lord Cobham; attached himself to Frederick Prince of Wales, and in 1737 was appointed groom of his bed-chamber. He continued in oppofition till the formation of the broad bottom ministry. In 1946, he was nominated vicetreasurer of Ireland, and in the fame year paymaster of the forces; but the antipathy of the king, in confequence of his acrimony in cenfuring German meafures, overcame the repeated efforts of the duke of Newcastle to introduce him into the cabinet. At length, the irrefiftible fuperiority of his talents bore down every obftacle: in 1757 the king, fenfible of the weakness of the miniftry, and alarmed at the ill fuccefs of the war, reluctantly confented to appoint him fecretary of ftate, an office which, during the temporary retreat of the duke of Newcastle, he had held for about four months; on his recall to office, Mr Pitt, according to the current expreffion of the day, "took the cabinet by ftorm." From this moment Great Britain affumed a formidable pofition. Mr Pitt relinquished his oppofition to continental connections: conftant fuccefs attended his measures: his commanding eloquence, the wisdom of his plans, the vigour of his exertions, together with the ftrength of his adminiltration, filenced parliamentary oppofition: the people viewed him with an admiration bordering on idolatry; and George II. highly gratified at the profecution of his favourite meafures, and the unprecedented tranquillity of the kingdom, yielded, with implicit confidence, the reins of government to his direction.

Mr Pitt was fupported in the cabinet by his brother-in-law, Lord Temple, who fucceeded to the influence and eftate of his uncle, lord Cobham. He was diftinguished for his parliamentary abilities, and much respected and beloved by his adherents

Lord Granville, better known under the title of lord Carteret, was prefident of the council. At an early period of his life he was fecretary of ftate, and lord lieutenant of Ireland. Being difmiffed in the reign of George I. he joined the oppofition againft Sir Robert Walpole; and, on his refignation, was

reftored to the office of fecretary of ftate, became the favourite of the king, and took the lead in the conduct of foreign affairs. After an inneffectual fruggle with Newcastle for pre-eminence, he refigned in February 1745. In 1751 he was appointed prefident of the council, and retained that office till his death. He was a man of great talents and literary acquirements; indefatigable in bufinefs, of commanding eloquence, and converfant in foreign affairs. To those who confidered his eminent capacity, and arrogant difpofition, it was matter of furprize that he fubmitted to the afcendancy of the Pelhams, and accepted a fituation which, though fuperior in dignity, was fubordinate in importance.

Mr Fox, paymaster of the forces, was a friend and active fupporter of Sir Robert Walpole; and from his firft entrance into parliament, had almost uniformly promoted the measures of government. Under Mr Pelham, he acted in the capacity of lord of the treafury and fecretary at war; and was content to fill a fubordinate department in the house of commons; but, on his death, thought himself entitled to manage the houfe, and contended with Mr Pitt for pre-eminence. After a long series of cabals, he gained a momentary afcendancy, and on the 14th of November 1755 was appointed fecretary of state; but in the month of November 1756 he refigned, and on the 5th of July 1757, became paymafter of the forces. Mr Fox was of an acute and penetrating genius, and active in bulinefs. His speeches were replete with information, method, and infe, but he wanted that nervous and irrefi!!ible eloquence which characterised Mr Pitt. His manners were conciliatory, and few men had more personal friends,

Several of the remaining members of adminiftration were highly reip<<table for talents and integrity; amongit whom must be noticed, lord keeper, afterwards lord chancellor Northington, the duke of Devonshire lord chamberlain, Mr Legge chancellor of the exchequer, lord Anfon first lord of the admiralty, and lord Holderneffe fecretary of State.

THE

THE event which, at this period, (1767) most immediately affected the intereftsof mankind was the fail of the Jefuits. That body, by their learning, activity, intrigue, and federal union, had acquired an unlimited authority in all catholic countries; they regulated the confciences of crowned heads; at their fuggeftions treaties were confirmed or broken, and war or peace prevailed. Theirinfluence extended to all parts; the camp, the college, and even the cottage paid implicit deference to their mandates. As preceptors they had the advantage of difcerning and giving an inflexion to the tempers, paffions, and habits of youth, of acquiring an unli mited afcendency over the mind; of enflaving the timid, reftraining the proud, and bending even the energies of courage and virtue to their own peculiar views. Their ordera, and even many regulations of their fociety, were an infcrutable myftery, but fo early was their intelligence, and so prompt their communication, that they feemed every where to be the first apprised of occur rences, and earliest and most abundantly benefited by them. Their activity and influence over the timid and superfitious threw enormous wealth into their hands, and their ambition was fuppofed equal to their power. From their first etablishment as an order, they were occañonally regarded with fufpicion and inquietude, and already feveral principal powers in Europe had expelled them as a body dangerous to government*. In fome countries intrigue, fuperftition, or fear, had procured their re-admiffion, but the prefent period was marked for their total expulfion and final fuppreflion. De Choifeul, the French minifter, conceiv

They were expelled from France in 1594, but re-eftablished in 1603; from England in 1604, from Venice in 1606, and from Portugal in 1759, under pretence of having initigated the families of Tavora and d'Aveiro to affaflinate king Jofeph I.

ed this great project, in which he was animated by political confiderations, and by an attachment to the modern fyftems of free-thinking philosophers. He procured in 1764 a fuppreffion of their order in France, although the members were ftill permitted to continue their refidence as individuals, conforming to the spiritual and civil ordinances of the realm.

In Spain, and the tranf-atlantic dominions of that country, their influence was moft extenfive, and from the bigoted attachment of the Spaniards to the catholic religion, and to the Jefuits inparticular, their eftablishment was deemed perfectly fecure, and their government as permanent and efficient as that of the king himself. Yet in the midst of this fecurity, and without any previous indication of jealoufy or difpleafure, their total ruin was effected. This project was conceived under the influence of De Choiseul, and conducted by means of the marquis D'Offun, the French ambaffador at the court of Madrid, who concerted his meafures with' Charles III. king of Spain, and the' count D'Aranda his prime minifter.

The exccution of the defign was fudden and decifive; at midnight large bodies of the military furrounded the fix colleges of the Jefuits in Madrid, forced the gates, fecured the bells, and placing a fentry at the door of each cell, commanded the fathers to rife, fummoned them into the refectory, and read the king's order for inftant tranfportation. The royal feal was put on all their effects, except a few neceffarics which they were permitted to carry away. All the hired coaches and chaif es in Madrid, together with feveral waggons, being engaged and diftributed in proper places, their journey towards Carthagena immediately began. The inhabitants of the capital, in the morning learned the intelligence with furprize and confternation, but had not the power, if they had inclination, to interfere in preventing the execution of the king's command.

Three days afterwards, the jefuits' college

college in Barcelona was furrounded, and the members tranfported in eircumstances exa&ly fimilar. The fame meafures were adopted at the fame hour in every part of the kingdom; fhips were provided in the different fea ports for carrying the jefuits to the ecclefiaftical state; and the most effectual means were adopted for preventing any communication to the king's foreign dominions. The royal ordinance for the expulfion of the jefuits was then publifhed, by which all their property was confifcated. A fmall penfion was affigned to each individual, payable only while he refided in a place appointed, and abstained from offence in his writings and conduct, and the mifdemeanour of one was declared fufficient to fubject the whole body to a forfeit ure of their ftipends. The king's fubjects were forbidden, under penalties of high treafon, to correfpond with the jefuits; they were enjoined to obferve ftrict filence, and not to write, declaim, or make any movement for or againt thefe measures. The fame regulations extended alfo to the Indies, where a fimilar feizure and expulfion took place, and an immenfe property was acquired by government.

All men were furprized at the fecrecy and rigour of this tranfaction, and were therefore prepared to receive and credit the accounts which might be given of the motives of the Spanish court. Extenfive projects and dangerous machinations were imputed to the jefuits, and all the dread and jealousy which other nations entertained of their malignity and influence were exerted in finding the caufes of their unexpected downfall. It was currently believed that they had fomented, and perhaps excited, a dangerous popular infurrection, which the year before had agitated the capital, and compelled the king to difmifs his minifters.

But whether the crimes and intentions of the jefuits were founded in fact, or the mere suggestions of a party inimical, not only to their establishment as a body, but to the Chriflian religion in general, their fufferings entitle them, as men, to commiferation. The horror of being fuddenly torn from their

homes, and all their focial connections, was augmented by the terrors of an uncertain deftination, and the anticipation of an unwelcome reception. Men who were for the greater part advanced in years, all of them used to the indulgence of an honourable fituation, and to the ease of a fedentary life, were now reduced to the allowance and treatment of foldiers in tranfports. When they arrived before Civita Vecchia, the Pope, Clement XIII, prohibited their landing in his dominions: they were therefore obliged fo await fresh orders from Spain. A negotiation was opened with the republic of Genoa, for permillion to land them in Corfica: before the treaty was concluded, the Spanish admiral received orders to fail for the port of Bafia; but the Corfican governor would not fuffer them to difembark. At length the fanction of the Genoefe government was obtained, the tranf ports were ordered to the ports of Calvi, Algaiola, and Ajaccio, and the furviving jefuits, amounting to two thoufand three hundred, were put on shore. The example of the king of Spain was immediately followed by his fon Ferdinand VI, king of Naples, and afterwards by Parma: and in 1773 the order was fuppreffed by Clement XIV, who was elevated to the papacy on that exprefs condition.

Although, by a refolute exertion of the civil power, this formidable fociety was thus reduced, there is great reafon to doubt that the ftrength of the European governments was augmented by their fail. If they were really guilty of dangerous and treasonable defigns, fufficient means were not wanting efpecially in arbitrary monarchies, to punish the guilty and difperfe their adherents. Even the whole order night have been reformed, their wealth di-uinifhed, their power abridged, and their numbers reduced. But the deftruction of a fociety which included fo much learning and ability, and refpectable from conneetions and able publications in literature and theology, diminished the general credit of the establifhed religion, and gave new fpirit to those who already meditated the deftruction both of Chittianity and monarchy.

his talents-the most interesting of all articles in the biography of a philofopher, and of which it is to be lamented, that fo few authentic records are to be found in the annals of letters. All the information, however, which I have derived from these notes, is exhausted in the foregoing pages; and I muft content myfelf, in the continuation of my narrative, with thofe indirect aids which tradition, and the recollection of a few old acquaintance, afford; added to what I myself have learned from Dr Reid's converfation, or collected from a careful perufal of his writings.

His mother, Margaret Gregory, was a daughter of David Gregory, Efq; of Kinnairdie, in Banffshire; elder brother of James Gregory, the inventor of the reflecting telescope, and the antagonist of Huyghens. She was one of twenty-nine children; the moft remarkable of whom was David Gregory, Savilian Profeffor of Aftronomy at Oxford, and an intimate friend of Sir Ifaac Newton. Two of her younger brothers were at the same time Profef fors of mathematics; the one at St Andrew's, the other at Edinburgh; and were the first perfons who taught the Newtonian philofophy in our northern univerfities. The hereditary worth and genius which bave fo long diftinguifhed, and which fill diftinguish, the defcendants of this memorable fa mily, are well known to all who have turned their attention to Scotish biography; but it is not known fo generally, that through the female line, the fame characteristical endowments have been confpicuous in various in ftances; and that to the other monuments which illuftrate the race of the Gregories, is to be added the Philofophy of Reid.

With refpect to the earlier part of Dr Reid's life, all that I have been able to learn amounts to this, That, after two years spent at the parith fchool of Kincardine, he was fent to Aberdeen, where he had the advantage of profecuting his claffical @tudies under an able and diligent teacher; that, about the age of twelve or thirteen, he was entered as a student in Marifchal College; and that his matter in philofophy, for three years, was Dr George Turnbull, who afterwards attracted fome degree of notice as an author;

particularly, by a book, entitled Principles of Moral Philofophy, and by a voluminous treatise (long ago forgotten) on ancient Painting. The feffions of the College were, at that time, very short, and the education, according to Dr Reid's own account, flight and fuperficial.

It does not appear from the information which I have received, that he gave any early indications of future eminence. His induftry, however, and modefty, were conspicuous from his childhood; and it was foretold of him, by the parish schoolmaster, who ini tiated him in the first principles of learning, "That he would turn out to be a man of good and well wearing parts;" a prediction which touched, not unhappily, on that capacity of "patient thought" which fo peculiarly characterised biş philofophical genius,

His refidence at the univerfity was prolonged beyond the usual term, in confequence of his appointment to the office of Librarian, which had been endowed by one of his ancestors about a century before. The situation was ac ceptable to him, as it afforded an opportunity of indulging his paffion for ftudy, and united the charms of a learn ed fociety, with the quiet of an acade mical retreat.

During this period, he formed an intimacy with John Stewart, afterwards Profeffor of Mathematics in Marifchal College, and author of a Commentary on Newton's Quadrature of Curves. His predilection for mathematical pursuits, was confirmed and ftrengthened by this connection. I have often beard him mention it with much pleasure, while he recollected the ardour with which they both profecuted their fafci rating ftudies, and the lights which they imparted mutually to each other, in their firft perusal of the Principia, at a time when a knowledge of the Newtonian difcoveries was only to be acquired in the writings of their illufttiQus author.

In 1736, Dr Reid refigned his office of libraman, and accompanied Mr Stewart on an excurtion to England. They visited together London, Oxford, and Cambridge, and were introduced to the acquaintance of many perfons of the firit literary eminence. His rela tion to Dr David Gregory procured him a ready accufs to Martin Folkes.

whofe