinned in general, that 
 in the study of all those sciences which have the knowledge of na- 
 ture for their object, the search of final causes, or those Avise ends 
 proposed by the Author of Nature, is altogether as necessary as an 
 attention to the views and purposes of man, is necessary in studying 
 those arts which are dependant on human wisdom and skill ; as, for 
 example, architecture, ship-building, and the construction of all use- 
 ful engines and machines. 
 
 Lastly, it may be observed, that the greatest philosophers, far 
 from excluding from their speculations the research into final causes, 
 have recommended that research as the greatest incentive to the pro- 
 secution of science, and as being eminently serviceable in guiding or 
 conducting our inquiries. With regard to the former of these pur- 
 poses, what motive can be more Avorthy of an intelligent being, than 
 the desire of tracing out those characters of wise and benevolent 
 design, which, to a certain degree, are obvious, even to the most su- 
 perficial observer, but of whose universality, extent and wonderful 
 connexion, through the whole of this visible system of nature, the 
 philosopher alone can form an adequate comprehension? — With re- 
 spect to the latter purpose, the guiding or conducting our inquiries, 
 and thus contributing both to improvements and actual discoveries 
 in science, Mr Boyle has recorded a very striking testimony of the 
 utility of such speculations. " I remember," says he, " that when 
 " I asked our famous Harvey what were the things that induced him 
 " to think of a circulation of the blood ? he answered me, that when 
 " he took notice that the valves in the veins in so many parts of the 
 " bodv were so placed, that the}^ gave a free passage of the blood 
 *' towards the heart, but opposed the passage of the venal blood the 
 " contrary way, he was invited to imagine that so provident a cause 
 " as Nature had not placed so many valves without design ; and no 
 
 " design
 
 No. 3.] APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. '35 
 
 " tlcsigu seemed moic piob;iblc tlian that since the blood could not 
 " well, because of the interposing valves, be sent by the veins to the 
 " limbs, it should be sent througli the arteries, and return through 
 " the veins, whose valves did not oppose its course that way *t' — 
 Thus the consideration of the final cause actually led to the disco- 
 very of the physical truth. 
 
 Another beautiful instance of the utility of attending to Final 
 Causes in the prosecution of science, is to be found in the Elemaita 
 CatoptriccE ct Dioptrica Sphccric^ of the celebrated David Gregory, 
 
 e 2 Savillian 
 
 * " Harvey saw," says Professor Robison, " lliat die valves in the arteries and 
 " veins were constructed precisely like those of a double forcing pump, and that the 
 " muscles of the heart were also fitted for an alternate systole and diastole, so cor- 
 " responding to the structure of those valves, that the whole was fit for performing 
 " such an office. With boldness, therefore, he asserted, that the beatings of the 
 " heart were the strokes of this pump ; and laying tlie heart of a living animal open 
 " to the view, he had the pleasure of seeing the alternate expansion and contraction 
 " of its auricles and ventricles, exactly as he had expected. In precisely the same 
 " way have all the discoveries in anatomy and physiology been made. A new ob- 
 " ject is seen. The discoverer immediately examines its structure. Why ? To see 
 " what it can perform ; and if he sees a number of co-adaptations to a particular 
 " purpose, he does not hesitate to say, ' This is its purpose.' He has often been 
 " mistaken ; but the mistakes have been gradually correded. How ? By discover- 
 " ing what is the real structure, and what the thing is really fit for performing. 
 <' The anatomist never imagines that what he has discovered is of no value." The 
 learned Professor subjoins to this passage the following Note, which I trust the can- 
 did reader will believe I quote from a better motive than vanity. " I would ear- 
 '• nestly recommend to my young readers some excellent remarks on the argument 
 " of Final Causes, (without which Cicero thought there is no philosophy), in the 
 «' Preface by the Editor of Derham's PhystcoTheology, published at London in 1798. 
 " He there considers the proper province of this argument, its use, and incautious 
 " abuse, with the greatest perspicuity and judgment." Elements of Mechanical Philo. 
 sophy, by Professor J. Robison, vol. i. p. 63i.
 
 36 APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. [NO. 3. 
 
 Savillian Professor of Astronomy at Oxford. In the end of this 
 treatise is an observation, which shews that what is generally be- 
 lieved to be a discovery of a much later date, the construction of 
 achromatic telescopes, which was first actually put in practice by Mr 
 Dolland, and has since been brought to great perfection by Mr Rams- 
 den and other opticians, had suggested itself to the mind of David 
 Gregory, " from the reflection on the admirable contrivance of Na- 
 " ture, who does nothing without an useful purpose, in combining 
 " the different humours of the eye."—" Quod si, ob difficultates 
 " physicas in speculis idoneis torno elaborandis et poliendis, etiam- 
 " num lentibus uti oporteat, fortassis media diversaj densitatis ad 
 " lentem objectivam componendam adhibere utile foret ; ut a Na- 
 " tura faptum observamus in oculi fabrica, ubi chrj^stallinus humor 
 " (ferfe ejusdem cum vitro virtutis ad radios lucis refringendos) 
 " aqueo et vitreo (aquie quoad refractionem baud absimilibus) con- 
 " jungitur, ad imaginem quam distinct^ fieri potent, a Natura nihil 
 ", frustra moliente, in oculi fundo depingendam." 
 
 Through the whole works of Sir Isaac Newton, we perceive a con- 
 stant attention to Final Causes, or to the great purposes of the Deity 
 in the structure and support of the universe. It was the firm opi- 
 nion of that great philosopher, that, as we are every where encoun- 
 tered, in our researches, by powers and effects which are unaccount- 
 able upon any principles of mere mechanism, or the combinations of 
 matter and motion, we must for ever resort to a Supreme Power, 
 whose influence extends over all nature, and who accomplishes the 
 wisest and most benevolent ends by the best possible means. Of 
 liis sentiments on this subject, his excellent abridger and commen- 
 tator, Mr Maclaurin, gives the following brief detail, with which we 
 shall close the subject : 
 
 " There
 
 No. 3.] V\PPF.Nr>IX TO VOLUME FIRST. 37 
 
 " There is notliinj^ we meet with more frequently and constantly 
 in nature, than the traces of an all-governing Deity. And the 
 philosopher who overlooks these, contenting himself with the ap- 
 pearances of the material universe only, and the mechanical laws 
 of motion, neglects what is most excellent ; and prefers wiiat is 
 imperfect to what is supremely perfect, finitude to infinity, what 
 is narrow and weak to what is unlimited and almighty, and what 
 is perishing to what endures for ever. Such who attend not to so 
 manifest indications of supreme wisdom and goodness, perpetually 
 appearing before them, wherever they turn their views or inqui- 
 ries, too much resemble those ancient philosophers, who made 
 night, matter, and chaos, the original of all things. 
 " The plain argument for the existence of the Deity, obvious to 
 all, and carrying irresistible conviction with it, is, From the evident 
 contrivance and fitness of things for one another, which we meet 
 with throughout all parts of the universe. There is no need of 
 nice or subtle reasonings in this matter : a manifest contrivance 
 immediately suggests a contriver. It strikes us like a sensation ; 
 and artful reasonings against it may puzzle us, but it is without 
 shaking our belief No person, for example, who knows the 
 principles of optics, and the structure of the eye, can believe that 
 it was formed without skill in that science ; or that the ear was 
 formed without the knoAvledge of sounds ; or that the male and 
 female of animals were not formed for each other, and for conti- 
 nuing the species. All our accounts of nature are full of instances 
 of this kind. The admirable and beautiful structure of things for 
 final causes, exalts our idea of the Contriver: the unity of de- 
 sign shews him to be One. The great motions in the system, per- 
 formed with the same facility as the least, suggest his almighty 
 pau'cr, which gave motion to the earth and the celestial bodies, 
 
 " with
 
 ■58 APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. [NO. 3. 
 
 " with equal ease as to the minutest particles. The subtilty of the 
 " motions and actions in the internal parts of bodies, shews that his 
 " influence penetrates the most inmost recesses of things, and that 
 " he is equally active and presait every where. The simplicity of 
 " the laws that prevail in the world, the excellent disposition of 
 " things, in order to obtain the best ends, and the beauty which 
 " adorns the works of nature, far superior to any thing in art, sug- 
 " s-ests his consummate wisdom. The usefulness of the whole 
 " scheme, so well contrived, for the intelligent beings that enjoy it, 
 " with the internal disposition and moral structure of those beings, 
 " shew his unbounded goodness. These are the arguments which 
 " are sufficiently open to the views and capacities of the unlearned, 
 ^' while, at the same time, they acquire new strength and lustre from 
 " the discoveries of the learned *." 
 
 To these illustrious testimonies in favour of the research into Final 
 Causes, I add that of Dr Reid, who, though in all his philosophical 
 disquisitions he has been particularly cautious to separate the distinct 
 provinces of Physical and Metaphysical inquiry, to the latter of 
 which the consideration of Final Causes most properly belongs, yet 
 he admits, not only the certainty, but the high value and dignity 
 of such researches, as well as the delight with whicli they are at- 
 tended : 
 
 " As to Final Causes, they stare us in the face wherever we cast 
 " our eyes. I can no more doubt whether the eye was made for the 
 " purpose of seeing, and the ear of hearing, than I can doubt of a 
 " mathematical axiom. Yet the evidence is neither mathematical 
 " demonstration, nor is it induction. In a word, final causes, good 
 
 " final 
 
 * yln Account of Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophical Discoveries, by Colin Maclaurin, 
 A. M. F. R. S. Book iv. chap. 9.
 
 No. 4.] APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. 39 
 
 " final causes, are seen plainly every where ; in tlie lieavens and 
 " in the eartli, in the constitution of every animal, and in our own 
 " constitution of body and of mind. And they arc the most worthy 
 " of observation, and have a charm in them that delights the soul." 
 Letter from Dr Reid to Lord Karnes, l6th December 1780. — N. B. 
 This letter is printed in NO. IX. of this Appendix. 
 
 APPENDIX— No. IV. 
 
 Letter to Lord Kahes, from the Reverend Dr John Macfarlan, 
 Minister of Canongate, Edinburgh, and Author of Inquiries conceit'- 
 ing the State of the Poor, 8^-c. 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 When I read the first edition of your Lordship's Essays on Mo- 
 ralitx) and Natural Religion, I was a ^'ery young man, educated with 
 very narrow and illiberal notions both of men and things. You will 
 not be surprised, that I was taught to regard you as an arch-heretic, 
 and all your w^ri tings as from a suspected hand. It is unnecessary 
 to say, that those unjust prejudices are long since removed. The 
 agreeable and valuable instruction I huA-e received since I have had 
 the honour of your Lordship's acquaintance, I with reason consider 
 
 as
 
 40 APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. [NO. 4. 
 
 as one of the happiest circumstances of my present situation *. But, 
 though this advantage had been denied me, the perusal of the last 
 edition of your Essays, would have fully convinced me, that the 
 person whom I once dreaded, is worthy of my highest esteem and 
 respect. It was with great pleasure that I have found your Lordship 
 successful in overturning those wretched systems which have a ten^ 
 dency to debase human nature, and reduce man to a little artificial 
 machine, very different from what God created him. It was with 
 greater pleasure I found you successful in restoring him to his just 
 rank, in pointing out his obligations to duty, with the great founda- 
 tion of religion and morality. By shewing us what we are, you ani- 
 mate us to act a part suitable to our rank and character as rational 
 and immortal beings. It is the goodness of Providence v/hich raises 
 up such advocates for virtue, and still preserves in vigour that life 
 Avhich has been so long useful to the best interests of mankind. 
 
 May I presume, after this, to mention, that as I read your Essays 
 with a critical eye, I have made some observations, in which, as I 
 venture ^o difi'er from your Lordship, I am probably wrong ; but I 
 have that confidence in your candour, to trust that you will not im- 
 pute them to petulancy, but a desire to receive better information. 
 At your leisure, I shall submit them to your correction. I have the 
 honour to be, with great respect, &c. 
 
 John APFarlan. 
 
 Canongate, 30tfi Novejnber 1779- 
 
 APPEN- 
 
 * From Lord Karnes's residing in the Canongate, Edinburgh, Dr Macfarlan was 
 his parish minister.
 
 No. 5.] APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. 41 
 
 APPENDIX.—N0. V. 
 
 LETTER/ro;w Dr Thomas Reid, Professor of Moral Philosophy in the 
 Univei'sity q/' Glasgow, to Lord Kames, on the Infuence of the Doc- 
 trine of Necessity on Morals. Dated Glasgow College, December 3. 
 1772. 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 I WAS very glad to understand, by the letter you honoured me with 
 of November 9., that you got safe home, after a long journey, in 
 
 such dreadful rainy weather. I got to Mr C 's on horseback soon 
 
 after you left me, where I was in good warm quarters. 
 
 The case you state is very proper, to discover h jv/ far we differ 
 with respect to the Influence of the Doctrine of Necessity upon 
 Morals. 
 
 A man in a mad fit of passion stabs his best friend ; immediately 
 after he condemns himself; and at last is condemned by a court o^ 
 justice, although his passion was no less irresistible than if he had 
 been pushed on by external violence. 
 
 My opinion of the case, My Lord, is this : If the passion was real- 
 ly as irresistible as you represent it, both in its beginning and pro- 
 gress, the man is innocent in the sight of God, who knows that he 
 was driven as by a whirlwind, and that the moment he was master 
 of himself, he abhorred the action as much as a s:ood man ouo-ht 
 to do. 
 
 Vol. L /" At
 
 42 APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. [NO. 5. 
 
 At the same time he reasonably may condemn hhnself, and be con- 
 demned by a court of justice. 
 
 He condemns himself, jjecause, from his very constitution, he has 
 a conviction that his passion was not irresistible. Every man has 
 this conviction as long as he believes himself not to be really mad, 
 and incapable of self-government. Even if he is a fatalist in specu- 
 lation, that will not hinder this natural conviction when liis con- 
 science smites him, any more than speculative scepticism will hinder 
 a man from apprehension of danger when a cart runs against him. 
 
 The court of justice condemns him for the same reason, because 
 they believe that his passion was not irresistible. But if it could be 
 proved that the man was really incapable of bridling his passion, 
 that is, that he was really mad, then the court of justice ought not to 
 punish him as a criminal, but to confine him as a madman. 
 
 What is madness, My Lord? In my opinion, it is such weakness in 
 the power of self-government, or such strength of passion, as de- 
 prives a man of the command of himself Tlie madman has will 
 and intention, but he has. no power to restrain them. If this mad- 
 ness continues so long as to be capable of proof fi'om the tenor of 
 a man's actions, he is no subject of criminal law, because he is not a 
 free agent. If we suppose real madness to continue but for a mo- 
 ment, it makes a man incapable of a crime, while it lasts, as if it 
 had continued for years. But a momentary madness can have no 
 effect to acquit a man in a court of justice, because it cannot be 
 proved. It would not even hinder him from condemning himself, 
 because he cannot know that he was mad. 
 
 In a word, if, by a mad fit of passion, your Lordship means real 
 maducss, though temporary, and not pennancnt, the man is not cri- 
 minal for what this fit of madness produced. A court of justice 
 would not impute the action to him, if this could be proved to be 
 
 the
 
 No. 5.] APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. 43 
 
 tlie case. But it] by a mad lit of" passion, }ou mean only a strong 
 passion, wliicli still leaves a man the power of self-government, then 
 he is accountable for his conduct to God and man. Tor every good 
 man, yea, e\ery man that would avoid the most heinous crimes, 
 must at some times do violence to very strong jjassions. P>ut hard 
 woukl be our case indeed, if we were required, either by God or man, 
 to resist irresistible passions. 
 
 ■ You think that will and intention is sufficient to make an action 
 imputable, even though that will be irresistibly determined. I beg 
 leave to dissent, for the following reasons : 
 
 1. An invincible error of the understanding, of memory, of judg- 
 ment, or of reasoning, is not imputable, for this very reason, that it 
 is invincible ; why then should an error of the will be imputable, 
 when it is supposed equally invincible ? God Almighty has given us 
 various powers of understanding and of will. They are all equally 
 his workmanship. Our understandings may deviate from truth, as 
 our wills may deviate from virtue. You will allow, that it would be 
 unjust and tyrannical to punish a man for unavoidable deviations 
 from truth. Where, then, is the justice of condemning and punish- 
 ing him for the deviations of another faculty, which are equally un- 
 avoidable ? 
 
 You say we are not to judge of this matter by reasons, but by 
 the moral sense. Will you forgive me. My Lord, to put you in mind 
 of a saying of Mr Hobbes, that when reason is against a man, he will 
 be against reason ? I hope reason and the moral sense are so good 
 friends as not to dift'er upon any point. But to be serious, I agree 
 with \oux Lordship, that it is the moral sense that must judge of 
 tliis point, whether it be just to punish a man for doing what it was 
 not in his power not to do. The very ideas or notions of just and un- 
 
 /2 just
 
 44 APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. [NO. 5. 
 
 just are got by the moral sense ; as the ideas of bkie and red are got 
 by the sense of seeing. And as by the sense of seeing, we determine 
 that this body is red, and that is bhie, so by the moral sense we de- 
 termine this action to be just, and tliat to be unjust. It is by the mo- 
 ral sense that I detemiine in general that it is unjust to require any 
 duty of a man which it is not in his power to perform. By the same 
 moral sense, in a particular case, I detennine a man to be guilty, up- 
 on finding that he did the deed voluntarily and with intention, with- 
 out making any inquiry about his power. The way to reconcile 
 these two determinations I take to be this, that, in the last case, I 
 take for granted the man's power, because the common sense of man- 
 kind dictates, that what a man did voluntarily and with intention, he 
 had power not to do. 
 
 2. A second reason of my dissent is, That tlie guilt of a bad ac- 
 tion is diminished in proportion as it is more difficult to resist the 
 motive. Suppose a man entrusted with a secret, the betraying of 
 whiph to the enemy may ruin an army. If he discloses it for a bribe, 
 however great, he is a villain and a traitor, and deserves a thousand 
 deaths. 
 
 But if he falls into the enemj^'s hands, and the secret be wrested 
 from him by the rack, our sentiments are greatly changed ; we do not 
 charge him with villany, but with weakness. We hardly at all 
 blame a woman in such a case, because we conceive torture, or the 
 fear of present death, to be a motive hardly resistible by the weaker 
 sex. 
 
 As it is therefore the uniform judgTnent of mankind, that where 
 the deed is the same, and the will and intention the same, the de- 
 gree of guilt must depend upon the difficulty of resisting the mo- 
 tive, will it not follow, tliat when the motive is absolutely irre- 
 sistible, the guilt vanishes altogether ? 
 
 3. That
 
 No. 5.] APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST, 45 
 
 3. Tliat this is the cominon sense of mankind, appears further 
 from the way in which we treat madmen. Tliey have will and in- 
 tention in what they do ; and therefore, if no more is necessary to 
 constitute a crime, they ought to he found guilty of crimes. Yet, 
 no man conceives that tlity can he at all suhjects of criminal law : 
 For what reason ? for this, in my opinion, that they have not that 
 power of self-command, which is necessary to make a man account- 
 able for his conduct. 
 
 You suppose, my Lord, a physical power to forliear an action 
 even when it is necessary. But this I cannot grant. Indeed, upon 
 the system of free agency, I can easily conceive a power wliicli is 
 not exerted ; but, upon the S3'stem of nccessit}'^, there can be no 
 such thing ; every power that acts by necessity must be exerted. 
 
 I flo indeed think, that a man may act without a motive ; and 
 that, when the motives to action lie all on one side, he ma}' act in 
 contradiction to them. But I agree with your Lordship, that all 
 such actions are capricious ; and I apprehend, that if there were no 
 actions of this kind, there could be no such thing as caprice, nor 
 any Avord in language to signify it : For why should every language 
 have a word to signify a thing which never did nor can exist ? 
 
 I agree also with your Lordship, that there can be no merit in 
 such an action, even if it is innocent. But if it is vicious, it has the 
 highest degree of. demerit; for it is sinning without any temptation, 
 and serving the devil without any wages. It ought to be observed, 
 however, that a virtuous action can never be capricious ; because 
 there is always a just and sufficient motive to it. For, if I have no 
 other motive, I must at least have tins, that it is a worthy action, 
 and is my duty ; which in reason ought to weigh down all motives 
 tliat can be put into the opposite scale. A capricious action may be 
 
 innocent;
 
 46 APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. [NO. 5. 
 
 innocent, and then it is folly : Or it may be vicious, and then it is 
 pure wickedness. 
 
 Liberty, like all other good gifts of God, may be abused. As civil 
 liberty may be abused to licentiousness, so our natural libeVty may 
 be abused to caprice, folly and vice. But the proper exercise of li- 
 berty is, after weighing duly the motives on both sides, to be deter- 
 mined, not by the strongest moti\e, but by that which has most au- 
 thority. 
 
 It is of great importance in this matter, to distinguish between 
 the authority of motives and their force. Tl>e part that is decent, that 
 is manly, that is virtuous, that is noble, has always authority upon its 
 side : Every man feels this authority in his own breast ; and there 
 are few men so wicked as not to yield to it when it has no anta- 
 gonist. 
 
 But pleasure, interest, passion, sloth, often muster a .great force on 
 the otlier side, which, though it has no authority, has often the 
 greater power ; and a conflict arises between these opposite parties. 
 Ev£ry man is conscious of this conflict in his own breast, and is too 
 often carried down by tlie superior force of the party which he 
 knows to have no authority-. 
 
 This is the conflict which Plato describes between reason and ap- 
 petite ; this is the confhct which the New Testament describes be- 
 tween the spirit and the ilcsh. The opposite parties, like Israel and 
 Amalck, dispute the victory in the plain. "When the self-determi- 
 ning power, like Moses upon the mount, lifts up its hand and exerts 
 itself, then Israel prevails, and virtue is triumphant ; but mIicu its 
 hands hang down, and its vigour flags, then Amalek j)rc\ails. 
 
 I am, my dear Lord, most respectfully yours, 
 
 Tjio. Reid. 
 
 Glasgow College, December 3. 1772. 
 
 APPEN-
 
 No. 6.] APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST, 47 
 
 APPENDIX.— No. VI. 
 
 I j-ETTER from David Hume, Es(j; to the Author of the Deliueation cf 
 the Nature and Obligation of Morality. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 Whex I write yoii, I know not to whom I am addressing myself; 
 
 I only know he is one who has done mc a great deal of honour, and 
 
 to whose civilities I am obliged. If we be strangers, I beg we may 
 
 be acquainted, as soon as you think proper to discover yourself; if 
 
 Ave be accjuainted already, I beg we may be friends ; if friends, I 
 
 beg we may be more so. Our connexion with each other, as men 
 
 of letters, is greater than our difference, as adhering to different 
 
 sects or systems. Let us revive the happy times, when Atticus and 
 
 Cassius the Epicureans, Cicero the Academic, and Brutus the Stoic, 
 
 could, all of them, live in unreserved friendship together, and were 
 
 insensible to all those distinctions, except so far as they furnished 
 
 agreeable matter to discourse and conversation. Perhaps you are a 
 
 young man, and being full of those sublime ideas, which you have 
 
 so well exprest, think there can be no \irtue upon a more confined 
 
 system. I am not an old one ; but being of a cool temperament, 
 
 have always found, that more simple views were sufficient to make 
 
 me act in a reasonable manner : N^<ps, xa/ f^if^vrja-o airicru* * : in this 
 
 faith I have lived, and hope to die. 
 
 Your 
 * i e. Be sober-minded, and remember always to doubt.
 
 ^ APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. [NO. 6. 
 
 Your civilities to me so much overbalance your severities, that I 
 should be ungrateful to take notice of some expressions, which, in 
 the heat of composition, have dropt from your pen. I must only 
 complain of you a little, for ascribing to me the sentiments which I 
 had put into the mouth of the sceptic in tlie Dialogue. I have sure- 
 ly endeavoured to refute the sceptic with all the force of which I am 
 master ; and my refutation must be allowed sincere, because drawn 
 from the capital principles of my system. But you impute to me 
 both the sentiments of the sceptic, and the sentiments of his anta- 
 gonist, which I can never admit of. In every dialogue, no more 
 than one person can be supposed to represent the author. 
 
 Your severity on one head, that of Chastity, is so great, and I am 
 so little conscious of having given any just occasion to it, that it has 
 afforded me a hint to form a conjecture, perhaps ill-grounded, con- 
 cerning your person. 
 
 I hope to steal a little leisure from my other occupations, in order 
 to defend my philosophy against your attacks. If I have occasion 
 to give a new edition of the work wliich you have honoured with an 
 answer, I shall make great advantage of your remarks, and hope to 
 obviate some of your criticisms. 
 
 Your stj'le is elegant, and fiill of agreeable imagery. In some few 
 places, it does not fully come up to my ideas of purity and correct- 
 ness. I suppose mine falls still further short of your ideas. In this 
 respect, we may certainly be of use to each other. With regard to 
 our philosophical systems, I suppose we are both so fixed, that there 
 is no hope of any conversions betwixt us ; and for my part, I doubt 
 not but we shall both do as well to remain as we arc.^ — I am. Sir, 
 with great regard, your most obliged hundile scr\ant, 
 
 David Hume. 
 Edinburgh, \5th March 1753. 
 
 APPEN-
 
 Nt). 7.] APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. 49 
 
 APPENDIX.— No. VII. 
 
 A Character of Dr Thomas Blackwell, xvritien by Dr Alex* 
 
 ANDEii Gerard. 
 
 [Taken from tlie Aberdeen Journal.] 
 
 On Sunday the 6th of March 1757, (Hed at Edinburgh, in the 
 fifty-sixth year of his age, Dr Thomas Blackwell, Principal and Pro- 
 fessor of Greek in the Marischal College of Aberdeen. He became 
 very earlj'^ conspicuous in life for his masterly knowledge in all the 
 several branches of polite literature; and, by his Inquiry into the 
 Life and Writings of Homer, acquired at once that distinguished cha- 
 racter in the learned world, which he ever after supported with so 
 much credit and reputation. As in learning and knowledge he was 
 exquisite and equal to any, so in the address of a teacher he was per- 
 haps superior to all. No man ever possessed in a more eminent de- 
 gree the talent of inspiring young minds with a love of learning ; of 
 begetting among them a generous emulation ; and of forming them 
 to a taste and perception of what was elegant and beautiful in the 
 admired productions of antiquity. On public occasions, when he 
 appeared as head of the University, he acquitted himself with so 
 much dig-nity, and delivered his oratioiTs with such just elocution, 
 and in a manner so empliatic and graceful, as gained him not only 
 the applause, but the universal admiration of his audience. His 
 latter days were calm and resigned. He beheld the approach of 
 
 Vol. I. g death
 
 50 APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. [NO. 7. 
 
 death with fortitude, composure and serenity ; hke one who, having 
 acted his part well, when he arrived at the brink of life, could look 
 back with pleasure, and forward without apprehension. As on many 
 other accounts, so particularly his loss is to be regretted, in that he 
 was snatched away before he had put the finishing hand to a work 
 which, from what of it has already appeared, will hand him down to 
 posterity as a sincere lover of his country, and a friend to mankind. 
 
 APPENDIX.— No. VIII. 
 
 A List of the Members of the Rankenian Club, furnished by 
 George Wallace, Esq; Advocate, one of the last surviving Mem- 
 bers. 
 
 1. The Reverend William Wishart, D. D. one of the Ministers of 
 
 Edinburgh, and Principal of the University. 
 £. Archibald Murray of Murrayfield, Esq; Advocate. 
 
 3. The Reverend Robert Wallace, D. D. a Minister of the New 
 North Church of Edinburgh, author of an Estimate of the Num- 
 bers of Mankind, and Characteristics of the present Political State 
 of Great Britain. 
 
 4. The Right Reverend Isaac Madox, Lord Bishop of Worcester. 
 
 5. The Reverend John Horsley, Rector of St Martin's in the Fields, 
 Westminster. 
 
 6. IVfr
 
 No. 8.] APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. 61 
 
 6. JVIr John Stevenson, Professor of Logic in tlic University of Edin- 
 burgh. 
 
 7. The Reverend George Turnbull, Professor of Moral Pliilosophy in 
 the Marischal College, Aberdeen, author of Principles of Moral 
 Fhilosophy, and a Trmtisc on Ancient Painling. 
 
 8. Colin Maclaurin, A. IM. Professor of Mathematics in the Univer- 
 sity of Edinburgli, author of a System of Fluxions, Account of Sir 
 Isaac Neii'toiis Philosophy, and various other works. 
 
 9. George Young, M. D. Physician in Edinburgh. 
 
 10. John Sniibert, a painter of reputation. 
 
 11. Mr Charles Mackay, Advocate, Professor of Civil History in the 
 University of Edinlnirgh. 
 
 12. The Reverend William Hepburn, IMinister of Inverkeilor, in 
 Angus. 
 
 \5. Nichol Graham of Gartmore, Esq; Advocate. 
 
 14. The Reverend George Wishart, D. D. Minister of the Troll 
 Church, Edinburgh, Principal Clerk to the Church of Scotland. 
 
 15. Sir Alexander Dick of Prestonfield, Baronet. 
 
 16. Sir John Pringle, Baronet, M. D. Professor of Moral Philosophy 
 in the University of Edinburgh, Physician to their IVIajesties, and 
 President of the Royal Society of London. 
 
 17. Charles Maitland of Pitrichie, Esq; Advocate, Member of Par- 
 liament. 
 
 1 8. Alexander Boswell of Auchinleck, one of the Lords of Session. 
 
 19. Sir Andrew Mitchel of Thainston, Advocate, K. B. afterwards 
 Plenipotentiary at the Court of Berlin. 
 
 After the Club had subsisted above forty years, and its attending 
 members were much diminished by death and accidental separa- 
 tion, it was resolved, that the sons of the original members 
 
 g 2 should
 
 12 APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. [NO. 8. 
 
 §houkl be invited to become associates. In consequence of this 
 resolution, the following gentlemen were added to its number : 
 
 20. Thomas Young, M. D. Professor of Midwifery in the University 
 of Edinburgh. 
 
 21. George Wallace, Esq; Advocate, author of ^ System of the Prbi' 
 ciples of the Law of Scotland ; Nature and Descent of Ancient Peer- 
 ages ; Origin of Feudal Tenures, S^c. 
 
 22. John Maclaurin of Dreghora, one of the Lords of Session, au- 
 thor of a Collection of Criminal Trials ; Observations on some Points 
 of Law, Sgc. 
 
 23. Alexander IMurray of Henderland, one of the Lords of Session, 
 
 In the winter of 1771, a few months after the death of Dr Wallace, 
 the Rankenian Club resolved to discontinue their regular weekly meet- 
 ings ; and a few occasional meetings Avere afterwards held, down to 
 the year 1774, from which time it ceased altogether. 
 
 APPEN-
 
 No. 9.] APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. 53 
 
 APPENDIX.— No. IX. 
 
 LBTTERs/ro??e Thomas Reid, D. D. Professor of Moral Philosopliy 
 in the University of Glasgow, to Lord Kames, 
 
 On the Laws of Alotion. 
 
 My Lord, Glasgmo College, May 19. 1780. 
 
 In order to understand the preliminary part of Newton's Principia, 
 it is necessaiy to attend to his general design, both in his axioms and 
 definitions. 
 
 First, As to his Axioms : He sets down the three laws of motion as 
 axioms. But he does not mean by this, that they are to be held as 
 self-evident truths ; nor does he intend to prove them in what he 
 says upon them. They are incapable of demonstration, being mat- 
 ters of fact, which universally obtain in the material world, and 
 which had before been observed by philosophers, and verified by 
 tliousands of experiments by Galileo, by Wren, AVallis, Huygens, and 
 IMariotte, to whom he refers for the proof of them. Therefore, that 
 he might not actum agei'e, he lays them down as established truths, 
 saying some things upon them by way of illustration, and deducing 
 some general corollaries from them.. 
 
 That this was his view, he expressly says in the scholium follow- 
 ing the axioms ; Hactenus principia tradidi, a Mathematicis recepta, 
 
 et
 
 54 APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. [NO. 9'. 
 
 €t miiltiplici ej'periefitid confirmata, S^x. The very same method he 
 follows in his Optics, laying down as axioms what had before been 
 discovered in that science. 
 
 The axioms, or established principles in the Pr'mdpia, are three, 
 1*^, Every body perseveres in its present state, wliether of motion or 
 rest, until it is made to change that state by some force impressed 
 upon it. 2</, The change of motion produced is always proportional 
 to the force impressed, and in the direction of that force. 3d, All 
 action of bodies upon each other is mutual or reciprocal, and in con- 
 trary directions ; that is, if the body A produces atiy motion, or 
 change of motion in B ; by the reacticil of B, an equal change of 
 motion, but in a contrary direction, will be produced in A. This 
 holds in all action of bodies on each other, whether by a stroke, by 
 pressure, by attraction, or by repulsion. 
 
 Perhaps, you will say these principles ought not to be taken for 
 granted, but to be proved. Tme, My Lord, they ought to be proved 
 by a very copious induction of experiments ; and if they are not 
 proved, the whole system of the Principia falls to the ground, for it 
 is all built upon them. But Sir Isaac thought they were already 
 proved, and refers you to the authors by whom. He never intended 
 to prove them, but to build upon them, as mathematicians do upon 
 the Elements of Euclid. 
 
 Secondly, As to the Definitions : Tliey are intended to give accu- 
 racy and precision to the terms he uses in reasoning from the laws 
 of motion. The definitions are accommodated to the laws of mo- 
 tion, and fitted so as to express with precision all reasoning ground- 
 ed upon the laws of motion. And, for this reason, even the defini- 
 tions will appear obscure, il" one lias not a distinct conception of the 
 laws of motion always before his eye. 
 
 Taking
 
 No. 9.] APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. 55 
 
 Taking for granted the laws of motion, therefore, he gives tiie 
 name of vis insita, or vis ineriia", to that property of bocHes, wliereby, 
 according to the first and second laws of motion, they persevere in 
 their state, and resist any change, either from rest to motion, or from 
 motion to rest, or from one degree or direction of motion to ano- 
 ther. 
 
 This vis insita is exercised in every case wherein one body is made 
 to change its state by the action of another ])ody ; and tlie exertion 
 of it may, in different respects, be called both resistance and im- 
 petus. 
 
 The reluctance which the body A has to change its state, Avhich 
 can be overcome only by a force proportioned to that reluctance, is 
 resistance. The reaction of the body A upon B, which, according to 
 the third law of motion, is equal to the action of B upon A, and in 
 a contrary direction, is impetus. 
 
 Thus, in every change made in the state of one body by another, 
 there is mutual resistance, and mutual impetus. The one never 
 exists without the other. A body at rest not only resists, but gives 
 an impetus to the body that strikes it. And a body in motion co- 
 ming against a body at rest, not only gives an impetus to the body 
 that was at rest, but resists that change of its own motion which is 
 produced by the stroke. Each gives an impetus to the other, and 
 exerts a resistance to the impetus it receives from the other. 
 
 This is the notion Avhich Newton affixes to the words Impetus 
 and Resistance ; and I think it corresponds perfectly with the third 
 law of motion, but may appear dark if that is not kept in view. 
 
 But, because this notion of resistance and impetus differs some- 
 what from the vulgar application of those words, in order to point 
 out the difference, he contrasts it with the vulgar meaning in the 
 words which your Lordship quotes. Viilgus resistentiajn quiescent ibiis 
 
 et
 
 56 APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. [NO. Q. 
 
 et impetum moventihus trihuit : sed motus et quies, id vulgd concip'mntur, 
 respectu solo distinguuntur, neque semper ver^ quiesciint qua: viilgd tan- 
 quam quiescentia spectantiir. He considers both resistance and impe- 
 tus as belonging to every body, in every case in which it is made to 
 change its state, whether from rest to motion, or from motion to 
 rest. It resists the change of its own state, and by its reaction gives 
 an impetus to the body that acts upon it. The vulgar, having no 
 notion, or no distinct notion, of this reaction established by the 
 third law of motion, suit their langiiage to their conceptions. He 
 suits his to the laws of motion. 
 
 A post, you say, resists, but has no impetus. This is true in the 
 vulgar- sense of the word. But, in order to shew you that his sense 
 differs somewhat from the vulgar, he would say, tliat the post has 
 impetus in his sense. And by this he means only, that the post 
 stops, or changes the motion of the body that strikes it ; and in pro- 
 ducing this change, exerts a force equal to that with which it was 
 struck, but in a contrary direction. Tliis is a necessary consequence 
 of the third law of motion. The vulgar both speak and judge of 
 motion and rest in a body, by its situation with respect to some 
 other body, which, perhaps from prejudice, they conceive to be at 
 rest. This makes Newton say, " That motion and rest, as com- 
 " monly conceived, are distinguished by relation ; nor are those bo- 
 " dies always really at rest which are commonly conceived to be at 
 " rest." 
 
 Rest, when we speak of bodies, is opposed, not to self-motion 
 only, but to all change of place. Absolute or real rest is opposed to 
 real motion ; and relative rest, that is, rest with relation to such a 
 body tliat is supposed at rest, is opposed to relative motion with re- 
 spect to the same bod}'. But a body may be relatively at rest, and 
 at the same time really in motion. Thus, a liouse rests upon its 
 
 foundation
 
 No. 9.} APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIIIST." ,57 
 
 fbuiulation for ages; but this rest is relative with respect to the 
 earth. For it has gone round the earth's axis every day, and round 
 tlic sun every year. 
 
 The distinction your Lordship makes between moving and being 
 moved, belongs not to physics, but to metaphysics. In physics, you 
 may use the active or the passive verb as you like best. The reason 
 is, that in physics we seek not tlie efficient causes of phenomena, but 
 only the rules or laws by which they are regulated. We know, that 
 a body once put in motion continues to move, or, if jou please, to 
 be moved^ until some force is apjjlied to stop or retard it. But whe- 
 ther this phenomenon is produced by some real activity in the bod}'' 
 itself, or by the efficiency of some external cause ; or whether it re- 
 quires no efficiency at all to continue in the state into which it is 
 put, is perhaps dilhcult to determine ; and is a question that belongs 
 not to physics, but to metaphysics. 
 
 Some divines and philosophers have maintained, that the preser- 
 vation of a created being in existence, is a continued act of creation, 
 and that annihilation is nothing but the suspending that exertion of 
 the Creator by which the being was upheld in existence. 
 
 Analogous to this, I think, is the opinion, that the continuance of 
 motion in a body requires a continued exertion of that active force 
 which put it into the state of motion. I am rather inclined to the 
 contrary of both these opinions, and disposed to think, that conti- 
 nuance of existence, and continuance of motion, in a body, requires 
 no active cause ; and that it is only a change of state, and not a con- 
 tinuance of the present state, that requires active power. But I su- 
 spect both questions are rather beyond the reach of the human facul- 
 ties. However, they belong not to the province of physics, but to 
 that of metaphysics. 
 
 Vol. I. h I
 
 38 APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. [NO. ^. 
 
 I wish I may be intelligible, and that I do not oppress your Lord- 
 ship with the garrulity of old age. I find myself indeed growing 
 old, and have no right to plead exemption from the infirmities of 
 that stage of life. For that reason, I have made choice of an assist- 
 ant in my office. Yesterday, the College, at my desire, made choice 
 of Mr Archibald Arthur, preacher, to be my assistant and successor*. 
 I think I have done good service to the College by this, and procu- 
 red some leisure to myself, thougli with a reduction of my finances. 
 May your Lordship live long and happy. Yours, 
 
 Tiio. Reid. 
 
 Froyn Dr Reid to Lord Kames. 
 
 On the use of' Coiyectures and Hypotheses in Philosophical Investiga- 
 tion ; and on the meaning o/" Cause when applied to Natural Philo- 
 sophy. — The distinct Provinces of Physical and Metaphysical Reason- 
 ing pointed out. 
 
 ]\Iy Lord, \6th December 1780. 
 
 1. I AM now to answer the letter you honoured me with of 7th 
 November. And first, I disclaim what you seem to impute to me, 
 
 ' to 
 
 * Mr Arthur, a man of learning, abilities and worth, filled the Chair of Moral 
 Philosophy in the University of Glasgow for fifteen years, with a reputation which 
 did not disappoint the hopes of his respectable predecessor. A volume of Discourses 
 an Theological and Literary Subjects, which give a very favourable idea of his talents, 
 the justness of his taste, and the rectitude of his moral and religious principles, has 
 been published, since his death, by Professor Ricliardson of the same College, — a 
 gentleman distinguished in the literary world ; and who has done honour to the me- 
 mory of liis friend, by an interesting sketch of his Life and Character, subjoined 
 to these Discourses.
 
 No. 9.] APPENDIX TO VOLUSIE FIRST. SQ 
 
 to wit, " the valuing myself upon my ignorance of the cause of gra- 
 " \ity." To confess ignorance when one is conscious of it, I take 
 to be a sign, not of pride, but of humility, and of that candour 
 which becomes a philosopcr ; and so I meant it. 
 
 2. Your Lordship thinks, " Tliat never to trust to hypotheses and 
 " conjectures about the works of God, and being persuaded that 
 " they are more like to be false than true, is a discouraging doc- 
 *' trine, and damps the spirit of inquiry," Sec. Now, my Lord, I 
 have, ever since I was acquainted with Bacon and Newton, thought 
 that this doctrine is the very key to Natural Philosophy, and the 
 touchstone by which every thing that is legitimate and solid in that 
 science, is to be distinguished from what is spurious and hollow ; 
 and I can hardly think, that Ave can differ in so capital a point, if 
 we understood each other's meaning. 
 
 3. I would discourage no man from conjecturing, only I wish him 
 not to take his conjectures for knowledge, or to expect that others 
 should do so. Conjecturing may be a useful step even in natural 
 philosophy. Thus, attending to such a phenomenon, I conjecture 
 that it may be owing to such a cause. This may lead me to make 
 the experiments or observations proper for discovering whether that 
 is really the cause or not : And if I can discover, either that it is or 
 is not, my knowledge is improved ; and my conjecture was a step to 
 that improvement. But, while I rest in my conjecture, my judg- 
 ment remains in suspense, and all I can say is, it may be so, and it 
 may be otherwise. 
 
 4. A cause that is conjectured ought to be such, that if it really 
 does exist, it will produce the effect.' If it have not this quality, it 
 hardly deserves the name of a conjecture. Sujjposing it to have this 
 quality, the question remains. Whether does it exist or not ? And 
 this, being a question of fact, is to be tried by positive evidence. 
 
 h 2 Thus,
 
 ^0 ArPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. [NO. 9. 
 
 Thus, Des Cartes conjectured, that the planets are carried round the 
 sun in a vortex of subtile matter. The cause here assi2:ned is suffi- 
 cient to produce the effect. It may, therefore, be entitled to the 
 name of a conjecture. But where is the evidence of the existence 
 of such a vortex ? If there be no evidence for it, even though there 
 were none against it, it is a conjecture only, and ought to have no 
 admittance into chaste natural philosophy. 
 
 5. All investigation of what we call the causes of natural pheno- 
 mena, may be reduced to this sjllogism. If such a caust exists, it 
 will produce such a phenomenon : but that cause does exist : There- 
 fore, &c. The first proposition is merely hypothetical. And a man 
 in his closet, without consulting nature, may make a thousand such 
 propositions, and connect them into a system ; but this is only a 
 system of hypotheses, conjectures or theories ; and there cannot be 
 one conclusion in natural philosophy drawn from it, until he con- 
 sults Nature, and discovers whether the causes he has conjectured do 
 really exist. As far as he can shew that they do, he makes a real 
 progress in the knowledge of nature, and not a step further. I hope 
 in all this your Lordship will agree with me. But it remains to be 
 considered how the second proposition of the syllogism is to be pro- 
 ved, to wit, that such a cause does really exist. Will nothing satis- 
 fy here but demonstration ? 
 
 6. I am so far from thinking so, my Lord, that I am persuaded 
 we never can have demonstration in this case. All that Ave know of 
 the material world, must be grounded on the testimony of our 
 senses. Our senses testify particular facts only : from these we col- 
 lect, by induction, general facts, which we call Laws of Nature, or 
 Natural Causes. Thus, ascending by a just and cautious induction, 
 from what is less to what is more general, we discover, as far as we 
 are able, natural causes, or laws of nature. This is the analytical 
 
 part
 
 No. 9.] APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. 6t 
 
 part of natural philosophy. The synthetical part tiikes for granted, 
 as principles, the causes discovered hy induction, and from these ex- 
 plains or accounts for the phenomena which result from tiiem. This 
 analysis and synthesis make up the whole theory of natural philo- 
 so])hy. The practical part consists in applying the laws of nature 
 to produce effects useftd in life. 
 
 7. From this view of natural philosophy, Avhich I have learned 
 from Newton, your Lordship will perceive, that no man who under- 
 stands it, M'ill pretend to demonstrate any of its principles. Nay, 
 the most certain and best established of them may, for any thing we 
 know, admit of exceptions. For instance, there is no principle in 
 natural philosophy better established than the universal gravitation 
 of matter. But, can this be demonstrated ? By no means. What is 
 the evidence of it then ? It is collected by induction, partly from 
 our daily experience, and from the experience of all nations, in all 
 ages, in all places of earth, sea, and air, which we can reach ; and 
 partly from the observations and experiments of philosophers, which 
 shew, that even air and smoke, and eveiy body upon which experi- 
 ments have been made, gravitate precisely in proportion to the 
 quantity of matter ; that the sea and earth gravitate towards the 
 moon, and the moon towards them ; that the planets and comets 
 gravitate towards the sun, and towards one another, and the sun to- 
 wards them. This is the sum of evidence ; and it is as different 
 from demonstration, on the one hand, as from conjecture, on the 
 other. It is the same kind of evidence which we have, that fire 
 Avill burn, and water drown, that bread will nourish, and arsenic 
 poison, which I think would not properly be called conjecture. 
 
 8. It is proper here to explain what is meant by the cause of a 
 phenomenon, when that word is used in natural philosophy. The 
 word Cause is so ambiguous, that I fear many mistake its meaning, 
 
 and
 
 62 APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. [NO. 9. 
 
 and take it to mean the eflicient cause, which I think it never does 
 in this science. 
 
 9- By the <a,use of a phenomenon, nothing is meant but the law 
 of nature, of which that phenomenon is an instance, or a necessary 
 consequence. The cause of a body's falHng to the ground is its gra- 
 vity. But gravity is not an efficient cause, but a general law, that 
 obtains in nature, of Avhich law the fall of this body is a particular 
 instance. The cause why a body projected moves in a parabola, is, 
 that this motion is the necessary consequence of the projectile force 
 and gravity united. But these are not efficient causes, they are only- 
 laws of nature. In natural philosophy, therefore, we seek only the 
 general laws, according to \vhich nature works, and these we call 
 the causes of what is done according to them. But such laws can- 
 not be the efficient cause of any thing. They are only the rule ac- 
 cording to which the efficient cause operates. 
 
 10. A natural philosopher may search after the cause of a law of 
 nature : But this means no more than searchino- for a more general 
 law, which includes that particular law, and perhaps many others 
 under it. This was all that Newton aimed at by his ethe>\ He 
 thought it possible, that if there was such an ether, the gravitation 
 of bodies, the reflection and refraction of the rays of light, and many 
 other la^\•s of nature, might be the necessary consequences of the 
 elasticity and repelling force of the ether. But, supposing this ether, 
 to exist, its elasticity and repelling force must be considered as a 
 law of nature; and the efficient cause of this elasticity would still 
 have been latent. 
 
 11. Efficient causes, properly so called, are not within the sphere 
 of natural philosophy. Its business is, from particular facts in the 
 material world, to collect, by just induction, the laws that are general, 
 and from these the more general, as fiir as we can go. And when 
 
 this
 
 No. 9-] APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. 63* 
 
 this is done, natural p]iilosoj)liy has no more to do. It exhibits to 
 our view the grand machine of the material world, analysed as it 
 were, and taken to pieces, Avith the connexions and dependencies of 
 its several parts, and the laws of its several movements. It belongs 
 to another branch of philosophy to consider, whether this machine 
 is the work of chance or of design, and whether of good or of bad 
 design. Whether there is not an intelligent fust IMover "who con- 
 trived the whole, and gives motion to the whole according to the 
 laws which the natural philosopher has discovered ; or, perhaps, ac- 
 cording to laws still more general, of which we can only discover 
 some branches ; and whether he does these things by his own hand, 
 so to speak, or employs subordinate efficient causes to execute his 
 purposes. These are very noble and important inquiries, but they 
 do not belong to natural philosophy ; nor can we proceed in them in 
 the way of experiment and induction, the only instruments the na- 
 tural philosopher uses in his researches. 
 
 12. Whether you call this branch of phitosophy Natural Theology 
 or Metaphysics, I care not ; but I think it ought not to be confound- 
 ed with Natural Philosophy ; and neither of them with Mathematics. 
 Let the mathematician demonstrate the relation of abstract quanti- 
 ty ; the natural philosopher investigate the laws of the material sy- 
 stem by induction ; and the metaphysician, the final causes, and the 
 efficient causes of what we see, and what natural philosophy disco- 
 vers in the world we live in. 
 
 13. As to Final causes, they stare us in the face wherever we cast 
 our eyes. I can no more doubt whether the eye was made for the 
 purpose of seeing, and the ear of hearing, than I can doubt of a 
 mathematical axiom ; yet the evidence is neither mathematical de- 
 monstration, nor is it induction. In a word, final causes, good final 
 causes, are seen plainly every where; in the heavens and in the 
 
 earth ;
 
 64 APPEKDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. [NO. 9. 
 
 earth ; in the constitution of every animal, and in our own consti- 
 tution of body and of mind ; and they are most worthy of observa- 
 tion, and have a charm in them that dehghts the soul. 
 
 14. As to Efficient causes, I am afraid our faculties carry us but a 
 A'ery little way, and almost only to general conclusions. I hold it to 
 be self-evident, that every production, and every change in nature 
 must have an efficient cause that has power to produce the effect ; 
 and that an effect which has the most manifest marks of intelligence, 
 wisdom and goodness, must have an intelligent, wise and good effi- 
 cient cause. From these and some such selt-evident truths, we may 
 discover the principles of natural theology, and that the Deity is the 
 first efficient cause of all nature. But how far he operates in nature im- 
 mediatelv, or how far by the ministry of subordinate efficient causes, 
 to Avhich he has given power adequate to the task committed to 
 them, I am afraid our reason is not able to discover, and we can do 
 little else than conjecture. We are led )jy nature to believe our- 
 selves to be the efficient causes of our own voluntary actions ; and 
 from analogy, we judge the same of other inteUigent beings. But 
 \\dth regard to the works of nature, I cannot recollect a single in- 
 stance wherein I can say, with any degree of assurance, that such a 
 thing is the efficient cause of such a phenomenon of nature. 
 
 15. jMalebranche, and many of the Cartesians, ascribed all to the 
 immediate operation of the Deity, except the determinations of the 
 will of free agents. Leibnitz, and all his followers, maintain, that 
 God finished his work at the creation, having endowed every crea- 
 ture, and every individual particle of matter, with such internal 
 powers as necessarily produce all its actions, motions, and changes, 
 to the end of time. Others have held, that various intelligent be- 
 ings, appointed by the Deity to their several departments, are the ef-r 
 ficient causes of the various operations of nature. Others, that there 
 
 are
 
 No. 9.] APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. 65 
 
 are beings endowed with power without ^intcUigence, which are the 
 efticient causes in nature's operations, and they have given them the 
 name of Plastic Powers, or Plastic Natures. A late author of your 
 Lordship's acquaintance, has given it as ancient metajjhysics, Tliat 
 evTry body in the universe is compounded of two substances united, 
 to wit, an immaterial mind or soul, wliich, in the inanimate creation, 
 has the power of motion without thought, and of inert matter as the 
 other. part. The celebrated Dr Priestley maintains, tliat matter, pro- 
 perly organized, has not only the power of motion, but of thought 
 and intelligence ; and that a man is only a piece of matter properly 
 organized. 
 
 16. Of all these systems about the efficient causes of the pheno- 
 mena of nature, there is not one that, in my opinion, can be either 
 proved or refuted from the principles of Natural Philosophy. They 
 belong to Metaphysics, and affect not Natural Philosophy, whether 
 they be true or false. Some of them, I tlunk, may be refuted upon 
 metaphysical principles ; but as to the others, I can neither see such 
 evidence for them or against them as determines my belief They 
 seem to me to be conjectures only about matters where we have not 
 evidence, and, therefore, I must confess my igniorance. 
 
 17. As to the point which gave occasion to this long detail, Whether 
 there is reason to think that matter gravitates by an inherent power, 
 and is the efficient cause of its own gravitation, I say, first. This is a 
 metaphysical (juestion, which concerns not Natural Philosophy, and 
 can neither be proved nor refuted by any principle in that science. 
 Natural philosophy informs us, that matter gravitates according to a 
 certain law, and it says no more. Whether matter be active or pas- 
 sive in gravitation, cannot be determined by any experiment I can 
 think of If it should be said that we ought to conclude it to be 
 active, because we perceive no external cause of its gravitation, 
 
 Vol. I. i this
 
 66 APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. [NO. §. 
 
 this argument, I fear, will go too far. Besides, it is very weak, 
 amounting only to this : I do not perceive such a thing, therefore it 
 does not exist. 
 
 18.1 never could see good reason to believe that matter has any 
 active power at all. And, indeed, if it were evident that it has onCf 
 I think there could be no good reason assigned for not allowing it 
 others. Your Lordship speaks of the power of resisting motion, and- 
 some others, as acknowledged active powers inherent in matter. Ass 
 to the resistance to motion, and the continuance in motion, I nevei- 
 could satisfy myself, whether these are not the necessary conse- 
 quences of matter being inactive. If they imply activity, that majr 
 lie in some other cause. 
 
 19. I am not able to foiTn any distinct conception of active power, 
 but such as I find in myself. I can only exert my active power by 
 will, which supposes thought. It seems to me, that if I was not con- 
 scious of activity in myself, I could never, from things I see about 
 me, have had the conception or idea of active power. I see a succes- 
 sion of changes, but I see not the power, that is, the efficient cause 
 of them ; but having got the notion of active power, from the con- 
 sciousness of my own activity, and finding it a first principle, that 
 every production requires active power, I can reason about an ac- 
 tive power of that kind I am acquainted with, that is, such as sup- 
 poses thought and choice, and is exerted by will. But if there is 
 anv thing in an unthinking inanimate being that can be called ac- 
 tive power, I know not what it is, and cannot reason about it. 
 
 20. If you conceive that the activity of matter is directed by 
 thought and will in matter, every particle of matter must know 
 the situation and distance of every other particle within the plane- 
 tary system ; but this, I am apt to think, is not your Lordship's 
 opinion. 
 
 21. I
 
 No. 9-] APPEKDTX TO VOLUME FIUST. 86f 
 
 21. I must therefore conclude, that this active power is guided in 
 all its operations by some intelligent Being, who knows both the law 
 of gravitation, and the distance and situation of every particle of 
 matter with regard to every other particle, in all the changes that 
 liaj)pen in the material world. I can only conceive two wa}s in 
 which this particle of matter can be guided, in all the exertions ol" 
 its active power, by an intelligent Being. Either it was formed, in 
 its creation, upon a foreknowledge of all the situations it shall ever be 
 in with respect to other particles, and had such an internal structure 
 given it as necessarily produces, in succession, all the motions, and. 
 tendencies to motion, it shall ever exert. This would make every 
 particle of matter a machine or automaton, and cverj^ particle of a 
 different structure from every other particle in the universe. This is 
 indeed the opinion of Leibnitz : but I am not prejudiced against it 
 upon that account : I only wished to know whether your Lordship 
 adopted it or not. Another way, and the only other way in which 
 I can conceive the active power of a particle of matter, guided by 
 an intelligent Being, is by a continual influence exerted according 
 to its situation, and the situation of other particles. Li this case, 
 the particle would be guided as a horse is by his rider; and I think 
 it would be improper to ascribe to it the power of gravitation. It 
 has only the power of obeying its guide. Whether your Lordship 
 chooses the first or the last, in this alternative, I should be glad to 
 know, or whether you can think of a third way better than either. 
 
 22. I will not add to the length of so immoderately long a letter, 
 ^y criticising upon the passages you (juote from Newton. I have a 
 great regard for his judgment ; but where lie differs from me, I think 
 him wrong. 
 
 The idea of Natural Philosophy I have given in this letter, I think 
 I had from liim. If in scholia and queries he gives a range to his 
 
 i 2 thoughts,
 
 68 APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. [NO. gi, 
 
 thoughts, and sometimes enters the regions of Natural Theology and 
 ^Metaphysics, this I think is very allowable, and is not to be consi- 
 dered a part of his Physics, which are contained in his propositions 
 and corollaries. Even his queries and conjectures are valuable ; but 
 I think he never intended that they should be taken for granted, but 
 made the subject of inquiry. 
 
 Tho. Reid. 
 
 FTom Dr Reid to Lord Kames. 
 On the Laws of Motion. — Pressure of Fluids, S^c. 
 
 My Lord, January 25. 1781. 
 
 To what cause is it owing that I differ so much from your Lord- 
 ship in Physics, when we differ so little in IVIetaphysics ? I am at a 
 loss to account for this phenomenon. Whether is it owing to our 
 having different conceptions to the same words ? Or, as I rather think 
 it is, to your being dissatisfied with the three general laws of mo- 
 tion ? Without them, I know not indeed how to reason in physics. 
 Archimedes reasoned from them both in mechanics and hydrostatics. 
 Galileo, Huygens, Wren, Wallis, INIariotte, and many others, reasoned 
 from them, without observing that they did so. 
 
 I have not indeed any scruples about the principles of hydrosta- 
 tics. They seem to me to be the necessary consequences of the de- 
 finition of a fluid, the three laws of motion, and the law of gravi- 
 tation ; and, therefore, I cannot assent to your Lordship's reason- 
 ing, either about the pressure of fluids, or about the suspension of the 
 mercury in the barometer. 
 
 As
 
 No. 9.] APPENDIX TO VOLUAIE FIRST. 69 
 
 As to tlic first, the experiments which shew that fluids do in fact 
 press undcquaque, are so numerous, and so well known to your Lord- 
 ship, that I apprehend it is not the fact you question, but the cause. 
 You think that gravity is not the cause, Why ? Because gravity 
 gives to every part of the fluitl a tendency downwards only ; and 
 what is true of every part is true of the whole : therefore, the whole 
 has no other tendency hut downward. This argument is specious, 
 but there is a fallacy in it. If the parts did not act upon one ano- 
 ther, and counteract one another, the argument would be good ; 
 but the parts are so connected, that one cannot go down but another 
 must go uj), and, therefore, that very gravity which presses down 
 one part presses up another : so that every part is pressed down by 
 its own gravity, and pressed up at the same time by the gravity of 
 other parts ; and the contrary pressures being equal, it remains at 
 rest. 
 
 This may be illustrated by a balance equilibrating by equal weights 
 in both scales. I say each arm of the balance is equally pressed up- 
 wards and downwards at the same time, and from that cause is at 
 rest; although the -tendency of the weights in each of the scales 
 is downwards only. I prove it a posieriori ; because the arm of a 
 balance being moveable by the least force, if it was pressed in one 
 direction onl}', it Avould move in that direction : But it does not 
 move. I prove it a priori ; because the necessary effect of pressing 
 one arm down, is the pressing the other up with the same. force: 
 Therefore, each arm is pressed down by the weight in its own scale, 
 and equally pressed up by the weight in the other scale ; and being 
 pressed with equal force in contrary directions, it remains at rest. 
 Your Lordship will easily apply this reasoning to a fluid, e\ery part 
 of which is as moveable as the balance is about its J'ulcnan ; and no 
 one part can move, but an equal part must be moved in a contrary 
 
 direction.
 
 70 APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST, [NO. 9. 
 
 direction. And I think it is impossible we sliould differ in this, but 
 in words. 
 
 Next, as to the barometer. You say the mercury is kept up by 
 tlie expansive power of the air : But you say further, tliat it is not 
 kept up by the weight of the air. I agree to tire first, but not to 
 tlie last. The expansive power of the air is owing to its being com- 
 pressed ; and it is compressed by the weight of the incumbent atmo- 
 sphere. Its expansive force is exactly equal to the force that presses 
 and condenses it ; and that force is the weight of the air above it, 
 to the top of the atmosphere. So that the expansive force of the air 
 is the causa proximo, the weight of the atmosphere the causa remota 
 of the suspension of the mercury. Your Lordship knows the maxim, 
 Causa causae est causa causati. The barometer, therefore, while it 
 measures the expansive force of the air which presses upon the lower 
 end of the tube, at the same time measures the weight of the atmo- 
 sphere, which is the cause of that expansive force, and exactly equal 
 to it. If the air was not pressed by the incumbent weight, it would 
 expand in boundless space, until it had no more expansive force. 
 
 As to the observation in the postscript. It is true, that the gra- 
 vity of the air, while it rests upon an unj'ielding bottom, will give 
 no motion to it ; but the mercury in the lower end of the tube yields 
 to tlie pressure of the air upon it, until the weight of the mercury is 
 balanced by the pressure of the air. 
 
 What your Lordship is pleased to call tlie Opus Magnum, goes on, 
 but more slowly than I wish. — I am, most respectfully, my Lord, 
 yours, 
 
 Tho. Reid. 
 
 From
 
 No. 9-] APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST* 71 
 
 From Dr Reid to Lord KAMEy. 
 On the accelerated Motion of Falling Bodies. 
 
 My Lord, Glasgow College, November 11. 1782. 
 
 My hope that your Lordship is in no worse state of healtli than 
 when I left you, and that the rest of the good family are well, is 
 confirmed hy your continuing your favourite speculations. I promi" 
 sed to call upon you in the morning hefore I came away. I sent in 
 Samuel to see if you was awake : he reported that you was sleeping 
 sound ; and I could not find it in my heart to disturh your repose. 
 
 When we say, that, in falling bodies, the space gone through is as 
 the square of the velocity, it must be carefully observed, that the 
 velocity meant in this proposition, is the last velocity, which the 
 body acquires only the last moment of its fall : But the space meant 
 is the whole space gone through, from the beginning of its fall to 
 the end. 
 
 As this is the meaning of the proposition, your Lordsliip will 
 easily perceive, that the velocity of the last moment must indeed 
 correspond to the space gone through in that moment, but cannot 
 correspond to the space gone through in any preceding moment, with 
 a less velocity ; and, consequently, cannot correspond to the whole 
 space gone through in the last and all preceding moments taken to- 
 gether. You say very justly, that, whether the motion be equable or 
 accelerated, the space gone through in any instant of time corre- 
 sponds to the velocity in that instant. But it does not follow from 
 this, that, in accelerated motion, the space gone through in many 
 
 succeeding
 
 72 APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. [NO. 9. 
 
 succeeding instants will correspond to the velocity of the last in- 
 stant. 
 
 If any writer in physics has pretended to demonstrate mathemati- 
 cally this proposition, That a body falling by gravity in vacuo, goes 
 through a space which is as the square of its last velocity ; he must 
 be one who writes without distinct conceptions, of which kind we 
 have not a few. 
 
 The proposition is not mathematical, but physical. It admits not 
 of demonstration, as your Lordship justly observes, but of proof by 
 experiment, or reasoning grounded on experiment. There is, how- 
 ever, a mathematical proposition, which possibly an inaccurate wri- 
 ter might confound with the last mentioned. It is this, That a body 
 uniformly accelerated from a state of rest, will go through a space 
 wdiich is as the square of the last velocity. This is an abstract pro- 
 position, and has been mathematically demonstrated ; and it may be 
 made a step in the proof of the physical proposition. But the proof 
 must be completed by shewing, that, in fact, bodies descending by 
 gravitation are uniformly accelerated. This is sometimes shewn by 
 a machine invented by S'Gravesend, to measure the velocities of 
 falling bodies : Sometimes it is proved by the experiments upon 
 pendulums ; and sometimes we deduce it by reasoning from the se- 
 cond'law of motion, which we think is grounded on universal expe- 
 rience. So that the proof of the physical proposition always rests ul- 
 timately upon experience, and not solely upon mathematical demon- 
 stration. I am, my Lord, respectfully yours, 
 
 Tno. Reid. 
 
 APPEN-
 
 NO. 10.] APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. 73 
 
 APPENDIX.— No. X. 
 
 On the Principles of' Crimixal Jurisprudexce, os unfolded in 
 Lord Kames's Essay on the History of the Criminal Law : with an 
 Examination of the Theory 0/ IVIontesquieu and Beccaria, rela- 
 tive to Crimes and Punishments. 
 
 [Intended as a Supplement to Lord Kames's Essay, and Illustration of Its General 
 
 Doctrines.] 
 
 I. It is a matter of equal regret to the politician and to the mora- 
 list, that the science of Criminal Jurisprudence, on which tlie good 
 government and peace of society most materially depend, should, 
 in this enlightened period, remarkable for its advancement in many 
 of the branches of political economy, as well as of the philosophy of 
 morals, remain in a state of great imperfection. If this imperfec- 
 tion is denied, it may be made apparent, very shortly, from two 
 separate considerations : First, The great discrepancy of opinions en- 
 tertained by the ablest writers with regard to some of the most im- 
 portant doctrines of the science : Secondly, The barbarity and absur- 
 dity of many of the penal laws of the most enlightened nations. 
 
 1. Capital punishments have been reprobated by the Marquis de 
 Beccaria, M. de Voltaire, and many other modern writers, as tyran- 
 nical, inhuman, and impolitic. On the other hand, the punishment of 
 death applied to certain crimes, has been defended by lawyers, poli- 
 
 VoL. I. k ticiaus.
 
 74 APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. [NO. 10.- 
 
 ticians, and pliilosophers, on the score of justice, wisdom, and the 
 most enlarged humanity. Some enhghtened men liave justified the 
 extension of the punishment of certain crimes to the family and 
 descendants of the criminal * ; while others strongly reprobate 
 that extension, as a remnant of the most barbarous policy. A 
 modern respectable writer, arraigns the practice of penal imprison- 
 ment, as contrary alike to good morals, and to good policj'. " Im- 
 " prisonment," says Lord Auckland, " inflicted by law as a punish- 
 " ment, is not according to the principles of wise legislation. It 
 " sinks useful subjects into burdens on the community, and has al- 
 *' ways a bad eftect on their morals : Nor can it communicate the 
 " benefit of example ; being in its nature secluded from the eye of 
 " the people." The same writer maintains, that the sole end of im- 
 prisonment ought to be, " to keep those who are accused of injuries 
 " to society, amenable to the decisions of justice f." This is agree- 
 able to the Roman law : Career non ad puniendos, sed ad eustodiendos 
 homines adhiberi debet. The law of England, however, and indeed 
 that of most countries, repudiates this doctrine, and acknowledges 
 imprisonment among its punishments for a variety of smaller of- 
 fences. By the law of Scotland, imprisonment is not only the pu- 
 nishment of many of the lesser crimes ; but it is even, in one in- 
 stance, a species of torture, and has been vindicated as such by able 
 writers. " After a debtor is imprisoned," says Erskine, " he ought 
 ■" not to be indulged with the benefit of the free air, either on his pa- 
 " role, or even under a guard : for every creditor has an interest 
 " that his debtor be kept under close confinement, that, by the 
 •' sfjualor carceris, he may be brought to the payment of his just 
 '• debt." 
 
 2. An 
 
 * See Considerations on the Laiv of Forfeiture, by the Hon. Phii,, Yorke. 
 
 f Principles of Penal Law, p, 44.
 
 KO. 10.] APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. 75 
 
 2. An equally convincing proof of the imperfection of this science, 
 arises from the many inhuman as well as absurd penal laws, which 
 disgrace the jurisprudence of the most civilized nations. 
 
 By the statute 39th Eliz. c. 17. which stands at this day unrepeal- 
 ed, a soldier or mariner who shall be found wandering through the 
 country without a pass from a Justice of the Peace, or who exceeds 
 the time limited by his pass, is to be punished with death. 
 
 By the statute 9th Geo. I. c. 22. the writing of an anonymous let- 
 ter, demanding money, victuals, or any thing of value, is punishable 
 with death. 
 
 By statute 2()th Geo. II. c. 46. it is declared felon}-, without bene- 
 fit of clergy, for the friends of any person transported, to hold any 
 intercourse with him, by letters, messages or otherwise. This may 
 be justified from good policy in a time of rebellion ; but this statute 
 is a permanent law ; and thus a capital punishment is decreed for 
 what in many cases may be an act of piety, of duty, and of hu- 
 manity. 
 
 With what indignation do we read those statutes which enact the 
 punishment of death for setting fire to a hay-cock, breaking down 
 the head of a fish-pond, or cutting an apple-tree in an orchard ! 
 9th Geo. I. c. 22. ; 9th Geo. III. c. 29- 
 
 The wretch who is impelled by misfortune, or by disease, to put a 
 period to his own existence, is an object of the deepest commisera- 
 tion. The misery of his mind was insupportable, which could over- 
 come the strongest instinct of nature. Of the quality and measure 
 of his ofience, that Almighty Being, who weighs the thoughts of the 
 heart, is the only judge. His own act has put him beyond the reach 
 of human punishment : every infliction Of the law, therefore, which 
 is consequent upon this crime, can be directed only against the in- 
 nocent survivors. " What punishment," says Blackstone, " can hu- 
 
 k 2 " man
 
 76 APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. [NO. 10. 
 
 " man laws inflict on one who has withdrawn himself from their 
 " reach ?" None, is the answer of reason and of humanity. But let 
 us liear the response of the lawyer : " They can only act upon what 
 " he has left behind him, his reputation and his fort n/ie: On the 
 " former, by an ignominious burial in the highway, with a stake 
 " driven through his body; on the latter, by a forfeiture of all his 
 " goods and chattels to the King : hoping that his care for either 
 " his own reputation, or the welfare of his family, would be some 
 " motive to restrain him from so desperate and wicked an act *." 
 Tliis answer is a miserable sophism, and the doctrine it inculcates is 
 revolting to humanity. It is allowed, that the offender himself is 
 beyond the reach of human laws ; no punishment can extend to 
 him. On what, then, can the punishment of the law operate ? On 
 his reputation, and on his goods and chattels. But who suffers 
 from this punishment? Is it the dead offender? No ; it is the sur- 
 viving family : the miserable widow ; the orphan children. Theirs 
 is that ignominy, which this wise law inflicts ; and theirs is that ac- 
 cumulated misfortune, to lose not only the protecting hand which 
 fed and supported them, but the fruits of all his labour, the sole pro- 
 A ision for their future subsistence. 
 
 ^Vill a judicious foreigner, who has heard of the wisdom of the 
 laws of England, believe that such doctrines as the following make 
 a part of them at the present day ? A man, shooting at a bird, hap- 
 pens to kill his neighbour. The guilt of this man will depend upon 
 the nature of the bird, whether wild or tame, and tlie man's intenr 
 tion in shooting at it. If the bird chance to be wild, such as a he- 
 ron, crow, kite, or any other fowl which is ?nillius in bonis, the of- 
 fence is excusable homicide : If a tame fowl, and shot at for amuse- 
 ment, the crime will be man-slaughter; because the offender was 
 
 committing 
 * Blackstone, Com. b. iv. c. 14. § 3.
 
 No. 10.] APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIHST. 77 
 
 committing an unlawful trespass on tlie property of another : And, 
 lastly, if the bird were |)rivate property, and tlic shooter intended to 
 steal it, the crime will be murder, by reason of that felonious in- 
 tent*. Can it be necessary to prove, that as it is the intention alone 
 that determines the nature of a crime, he who, intending to steal a 
 pigeon, kills a man through pure accident, can never Ije guilty of 
 murder ? — In the same spirit of sophistry, the law of England holds, 
 that if a man, in endeavouring to shoot another, is killed himself, by 
 the bursting of his gun in his hand, it is wilful and deliberate self- 
 murder f, and draws after it all the consecjuences' of that crime. 
 
 Breaking a house by night, by unbolting the door, picking the 
 lock, or opening the casement, is, by the law of England, burglary, 
 and a capital crime. If the robber comes in at an open door or case- 
 ment, the otFence is of an inferior description. In the trial of a pri- 
 soner at Cambridge, it was doubted, whether a robber, who came 
 down the chimney, was guilty of burglary, seeing the chimney is 
 open. But as it appeared in evidence, that some of the bricks were 
 loosened, and fell into the room, this, says Sir Matthew Hale, put it 
 out of all question ; and direction was given to find it burglary. 
 
 Mr Locke puts the following singular case with respect to justi- 
 fiable homicide : " A man with a sword in his hand, demands my 
 " purse on the highwaj', when perhaps I have not twelve pence in 
 " my pocket : this man I may lawfully kill. To another I deliver 
 " <£. 100 only whilst I alight, which he refuses to restore me when 
 " I am got up again ; but draws his sword to defend the possession 
 " of it by force, if I endeavour to retake it. The mischief which 
 ;*' this man does me is a hundred, or possibly a thousand times more 
 " than the other perhaps intended me, (whom I killed before he real- 
 
 " ly 
 
 * Keyl, 117. f Blackstone, b. iv. c. 14. § 3.
 
 YS APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. [NO. lO. 
 
 " ly did me any), yet I may lawfully kill the one, and cannot so 
 ^' much as hurt the other *." 
 
 We may therefore very fairly state as convincing proofs of the im- 
 perfection of the science of Criminal Jurisprudence, first. The dis- 
 crepancy in the opinions of able men Avith respect to its most im- 
 portant doctrines ; and, secondly, The barbarism and absurdity of 
 many of the penal laws of the most enlightened nations. 
 
 II. But the imperfection of any science is most likely to arise from 
 one of two sources ; either from its not being reduced to principles 
 at all ; or from its being founded on such principles as are erroneous. 
 Now, Ave find that all or most of those authors who have M'ritten on. 
 'Criminal Jurisprudence, have laid down certain principles on Avhich 
 they have built the doctrines of the science : if, therefore, it still re- 
 mains in a state of great imperfection, Ave are led very naturally to 
 presume, that those principles are erroneous. 
 
 It is a certain proof that a principle is faulty, if it leads, by fair 
 reasoning, to conclusions Avhich are repudiated by the common un- 
 derstanding and feelings of mankind. 
 
 The lca(hng principle of the penal laAV, according to IVIontes- 
 quieu, is, That all crimes are to be estimated solely according to the 
 degree of injury Avhich is done to society through their commission. 
 This is likewise the fundamental principle of the Marquis de Beccaria 
 in his Essay on Crimes and Punishments. The same principle is indi- 
 rectly recognised by Dr Priestley, Avhen he sa:ys, " The object of the 
 " Criminal law, is to lessen the number of crimes in future, and 
 " thereby to give every man a sense' of his personal security; and, 
 ■" if this could be done without the actual punishment of any cri- 
 " minal, so muck evil would be prevented as his punishment im- 
 
 " plies. 
 
 * Locke on Civ. Gov. b. ii. c. 1 8,
 
 NO. 10.] APPENDIX TO VOLUiAIE FIRST. 79 
 
 " plies. Consequently, putnahment has no nfercnce to the degree of 
 " mo?Yil turpitude in the criminal''." 
 
 The above conclusion seems to lullow naturally from the premises ; 
 l)ut it is a conclusion which we ma/boklly aflirni to be contrary to the 
 decision of the moral sense, and that natural feeling of justice which 
 is implanted in tlie human breast. The atrocity of a crime, or the 
 moral guilt which it involves, ought to be in every case, if not the 
 sole, at least the leading principle in determining or proportioning 
 the measure of the punishment ; and wherever tliat proportion is vio- 
 lated, of wliich the mind itself forms a most accurate estimate, we 
 feel that injustice is committed. Supposing, therefore, with Dr 
 Priestley, tliat it were possible to lessen the number of crimes with- 
 out having recourse to the jiunishment of any criminal, it may be 
 affirmed, in direct opposition to this Avriter, that evil, instead of be- 
 ing prevented by this impunity, would in reality be occasioned ; iu 
 as much as injustice is one of the greatest of evils ; whereas the 
 punishment of a criminal, being an act of justice, is a good, in- 
 stead of an cv\\. 
 
 To lessen the number of crimes in future, is undoubtedly an im- 
 portant object of the criminal law : but it is neither its sole, nor 
 even its primary object. The primary object of the criminal law, is 
 the accomplishment of justice, by the proper punishment of crimes 
 that have actually been connnitted. The prevention of future crimes, 
 i» a secondaiy end, which, in most cases, will be best attained by a 
 <lue attention to the primary. 
 
 -Tlie foundation of criminal law is retributive justice, that great 
 principle which regulates the redressing of wrongs, and the avenging 
 of injuries. 
 
 Among 
 
 » pRlE3Tl,Ey''S Lectures on General Policy, p. 348.
 
 80 APPEiSTDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. [NO. 10. 
 
 Among tlie original laws of our moral constitution, two of the 
 most remarkable, and which tend most eminently to support the bonds 
 of society, are, Gratitude for benefits received, which prompts to a 
 return of kind offices ; and Resentment of injuries, which incites to 
 revenge, or to the punishment of the aggressor. As, on experiencing 
 an important service from our neighbour, an emotion of gratitude 
 arises in the mind, and we feel there is a debt created which we are 
 uneasy till we discharge, by a reciprocal act or testimony of bene- 
 fi-cence ; so, upon the receiving of an injury, a feeling of resentment 
 is roused which is not appeased till an adequate revenge is taken of 
 the offender *. 
 
 A remarkable proof how congenial these feelings are to the na- 
 ture of man, is, that the person who confers the benefit expects the 
 return of gratitude as the repayment of a just debt, and feels disap- 
 pointment and a sense of wrong, if that return is withheld f ; while, 
 in like manner, the person who commits an injury, is conscious of 
 his own deserts, makes his account witli the vengeance that is await- 
 ing him, and suffers a punishment in his own remorse till it is in- 
 flicted. 
 
 Nor are these emotions confined to the persons themselves who 
 confer, or who receive the benefits or the injuries. From that beau- 
 tiful sympathetic frame of our nature, which leads us to participate 
 in all the pleasures and pains, the happiness and misery of our fel- 
 low-creatures, we feel deliglit and satisfaction from every act of be- 
 nevolence or of virtue, and experience pain and indignation from 
 every deed of malice or of vice, though these in no shape are at- 
 tended with consequences that affect ourselves. Hence we de- 
 light to hear or to read of the reward of virtue, or the punishment 
 
 of 
 
 • Lord Kames's Trad on the Hist, of the Criminal Law, p. I, 2. 4., &c. 
 
 f Hence, as Lord Kames observes, come the expressions, solvere et pendere panas.
 
 No. 10.] APPENDIX TO VOtUME FIRST. •! 
 
 of vice; and this even in worlds of pure imagination. Hence we 
 have a feeling of dis.satisfaction, amounting even to indignation, 
 when such acts of virtue or of vice are either entirely unrewarded 
 and unpunished, or fail to receive that just proportion of reward or 
 punishment, wliich the unerring criterion of the moral sense has as- 
 certained to be their due recompence. 
 
 The preceding observations, clearly bring to view the great funda- 
 mental principle of Criminal Jurisprudence. Every act of wrong or 
 injustice, excites indignation, and calls for revenge from tlie person 
 injured ; an indignation which is participated, and a vengeance 
 which is approved of by the feelings of others ; a retribution which 
 is expected by the criminal himself, and justified by his own con- 
 science. 
 
 III. This retribution or revenge, which, by the law of nature, be- 
 longs of right to the person himself who is injured, it has become 
 necessary, in every civilized society, to surrender to the public, and 
 that for many reasons both of justice and expedience *. I have al- 
 ready observed, that it is necessary for the accomplishment of justice, 
 that the retribution should be precisely commensurate to the injury. 
 But there is a natural propensity in every man to overrate those in- 
 juries he has sustained, and to exceed in the measure of his revenge. 
 Now, revenge or punishment is no further just than as it is approved 
 of by the conscience of every reasonable and impartial man. It is 
 therefore necessary that punishment should be awarded only by those 
 who are impartial, in order that injustice may not be committed f . 
 
 JMoreover, 
 
 * Lord Kames's History of the Criminal Lavj, p. 35. 
 
 f " All the passions of human nature seem proper, and are approved of, when 
 
 " the heart of every impartial spectator entirely sympathizes with them. He there. 
 
 " fore 
 Vol. I. I
 
 82:, APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. [NO, 10. 
 
 Moreover, it must frequently happen, that the person who is injured 
 is unable himself to take vengeance against the aggressor ; for acts of 
 violence and injustice are most commonly committed by the stronger 
 against the Aveaker. It is therefore necessary, for the ends of justice, 
 that punishment should l)e delegated to a hand which is always suf- 
 ficiently strong to coerce the boldest and most powerful offender. 
 
 But expedience, or public utility, likewise requires, that there 
 should be a delegation of the right of i>unishment from the private 
 party who is injured, to the State. A bold aggressor defends himself 
 by violence; the weak call in the assistance of the strong; parties 
 and factions are fonned, to maintain, or to avenge the outrages of in- 
 dividuals, and the State is thrown into confusion. Thus, in all na- 
 tions in that period of society when Criminal Jurisprudence is in its 
 infanc)-, and the delegation of private revenge has but imperfectly 
 taken place, we observe a perpetual series of feuds and hostile com- 
 motions, arising from the petty quarrels of individuals. 
 
 There is yet another reason why the power of punishing crimes 
 should be vested in the State. Every criminal act is an offence or 
 outrage against society. When murder or robbery is committed, the 
 public peace is violated, the general security is broken, and every 
 man feels, while the crime remains unpunished, that his own life and 
 
 property 
 
 " fore appears to deserve reward, who to some person or persons is the natural ob- 
 " iect of a gratitude which every human heart is disposed to beat time to ; and he, 
 " on the other hand, appears to deserve punishment, who, in the same manner, is to 
 '• some person or persons the natural object of a resentment, whicli the breast of 
 '« every reasonable man is ready to adopt and sympathize with. To us, surely, that 
 •• action must appear to deserve reward, which every body who knows of it would 
 " wish to reward ; and that action must as surely appear to deserve punishment, 
 " which every body who hears of it, is angry with, and, upon that account, rejoices 
 " to see punished."— Smith's Theory of Moral Smtiments, vol. i. part 2. § i.
 
 No. 10.] APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. 88 
 
 property are put in hazard. This injury, therefore, to the pubhc 
 peace, is with justice and propriety avenged by the public. He who 
 commits an injury against society, incurs an obligation, and con- 
 tracts a debt to society, of which the creditor is entitled to exact 
 the payment. A criminal unpunished is a gainer at the expence of 
 society *. 
 
 Equity, therefore, as well as sound policy, have, in every civilized 
 community, accomplished the transference of the natural right of re^ 
 venge from the private party who is injured, to the public, which is 
 likewise a sufferer by the wrong ; and this transference is made, as I 
 have already said, to a power which completely sympathizes with the 
 private party, so far as his resentment is just ; but whicii, judging 
 with more impartiality, limits that revenge which would otherwise 
 have been excessive ; and it is presumable will, as in every case it 
 certainly ought, commensurate the punishment to the degree of the 
 offence. 
 
 It seems highly probable, that most of those erroneous notions 
 which have obtained, with regard to the fundamental principle of 
 Criminal Jurisprudence, have arisen from this transference of the 
 right of punishment from the private party to the public. The calm, 
 equitable, and solemn procedure of public justice, cannot, at first 
 view, be supposed to have its origin in a passion so impetuous, and 
 bften so outrageous in its operation, as revenge. Hence we lose 
 sight of its real foundation, and are led to substitute in its stead 
 what occurs more immediately to our view. The right of the State 
 to punish criminals, appears at first sight to be a most wise political 
 regidation for the prevention of crimes ; and we look no further for 
 its origin than to that political expediency. Having substituted this 
 secondary object instead of the primary, it has come by degrees to 
 
 / 2 engross 
 
 * Lord Kames's History of the Criminal Law, p. 38.
 
 84 APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. [NO. 10- 
 
 engross an exclusive attention from tlie legislator and politician, 
 whose views are very naturally directed to general interests, in pre- 
 ference to such as are private and individual. In the mean time, the 
 primary object is forgotten, and political expediency is held to be 
 the sole foundation of the right of punishment. 
 
 IV. Tliis radical error appears the more remarkable, that we dis- 
 cern, even in the exercise of the power of punishment by the State, 
 very plain indications of its true foundation in the principle of re- 
 venge. 
 
 By the law of England, independently of the public prosecution 
 for crimes, a suit is competent in all cases to the private party in- 
 jured, against the aggressor, which is termed an appeal. In the case 
 of murder, this appeal is competent to the wife, upon the slaughter 
 of her husband, and to an heir-male, on the slaughter of his ances- 
 tor. By the statute of Gloucester *, all appeals of death must be sued 
 within a year and day from the commission of the crime ; which 
 seems to be founded on this twofold reason. That revenge is less 
 justifiable after a lapse of time, and that it is not equitable that a cri- 
 minal suit should be long suspended, because the accused person 
 may thus be deprived of the evidences of his exculpation. 
 
 This right of appeal, competent to the private party, the English 
 derive from their Saxon ancestors. Among the ancient Germans, the 
 fme imposed for a crime was divided between the public and the party 
 injurctl. Delictis pro vwdo pcenarum, equorum pecorumve mwiero con- 
 •victi mulctantur. Pars mulctce regi vel civitati, pars ipsi qui vindica- 
 tur, vel propinquis ejus eA solvit ur-\. And so, in the progress of so- 
 ciety, after the abolition of pecuniary compensation for crimes, the 
 private party injured continued still to enjoy his right of revenge ; 
 
 and 
 
 • 6th Edward I. c. 9. f Tacit, de Men Cer. c. 12.
 
 No. 10.] APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. 85 
 
 and he was allowed his suit for bringing- the aggressor to punish- 
 ment, although the State should abandon its right ol" prosecuting. 
 Upon the same principle, the Sovereign's right of pardoning went no 
 further than to a remission of the vindicta publica : the claim of the 
 injured party remained entire *. In an appeal of murder, it was the 
 usage of England, even so late as the reign of Henry W., that all 
 the relations of the deceased dragged the murderer to the place of 
 execution. 
 
 Similar to the law of England, in this respect, is the law of Scot- 
 land, which allows the party injured to claim a rccompence or as- 
 sythement, independent of the vindicta publica : And when a pardon is 
 granted to a criminal under the Great Seal, he is set at liberty only 
 on condition of fmding surety to assi/the and satisfy the injured par- 
 ties, in a sum, which is to be taxed by the Barons of Exchequer. In 
 the case of murder, it was, by the ancient law of Scotland, necessary 
 for the wife or executors of the deceased, either to subscribe what 
 were called Letters of' Stains, (an acknowledgment that they had re- 
 ceived complete satisfaction), or to concur in soliciting the pardon, 
 before it could be obtained t- 
 
 V. It being therefore necessary, for the accomplishment of ju- 
 stice, that every crime should meet with an adequate punishment, it 
 might appear at first view, that retaliation, where it can with pro- 
 priety have place, is the nearest approach that can be made to per- 
 fect justice in the infliction of punishment; and that, where the cri- 
 minal is made to suffer himself the same degree of loss or pain which 
 he has occasioned to another, the balance is then even, and the end 
 of punishment, in so far as retributive justice is concerned, is accom- 
 phshed. This being a very natural view, the mind, at first, is dispo- 
 sed 
 * Leg, Edm. J 3. -j- Act 1592, c. 155. No. I.
 
 86 APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST, fNO. 10. 
 
 setl to rest upon it. An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, 
 seem a just and perfect retribution ; and accordingly, retaliation 
 makes a distinguished figure in the penal laws of many rude nations. 
 But a little reflection dissipates this first impression. We perceive 
 that it is contrary to justice, that the lot of the injured person and 
 of the aggressor should be the same. Justice requires that there 
 should be an o\'erplus in the suffering of the aggressor, in order that 
 the principle of vengeance, which is founded in justice, may be sa- 
 tisfied. 
 
 The adjustment of this overplus, is the great purpose of the penal 
 law. Its object is, so to proportion punishments to crimes, that 
 there shall neither be an excess of severity, nor of lenity ; but the 
 impartial mind shall remain satisfied, that justice is accomplished. 
 It is equally contrary to justice, that the revenge should exceed in 
 severity, as that it should err on the score of lenity ; but the viola- 
 tion of justice in the former way, is of much more dangerous conse- 
 quence than its infringement in the latter. 
 
 The extreme severity of many penal laws has been already remark- 
 ed, as a proof of the imperfection of Criminal Jurisprudence. But 
 whence has that disproportionate severity arisen? solely from our 
 departing from the just principle of commensurating the vengeance 
 of the law to the moral guilt of the offender ; and from our resort- 
 ing to the secondary end of punishment, the prevention of crimes, 
 instead of the primary, which is the avenging them. But, in fact, 
 this secondary end will often be entirely frustrated, if the primary is 
 neglected. If, for example, the crime of theft has become frequent 
 in any state, it is a very natural idea, that the evil is most effectual- 
 ly to be cured by an increased severity of the punishment. But 
 this increased severity defeats its own purpose. If the punishment 
 shall exceed in any considerable degree, what the mind acknow- 
 ledges
 
 "KO. lO.J APPENDiX TO VOIA'.ME 1 fRST. 87 
 
 l^gdcs to be a just vengeance on the offender, the sentiment of pity 
 will take place of the feeling of indignation in the pubhc mind; and, 
 instead of a desire to bring the criminal to justice, there will be a 
 humane endeavour to screen his offence from the cognizance of an 
 unjust tribunal. 
 
 By the law both of England and Scotland, the man who steals a 
 single sheep is punished with death ; a retribution, which the moral 
 feeling, the standard of right and wrong, declares to exceed most 
 enormously the measure of the offence. But this severity is justi- 
 fied, it is alleged, by political expedience. The man is not hanged 
 for stealing a sheep, but he is hanged in order that sheep may not 
 be stolen. Does this plausible argument remove the impression of 
 injustice in that particular case, or prevent us from feeling most 
 sensibly, that the atonement does beyond all measure exceed the 
 offence ? Who that had thus lost a sheep, would seek redress at 
 his own hand, by murdering the man who stole it? Yet the law, 
 to which he has transferred his right of punishment, does this for 
 him. Will any man of common humanity apply for redress of such 
 an injury to this merciless avenger ? If he does, he is himself with- 
 out mercy. He will put up with the loss of his sheep, rather than 
 stain his conscience with the blood of his fellow-creature. Thus, 
 an offence which merits a punishment even of an exemplary nature, 
 will often escape with impunity, because the law has decreed for it a 
 punishment which is absurdly rigorous : And thus, the secondary ob- 
 ject of the criminal law, and in which society is most interested, the 
 prevention of crimes, is entirely frustrated, because the primary has 
 been overlooked, which is the accomplishment of retributive justice. 
 
 VI. This capital error, of substituting the secondary object of the 
 criminal law for the primary, if in some cases it leads to a prejudi- 
 cial
 
 88 APPEN'DIX TO VOLUME FIRST. [XO. 10: 
 
 cial and inhuman severity, comlucts in others to an absurd and ini- 
 pohtic lenity. 
 
 The Marquis de Beccaria, whose Essay on Crimes and Punishmenis 
 breathes a very amiable spirit of humanity, has founded all his rea- 
 sonings on that mistaken idea of Montesquieu, which makes the 
 prevention of crimes the sole end of punishment, and therefore the 
 principle of Criminal Jurisprudence. The arguments Avhich he em- 
 ploys, and the conclusions which he draws, are such as may be ex- 
 pected from the assumption of false premises. 
 
 The punishment of death, according to Beccaria, is neither just 
 nor useful in a well governed state. " What right," says he, " have 
 " men to cut the throats of their fellow-creatures ? Certainly not 
 " that on which the sovereignty and laws are founded. The laws 
 " are only the sum of the smallest portions of the private liberty of 
 " each individual; and represent the general will, which is the ag- 
 " gregate of that of each individual. Did any one ever give to 
 " others the right of taking away his life ? Is it possible, that, in 
 " the smallest portions of the liberty of each, sacriticed to the good 
 " of the public, can be contained the greatest of all good, life * ?" 
 
 This reasoning has the appearance of being logical, and therefore 
 capable of analysis and examination. Let us proceed to try it as 
 such. The author assumes it to be a just deiinition of Laws, " that 
 " they are the sum of the smallest portions of the liberty of each in- 
 " dividual, and represent the general will, which is the aggregate of 
 " that of each individual." And this definition forms the major 
 proposition of a syllogism, of which the conclusion is. That men have 
 no right to inflict capital punishments. Now, in this definition of 
 Law, there are two separate propositions, which, though thrown to- 
 gether in one sentence, are totally unconnected with each other ; 
 
 * Beccaria on Crime: and Punishments, c. 28.
 
 No. 10.] APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. 89 
 
 nay, so entirely distinct, that the one is true and tlic otlicr false. It 
 is a true proposition, that laws represent the general will, wdiieh is 
 the aggregate of that of each iiuli\idual. Under every government, 
 nnless a perfect despotism, the laws may he said to represent the ge- 
 neral will ; heeause they receive either the express or the tacit con- 
 sent of the people whom they hind. In the British Government, 
 the laws may be said to receive the express consent of the people ; 
 for it is the representatives of the people who frame, who alter, who 
 amend, and who aimul them. But under most governments, the 
 laws may be considered as representing the general will. A mun 
 consents to the laws ol' his country, simply by living under them, 
 and taking the benefit of their protection, which creates a counter 
 obligation on him to obey them *. 
 
 But it is a false proposition, " that law^s are the sum of the smallest 
 " portions of the private liberty of each individual."' There are 
 many laws in every w^ell regulated government, M'hicli affect not in 
 the smallest degree the private liberty of individuals. Such are all 
 remuneratory laws ; such are those that regaid the performance of 
 all the A'arious species of contracts ; such are those which regulate 
 successions and heritages ; such are the laws that protect and admi- 
 nistrate the property of infants, and of those who aie incapable 
 themselves of guarding their own interests. All these, which form 
 the great mass of the municipal laws in everv country, implv no 
 abandonment of the private liberty of individuals. 
 
 If it is said that in the above definition by Beccaria, j)enal laws 
 alone are meant, I affirm, that neither is his proposition true with 
 
 respect 
 
 * Plato says, " When any one has seen our form of government, and chooses to 
 "'remain under it, then we say, Such an one does indeed agree with us : hJ>) ^aiAit 
 
 ■1 Vol. I. m
 
 90 APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. [NO. 10. 
 
 respect to these. By penal laws, is meant the expression of that riglit 
 which belongs to the State of punishing crimes, which Beccaria sup- 
 poses to have been surrendered to the community by some deed of the 
 individual; and he puts two questions. Did any one ever give to others 
 the right of taking away his life ? And since individuals have trans- 
 ferred to the State only the smallest portion of their natural libertv, 
 how can this include the greatest, which is life ? Now, all this rea- 
 soning is mere verbal sophistry. The right of punishment is not form- 
 ed out of any portions, great or small, of the liberty of individuals, 
 voluntarily given up by them to the State. No man ever volun- 
 tarily gave away any part of his liberty, unless a servant or bondsman, 
 for a price. But this surrender, according to Beccaria, has been uni- 
 versal. Every individual has consented to give up the smallest por- 
 tion of his liberty for the sake of the public good ; and the que- 
 stion is, What is this smallest portion which every man has agreed 
 to surrender ? If any surrender of liberty has been made at all, we 
 might agree Avith Beccaria, that it cannot be the right of taking 
 away life, which is the greatest of all invasions of liberty. What 
 then can it be r Is it the right of whipping, or pillorying, or banish- 
 ment ? But who ever gave his consent to l)e whipped, or pilloried, or 
 banished ? By what general convention were these portions of his li- 
 berty ever surrendered In' an individual, any more than that other 
 portion which Beccaria has excluded ? The notion, in short, is alto- 
 gether absurd. No man ever gave any other consent to the State's 
 right to inflict a punishment, than that tacit consent which all men 
 give to the laws of their country, by living under them ; and this 
 consent applies equally to the right of inflicting capital punishments, 
 as of inflicting any other punishment which those laws authorise. 
 
 The right of tlie State to punish crimes, does not arise from any 
 sacrifice made by indi-\iduals, of a part of their liberty ; for even un- 
 der
 
 No. 10.] APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. 51 
 
 der the law of nature, no man has the hberty of committing crimes. 
 He subjects himself to vengeance or to punishment by the very act ; 
 which sulliciently demonstrates, that he was not at liberty to commit 
 it. But this right in the State arises from the transference wliich 
 tlie individuals have in every community made to the State, of their 
 right of private revenge. Their privileges, or the sum of their li- 
 berty, is not abridged by this transference. On the contrary, they 
 are gainers instead of losers ; even in the power of revenge, which 
 Avas the object of the transfer : for that right of revenge which they 
 have by the law of nature, is better carried into effect, when, instead 
 of the weak arm of the individual, the awful vengeance of the So- 
 vereign power is exerted in his behalf. 
 
 VII. The question, therefore, with regard to the right of the State 
 to intlict capital punishments, will come to this short issue, " Are 
 " there any crimes, which, in justice, deserve the punishment of 
 " death ?" For if there are, the State, which is the s:eneral avensrer, 
 must have the right of inflicting that punishment. Now, there 
 must be no just criterion of right and wrong in the mind of that 
 man, who does not instantly acknowledge, that there are crimes of 
 that degree of atrocity, to which no other punishment tlian death is 
 an adecjuate retribution. 
 
 The hardened and incorrigible offender, whom no laws can bind, 
 and no moral principle teach to respect the rights of his fellow-crea- 
 tures, whose life has been a series of acts of violence, frautl and in- 
 justice, and whom every man has reason to regard as a beast of prey ; 
 this wretch is the object of a feeling of resentment at once so deep 
 and so universal, that it can be satisfied with no measure of ven- 
 geance short of the absolute extirpation of the offender. Our sym- 
 pathy with those whom such an aggressor has injured, is the more 
 
 >« 2 complete,
 
 92 APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. [NO. 10. 
 
 complete, that we perceive our own rights to have been equally liable 
 to invasion as theirs ; and we cordially approve of the vengeance 
 taken of the common enemy. Cortngi nequeimt, (sa}s Seneca), nihilr 
 que in illis borne spei cupax est. Tollantur h ccetu mortaUujn facturi 
 pejora qucz cont'mgunt, et quo imo modo possunt, des'mant esse niali *. 
 
 But if our moral feelings give entire approbation to that punish- 
 ment which cuts oft' from society the habitual violator of the pro- 
 perty of his neighbour, how perfectly do they approve and ratify the 
 sentence of death, which the laws of every nation, truly civilized, 
 have pronounced against the murderer ? Let any man in such a case 
 make the appeal to his own breast, and say what are his feelings, on 
 hearing of the perpetration of a deliberate act of murder. Does he 
 begin coolly to speculate on the injury done to the community by 
 depriving it of a useful member, and the necessity of a powerful re- 
 medy to prevent the like evil in future ? No, the unnatural scene im- 
 mediately presents itself to his imagination, in all its circumstances 
 of horror. He is tilled with the keenest indignation : His whole 
 «oul rises in arms against the murderer ; and sympathizing in all the 
 misery of the unfortunate victim, struck with his irreparable wrongs, 
 he feels that he could himself be the instrument of vengeance, and 
 drag the monster to his deserved fate. " With regard at least to 
 " this most dreadful of all crimes," says a great moralist, " Nature, 
 " antecedent to all reflections upon the utility of punishment, has 
 " stamped upon the human heart, in the strongest and most indelible 
 " characters, an immediate and instinctive approbation of the sacred 
 " and necessary law of retaliation f." Upon what pretence of a 
 
 moral 
 
 * Seneca De Ini, c;ip. 15. 
 
 f The excellent writer from wliom I have quoted the above passage, has minutely 
 unfolded, on the principles of his theory of sympnihy, the various concurring emotions, 
 
 ^vhich,
 
 No. 10.] APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. • 93 
 
 monil principle shall wc spare • the life of this atrocious offender, 
 who, to gain perhaj)s a few pounds, could deliberately enibrue his 
 hands in blood ? What claim has he to the compassion or to the 
 mercy of man, whose breast was steeled against every feeling of hu- 
 manity : who could coolly meditate the destruction of his fellow- 
 creature, perhaps his friend, his master, his protector? When the 
 miserable victim of his murderous avarice supplicated him for mercy, 
 he had no compassion. Ilis car was deaf to the cry of misery; his 
 
 heart 
 
 v'liich, in the case of murder, irresistibly incite to the highest vengeance against the 
 criminal. His observations, which are a very happy specimen of his mctliod of co- 
 pious and eloquent illustration, I shall here subjoin. " If the injured should perish 
 " in the quarrel, we not only sympathize with the real resentment of his friends and 
 " relations, but with the imaginary resentment which, in fancy, we lend to the dead, 
 " who is no longer capable of feeling that, or any other human sentiment. But, as 
 " we put ourselves in his situation ; as we enter, as it were, into his body, and, in 
 " our imaginations, in some measure animate anew the deformed and mangled car- 
 " case of the slain ; when we bring home in this manner his case to our own bosoms, 
 " we feel upon this, as upon many other occasions, an emotion which the perscn prin- 
 " cipally concerned is incapable of feeling, and which yet we feel by an illusive sym- 
 " pathy witli him. The sympathetic tears which we shed for that immense and ir- 
 " reparable loss which in our fancy he appears to have sustained, seem to be but a 
 " small part of the duty which we owe to him. The injury which he has suffered, 
 " demands, we think, a principal part of our attention. We feel that resentment 
 " which we imagine he ought to feel, if, in his cold and lifeless body, there remained 
 •' any consciousness of what passes upon earth. His blood, we tliink, calls aloud 
 " for vengeance. The very ashes of the dead seem to be disturbed at the thought, 
 " that his injuries are to pass unrevenged. The horrors which are supposed to 
 " haunt the bed of the murderer, the ghosts which superstition imagines rise from 
 " their graves, to demand vengeance upon those who brought them to an untimely 
 " end, all take their origin from this natural sympathy with the imaginary resent- 
 " mcnt of the slain." Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments, edit, 2., part ii. sect. 2. 
 chap. 2.
 
 Q4 APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. [NO. 10. 
 
 heart was insensible to the appeal of" nature. Let the sword of 
 justice be unsheatlied, and injured nature have her full revenge. 
 
 VIII. It is the vice of the present age, and the sickly cast of its 
 morality, to have substituted a species of metaphysical sentiment for 
 genuine feeling. It has become a fashionable cant to declaim against 
 the inhumanity of capital punishments, as if that just indignation 
 which arises in every well ordered mind, upon the commission of an 
 atrocious crime, were not itself the natural offspring of humanity. 
 And by what paltry sophistry are these false notions justified ? 
 Every crime, say these reasoners, is an evil ; but punishment is like- 
 wise an evil. To punish a crime, therefore, is to add one evil to 
 another. " If crimes could be diminished without the actual pu- 
 " nishment of any criminal, so much evil would be prevented as his 
 " punishment implies *."' The futility of this reasoning hardly needs 
 to be exposed. A crime is an evil done to an innocent person, and 
 to society, which is innocent. Punishment is not an evil done to an 
 innocent person ; it is an act of just vengeance against the guilty. 
 One evil is therefore not superadded to another ; for what is evil to 
 the criminal, is a positive good to the injured individual, and to so- 
 ciety ; to the former as avenging his wrong, and to the latter as re- 
 storing that order which v,'as violated, and preventing tlie like evils 
 in future. 
 
 Of a similar nature to the above argument, is the following : If a 
 mv.n is murdered, society loses one citizen ; if the murderer is put to 
 death, society loses two. The term citizen must be understood to 
 ■ mean a useful member of society ; for it is only by the deprivation 
 of such that society can suffer a loss. But, is a murderer a useful 
 member of society? Is he Avho has broken the strongest bond of 
 
 the 
 
 * Priestley's Lectures on General Policy, 410, p. 348.
 
 No. 10.] APPENDIX TO VOMJAir. FIHST. 95 
 
 the social compact, a valuable citizen? On the contrary, .society i.s a 
 gainer by the extirpation of a noxious animal, whose ferocity she 
 has experienced. Dy his destruction, she is secure from his future 
 ravages. 
 
 But society, it is alleged, may enjoy the same security, by the 
 substitution of a milder punishment; and the criminal, sufficiently 
 restrained from doing further harm, may still be rendered a useful 
 citizen. But, in the Jh'sf place. Supposing it easily jnacticable, that 
 a malefactor shall be so restrained, that he shall no longer have the 
 power to commit a crime, whilch is labour is beneficial to society; it 
 M'ould be sufficient to answer, that simple restraint from the commis- 
 sion of evil is not j)unishmcnt ; nor, in the case of an atrocious cri- 
 minal, is hard labour to be considered as such : it is often tlie neces- 
 sary lot of virtue, cheerfully and contentedly undergone, and there 
 fore cannot I;e the proper punishment of vice. If, therefore, the 
 hardened malefactor shall receive no other retribution, tlie primary 
 object of punishment is not attained ; justice is not accomplished. 
 But, secondly, What is this gain to society, \vhich we purchase by the 
 violation of eternal justice? Suppose twenty inhuman murders to be 
 committed in a year ; and that the perpetrators of those crimes, in- 
 stead of suffering a capital punishment, are confined to hard labour; 
 what is the amount of the gain to the public by this commutation ? 
 It is well if these twenty men earn the value of their own sub- 
 sistence, together with the expence of an establishment for their re- 
 straint. And thus, the balance of pecuniary loss and gain is equal ; 
 and all that results from this humane device is the fine considera- 
 tion, that we have spared the lives of twenty- monsters, who had re- 
 nounced humanity, and who, like tigers, must be restrained from 
 further violence by chains and fetters. 
 
 IX. As
 
 96 APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. [NO. 10. 
 
 IX. As the principal arg-uments against capital punishments are 
 drawn rather from political than moral considerations, it may be pro- 
 per to bestow some attention in examining that reasoning by which 
 it is endeavoured to be shewn, that such punishments are less effica- 
 cious in tlie prevention of crimes, than those that are of a milder na- 
 ture. 
 
 " Let us," sajs Beccaria*, " consult human nature in proof of 
 " tliis assertion. It is not the intenseness of the pain that has the 
 " greatest effect on the mind, but its continuance ; for our sensibi- 
 " lity is more easily and more powerfully affected by weak, but re- 
 " peated impressions, than by a violent, but momentary impulse. 
 " The death of a criminal is a terrible, but momentary spectacle, 
 " and therefore a less efficacious method of deterring others, than 
 *' the continued example of a man deprived of his libert}-, condemn- 
 " ed as a beast of burden, to repair b}* his labour the injury he has 
 " done to society. If I commit such a crime, says the spectator to 
 " himself, I shall be I'educed to that miserable condition for the rest of 
 ■" my rfe : a much more powerful preventive than the fear of death, 
 '' wliich men always behold in distant obscurity." 
 
 This argument possessing a show of reason, betrays in reality an 
 ignorance of human nature. All continued impressions lose their 
 force by tlieir continuance. Tliat which was at fust strongly felt, 
 becomes gradually weaker ; and if the impression is not at first very 
 ])0werful in its nature, It will soon, from habit, cease to be felt at 
 all. This is true, as we all experience, with respect to our own suf- 
 ferings, which are real ; and if so, it follows ajorliori, that it nuist 
 ])e true with w hat we feel by sympathy, from \vitnessing the suffer- 
 ings of others. In the case of malefactors condemned to hard la- 
 bour, we know, that, however severe at first may be the sense of 
 
 their 
 
 • Essay on Crimes and Punis/jmenis, chap. 28.
 
 No. 10.] AVPKNDIX TO VOLUME FIllST. 97 
 
 their suftciings, their condition becomes gradually more tolerable; 
 the body is rendered fitter for its toil ; its animal strength is actual- 
 ly increased ; it performs without dilhculty what was at first a pain- 
 ful exertion ; and the mind, conforming itself to what it knows to 
 be necessary, sustains its burtlen at first with patience, and after- 
 wards with case. Ijcsidcs, in every species of bondage or slavery 
 there is hope. If the servitude is for a limited period, its term will 
 be anticipatetl and enjoyed by the imagination : if it is perpetual, 
 there is still the hope of escape : in both cases, the bitter of the pre- 
 sent hour is sweetened by the prospect of the future. If such is the 
 natural progress in the feelings of the sufferers themselves, we know 
 what must be the sympathetic emotions of those who are the wit- 
 nesses of their occupations and behaviour. We cannot feel much 
 horror for that situation, which we see is endured with ease, and 
 even cheerfulness : we look with a perfect indifference on their con- 
 dition, who seem to have no concern for it themselves. For the 
 truth of these observations, we may appeal to all who have seen the 
 convicts at their usual labours. 
 
 But, widely different indeed are those emotions which are excited 
 by the spectacle of a capital punishment. There is no passion so 
 strong or so universal as the fear of death. It is implanted in our 
 nature as the preservative of life, and is therefore sufficient singly to 
 overbalance all the evils to which the human condition is subjected. 
 We find innumerable instances of life endured by man, not only un- 
 der the utmost exacerbation of bodily suffering, but under the keen- 
 est misery of mind. Mow strong must that passion be, which can 
 overcome the anguish of remorse, the shame attendant on detected 
 guilt, the consciousness of lasting infamy ? Yet these are all endu- 
 red, and life still continues to ha\e its attractions. " Permit me," 
 
 Vol. I. n said
 
 5,8 APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. [NO. 10. 
 
 said the wretched Dodd, in his petition to the Sovereign, " to liide 
 " my guilt in some obscure corner of the earth. May I humbly 
 " hope, that justice may be satisfied with irrevocable exile, perpe- 
 " tual disgrace, and hopeless penury !" 
 
 If it be urged, that the frequent example of those who fly ta 
 death as a relief from the miseries of life, proves that the former has 
 often less of terror than the latter ; I answer, that this holds true 
 only with respect to that very small proportion of mankind, whose 
 minds are endowed with that most acute and morbid sensibility, 
 which, while it doubles the pressure of real evils, is ingenious in crea- 
 ting to itself those that are imaginary ; who inherit that proud spirit, 
 and high sense of their own desert, which is wounded by the small- 
 est neglect, and rankles with the slightest disappointment; who pos- 
 sess that jealous feeling of honour that cannot bear reproach, and 
 are stung even by the most unmerited suspicion of unworthiness. 
 These are they who seek relief in death from the miseries of exist- 
 ence. But this very constitution is in itself the most eifectual guard 
 against the commission of all such actions as subject to the punish- 
 ment of the laws. When we reason as to the effect of punishment, 
 or its operation, by way of example, on the minds of mankind, it is 
 not minds of tliis constitution and character that are at all the ob- 
 j,ects of our view. These must be removed entirely from our con* 
 templation. The objects of the penal law are to be found among 
 that abandoned and most abject class of men, who are the disgrace 
 of the species ; who either have no feelings at all of honour, justice, 
 and humanity, or possess those sentiments in so weak a degree, as 
 to have no effect in regulating their conduct, or subduing the force 
 gf the selfish passions. It is the wretch who seeks his own gratifica- 
 tion at the cxpence of the dearest interests of his neighbour : it is the 
 
 cold
 
 NO. 10.] APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. 99 
 
 <"okl and callous heart that never felt compassion or benevolence : it 
 is the hardened nature, insensible to shame, and regardless alike of 
 the praise or reproach of the world : it is the degraded and brutal 
 appetite, which knows no enjoyments beyond tho.':e of sense, no 
 pleasures but what are common to the inferior animals. To these 
 miserable outcasts, death, which deprives them of all the present 
 good, and promises nothing but future evil, is the most horrible idea 
 that can be presented by the imagination. Every other situation 
 admits of hope. It is here alone that every avenue of comfort is 
 shut up. With those, therefore, whose obduracy of nature sets at 
 defiance the ordinary restraints against the commission of crimes, a 
 capital punishment is the only engine that has sufficient force to 
 curb their ferocity, and restrain their depredations on society. 
 
 The argument in favour of the utility of capital punishments, may 
 be summed up in one sentence. The preservation of life is the first 
 concern of man ; the fear of losing life is the greatest of all fears ; 
 this fear is, of consequence, the greatest of all restraints on the com- 
 mission of such actions as are punishable by the loss of life. 
 
 X. But, if capital punishments are both warranted by our moral 
 feelings, and justified by good policy, the same considerations will 
 strongly dictate, that such punishments ought not to be frequent. 
 In conclusion, therefore, it may be useful to endeavour to ascertain, 
 in what cases they ought to be resorted to. 
 
 And here we must again recur to that great principle, which, I 
 think, we may assert, is demonstrated to be the foundation of the 
 penal law, — the sentimentof Retributive Justice. It is this principle 
 alone which can regidate the due proportion of the punishment to the 
 crime ; and all penal laws are wise, equitable and politic, solely ac- 
 
 n 2 " cording
 
 100 APPENDIX TO VOLUME I-IIIST. [NO. 10. 
 
 cording to their conformity or departure from the standard of a just 
 retribution. 
 
 As justice requires that every injury should be followed ; by an 
 adequate portion of vengeance against the offender, so the resent- 
 ment or indignation which the injury excites, ought in every case to 
 be tlie measure of tliis vengeance. In civilized society, the State 
 and not the private party is the avenger ; the adequate portion of 
 vengeance, therefore, comes to be determined by the degree of re- 
 sentment or indignation which arises in the breast of unprejudiced 
 individuals, upon the commission of a crime. Let us here remark, to 
 the honour of human nature, ho\5^ few in number are those offences, 
 which excite such a measure of indignation, as prompts an impartial 
 individual to desire the death of the offender. Yet if there be ^ny 
 trutli in the doctrine I have endeavoured to establish, this is the on- 
 ly warrant for a capital punishment. Examined by this standard, 
 what judgment must we form of the criminal codes of the most ci,- 
 vilized nations in Europe? " It is a melancholy truth," (says the 
 commentator on the laws of England*), " that among the variety, of 
 " actions which men are daily liable to commit, no less than a hun- 
 " dred and sixty have been declared by act of Parliament to be 
 " felonies, without benefit of clergy, or, in other words, to be 
 " worthy of instant death;' and the catalogue has been since en- 
 larged ! 
 
 The apology for many of those sanguinary enactments, is, that 
 although the offence, in point of moral turpitude, may not seem to 
 merit so severe a punishment, its frequency had rendered it equally 
 detrimental on the whole to society, with those less comnion, but 
 more atrocious crimes. This, apology proceeds on the false principle, 
 
 That 
 
 *■ Blackstone's Commmlarles on ihi' Laws of England, b. iv. c. I.
 
 NO. 10.] APPENDIX TO VOLUME riRST. ^01 
 
 That the sole oliject of the ciiniinal law is to lessen the number of 
 crimes in future, and " that punishment," (as it is expressed by 
 Dv Priestley), " lias no referenee to the degree of moral turpitude 
 " in the criminal." The error of this notion has already been sutli- 
 ciently exposed ; and it has been shewn, that even that purpose of 
 punishment which is held to be its sole object, is counteracted en- 
 tirely, if the punishment exceed that just measure of vengeance 
 which the impartial mind has ascertained to be equal to the of- 
 fence. 
 
 But let it, for argument's sake, be supposed, that the lessening the 
 number of crimes were the chief, or even the sole object of the cri- 
 minal law, it would neither follow, that the punishment of death, 
 which our moral feelings declare to be a just retribution for the 
 most atrocious crimes alone, is necessary to check the frequency of 
 the smaller offences ; nor that it is just to employ that remedy, al- 
 though, according to the refined mode of argument employed for 
 that purpose, it may be true, that " the accumulation of such petty 
 " offences may produce to the State a sum of evil, equal, or perliaps 
 " superior, to what arises from the less frequent, though more cnor- 
 " mous crimes." 
 
 As to the first consideration, although the dread of a capital pu- 
 nishment may be necessary to restrain that ferocity of nature which 
 prompts to crimes of the deepest dye ; it certainly will not be de- 
 fkjpd, that inferior punishments are sufficient to restrain everv ordi- 
 nary species of criminality. Of all offences, petty thefts are the 
 most common, from the frequency of temptation, and easy opportu- 
 nity. But that (iegree of vice which limits itself to petty thefts, 
 vmy be sufficiently curbed; by a variety of inferior punishments, pro- 
 portioned to tte measure of tlie offence. The frequency of sucli 
 
 crimes
 
 102 APP^XDIX TO VOLUME FIRST. [NO. Id. 
 
 crimes is to be counteracted more effectually, by an increased ^'igi- 
 lance of the law in their detection, than by an increased severity in 
 their punishment : for as the penalty, in every instance where the 
 crime is discovered, far exceeds the gain resulting from its commis- 
 sion, the extreme probability of that penalty taking place, and the 
 small chance of escaping it, will always amount to a sufficient re- 
 straint. 
 
 With regard to the second consideration, the argument is too re- 
 fined to produce conviction ; and, in reality, when examined, it is a 
 pure sophism. It may be allowed, that petty offences, from their 
 frequency, may produce on the whole a greater sum of evil to the 
 State than the more enormous crimes, which are but rarely perpe- 
 trated : but this will not vindicate the justice of repressing the for- 
 mer by capital punishments. The sum of evil is not produced by 
 the crime of one ofltender, but by those of many offenders. There- 
 fore, as it is altogether contrary to justice to punish one person for 
 the crime of another, so the frequency of a crime ought not, in point 
 of justice, to render the punishment more severe to any individual, 
 than if he had been the sole offender. For even were we to consi- 
 der the crimes of different individuals in the aggregate, and as form- 
 ing one mass of evil to the State, it is equally reasonable that we 
 should consider the punishments of different individuals in the ag- 
 gregate, and accumulate them to form a counterpoise ; and thus wc 
 should still find the balance even, between the mass of crime, and 
 the mass of punishment. 
 
 We may, therefore, confidently conclude, that it is safe to adhere 
 to the great principle of Retributive Justice, which teaches. That the 
 measure of the punishment of crimes ought in every case to depend 
 on the moral turpitude of the criminal, of which Nature has furnish- 
 ed
 
 No. 10.] APPENDIX TO VOLUME FIRST< 103- 
 
 ed an infallible criterion, in that indignation which arises in the im- 
 partial mind upon the commission of a crime, and which always 
 keeps its just proportion to the magnitude of the offence. By an ad- 
 herence to this principle, in our reasonings upon Criminal Jurispru- 
 dence, we have a guide which will clear our path amidst all the mists 
 of error and sophistry. 
 
 / 
 
 END OF VOLUME FIRST.
 
 105 
 
 COn]{F.CTIONS AND ADDITIONS IN VOLUMF, I. 
 
 Page 39. line 9. after thence insert either, and delete either in the following line, 
 
 4'2. l.j. was this time read was at this time 
 
 142. 1. opinion, rc«<7 opinions, 
 
 140'. I. of the Notes, Turrentinc, read Turretine, 
 
 — ■^ 148. 18. extricable r^a^^ inextricable 
 
 — — I87. 1. after ascertain insert the 
 
 189. 10. for Sfith read 87th 
 
 209. 9. for statues, read statutes, 
 
 219. 2. of the Note, for Letters read Lectures 
 
 288. 9. for as read are 
 
 oyy. 1(2. place the wo/-// cultivated, before prepared. 
 
 [/« addition to the Note at Page 193. subjoin what follows.'} 
 The objections made by Lord Karnes to Dr Smith's Theory of Sympathy, 
 were previously communicated by the former to his friend Dr Reid of Glas- 
 gow, who thus expressed his opinion of them : 
 
 " I have always thought Dr S 's system of Sympathy wrong. It is 
 
 ♦' indeed only a refinement of the selfish system ; and I think your arguments 
 " against it solid. But you have smitten with a friendly hand, which does 
 •' not break the head ; and your compliment to the author I highly approve 
 " of." — Letter from Dr Xeid to Lord Kames, October 30. 1778. 
 
 [/« addition to the Note at Page Q. subjoin what follows."] 
 
 See an Act of the 5th Parliament of King James IV. which ordains, " That 
 ** all Barons and Freehalders that ar of substance, sail put their eldest sonnes 
 *• and aires to the schules, fra they be sex or nine yeires of age, and till re- 
 *' main quhill thay be competentlie foundit, and have perfite Latine : And 
 •• thairafter to remaine three yeires at the schulis of jirt and Jure ; swa that 
 " thay may have knawledge and understanding of the lawes ; throw the 
 " quhilkis justice may remaine universallie throw all the Realrae." 
 
 Vol. I.
 
 TO THE CINDER. 
 
 Place the Print of Lord Kames, fronting the Title-page of Vo- 
 lume I. 
 
 The specimens of Lord Kames's Handwriting to be placed imme- 
 diately before the Appendix to Volume H. 
 
 The Binder is requested to be particularly careful in inserting in 
 their proper places, the leaves, in the room of those cancelled.
 
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