whether he chose to be received into the Society, and if so, with which of its classes, Physical or Literary, he desired to be associated. Beattie has written on the outside of the letter, "Answered and signified my acceptance, and desired to be associated with the Literary class."

In the autumn of this year, Beattie had much renewed anxiety on Mrs. Beattie's account. During the summer her bodily health had improved greatly, and this had been accompanied by a seemingly equal improvement in her mental condition; so much so that it was thought by her physician that all that was wanting to perfect her cure was that she should be restored to her family. At the same time, however, he counselled that some little delay should occur after she had been told of this intended change, to see what effect it would have upon her. Fortunately, this advice was followed, as on the very day before she was to have gone home her mental malady returned in a violent form, such as it had never before assumed.

As it was impossible, in these circumstances, that she should return to his home, Beattie prevailed on her father to allow her to remain with him during the winter, after which, on the conclusion of the College Session, he would be at leisure to look out for some suitable abode for her.

The sorrow, anxiety and perplexity which the correspondence shows that Beattie passed through at this time may well be supposed, but need not be dwelt upon. It is pleasanter to record that the kindness shown him by his friends helped to cheer him under his heavy affliction; and to none was he more indebted at this time for sympathy and wise counsel than to Principal Campbell and the Duchess of Gordon.1

Beattie's health, already far from good, was not improved by the agitation he had gone through; yet, in writing to Mrs. Montagu in the end of the year, he could give a more cheerful account of his home and prospects for the future than could have been expected: "Myself and my little family I have committed to the care of a niece of mine, who is a cheerful and sensible young woman, exceedingly attached to me and my two boys, who are equally fond of her. She does everything in her power to please and amuse me. Indeed the present state of my little household is so much to my mind that if I could keep it as it is, and enjoy a few months' tranquillity, I should not despair of recovering such a degree of strength as might again enable me to be of some little use in the world."

1 A great deal has been said and written of this celebrated Duchess, of her wit, her gaiety, and her beauty; but of her kindness of heart, readiness to help, of the strength and delicacy of her friendship, we hear too little. Her letters to Beattie during those months of sorrow show her to have been a true, wise, and tender friend-a character she could not have assumed merely towards him.

1784.

CHAPTER XIX.

BEATTIE AND HIS ELDER SON VISIT LONDON.

Prepares the "Minstrel" and other Poems for another edition - Asks Mrs. Montagu to allow the volume to be inscribed to her, and to permit her name to be inserted in the last stanza of the First Book of the "Minstrel " -Pinkerton urges him to complete the "Minstrel "-Serious thoughts of settling in England with his boys-Letters of sympathy from Mr. Fraser Douglas-Cowper's Letters on Beattie-Asked to write an Essay for the Literary Branch of the Royal Society of Edinburgh-Elected an Honorary Member of the Literary and Philosophical Society of ManchesterBeattie and his family leave Aberdeen; he and James for Edinburgh, Miss Valentine and Montagu for Montrose-With the assistance of Sir W. Forbes, arranges a home for Mrs. Beattie at Musselburgh-Meets Mrs. Siddons at Lord Buchan's-Goes to London by sea as far as Yarmouth, then posts to London-Johnson and Sir J. Reynolds-Visits the Bishop of Chester at Hunton-Good reports of Mrs. Beattie-Miss Gregory's marriage to Mr. Alison-Visits Mrs. Montagu at Sandleford-Leaves London in the end of August for Temple Newsam, in Yorkshire-Remains there nine days-Stops at Montrose to allow his boys to be together-Goes to Peterhead-Persuades Mrs. Arbuthnot to accept a pension from Mrs. MontaguBeattie consults Mrs. Montagu whether he should retain his house, or board himself and his boys in a family-Correspondence with Lord Hailes, Lord Elliot, etc.

DURING the winter of 1783-1784, Beattie corrected and revised the "Minstrel," and the few poems he chose to print along with it, for a new edition, which Dilly had told him was wanted. While doing so, as he thought, for the last time, he asked Mrs. Montagu's permission to inscribe the volume to her, and also to insert her name in the last stanza of the first book of the "Minstrel," as he had inserted that of their common friend, Dr. Gregory, in the last stanza of the second book. "It would give me," he wrote, "no little pleasure to see in the same poem the names of Mrs. Montagu and Dr. Gregory-two persons so dear to me, and who had so sincere a friendship for one another. Besides, Madam, I beg leave to put you in mind that the first book of the poem was published at his desire, and the second at yours, so that I have more reasons than one for making this request. When this affair is settled, and the volume revised once more, I bid adieu to poetry for ever."

This resolve excites no surprise in those to whom the history of Beattie's private life is known. The anxieties of his married life had been such as early to quench all the lighter flights of fancy, and to disincline him for any but graver studies, and those more immediately connected with the instruction of the young men under his charge. But this was not generally known to his contemporaries,

and keen regret was often expressed that the "Minstrel" remained an unfinished poem. On this occasion, when it became known to Pinkerton that a new edition of the "Minstrel was preparing, he wrote to Beattie :

"KNIGHTSBRIDGE, No. 3 (NEAR LONDON),

"March 20th, 1784.

"It is with the most sincere pleasure that I am informed of your intention of republishing the 'Minstrel,' with additions. That exquisite poem I peculiarly interest myself in, because from it I first derived any little taste I may have in poetry, and never read it without the highest delight. I hope, therefore, you will pardon my resuming a correspondence which I am so proud of to express sentiments of the most zealous friendship. Impelled by these sentiments, I must express my regret that so fine a poem should remain unfinished when another canto of sixty stanzas might do the business. If your fame as a poet does not move you, for a perfect poem must ever be allowed superior to an imperfect one, even of superior merits, let me entreat this of you, in the name of the public, as a moral philosopher. Cicero would have put it without scruple into his book 'De Officiis,' as a duty which you owe to your friends, to the public, and to yourself.

"If I might, with the utmost respect, express my poor sentiments about your alterations in the second canto, the stanzas which regard the progress of science, and those which praise Homer and Virgil, seem somewhat independent of your design; for no minstrel was ever acquainted with these subjects, or if one real instance might occur, though it might be true, it is not probable.

"I frequently heard objections to these parts by the warmest admirers of the rest of the poems, among whom I shall ever rank myself."

No favourable response was given to Pinkerton's appeal-an appeal he would scarcely have made could he have guessed Beattie's circumstances. The uncertainty in which at this time he was living as to what might happen, in any sudden access of Mrs. Beattie's malady, kept him in constant anxiety and dread, so much so, that he had serious thoughts of giving up his Professorship, and of settling in England with his boys, fearing there was no other way by which he could secure for them and himself a quiet home. Fortunately, no such extreme measure proved necessary, as he was able, during the summer, to make an arrangement for Mrs. Beattie which for some time proved satisfactory. Among the many marks of sympathy and kindness shown him by those friends who were aware of the dark hour he was passing through, there is a long letter from his old friend Mr. Fraser Douglas, to whom he had written despondingly, and whose reply, from which a few sentences may be extracted,

must have done much to cheer and encourage him. He reminds him:

"ABBOTT INCH,

"February 25th, 1784.

"You have borne for years a very heavy affliction with the temper and dignity which became your station and character. Bear up, therefore, with your usual fortitude, and say unto God, with the great exemplar of patience, Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.' Be assured He will not lay upon you above what you are able, for all his corrections have a merciful and benign intention.

"I am conscious that I write to one much my superior in knowledge, but it is to one my junior by many years. Perhaps I write the more feelingly that I have drunk the dregs of the cup of affliction in several periods of my life, yet, on recollection, I can scarce wish it had been otherwise. After all, I am well aware that this conclusion would afford good entertainment to the gay and polite, who, with a gentle, following breeze, sail softly down the stream of time. A fair landing to them! Let the world be governed by its own maxims, but God forbid that you or I should despise the comforts of religion, which are the chief solace of human life, the good man's chief joy."

It seems strange that, at this time, when Beattie was so low in spirits and in such distress of mind, his writings were making a pleasant impression on Cowper. Little did this sorely tried poet guess that the man he was writing of was a brother in affliction, arising from causes very different from those which produced his own unhappiness.

In writing to the Rev. William Unwin, April 5th, 1784, he says:

"I thanked you in my last for Johnson; I now thank you with more emphasis for Beattie, the most agreeable and amiable writer I ever met with; the only author I have seen whose critical and philosophical researches are diversified and embellished by a poetical imagination that makes even the driest subject, and the leanest, a feast for an epicure in books. He is so much at his ease, too, that his own character appears in every page; and, which is very rare, we see not only the writer, but the man, and that man so gentle, so well tempered, so happy in his religion, and so humane in his philosophy, that it is necessary to love him, if any one has any sense of what is lovable. If you have not his poem called the 'Minstrel,' and cannot borrow it, I must beg you to buy it for me; for though I cannot afford to deal largely in so expensive a commodity as books, I must afford to purchase, at least, the poetical works of Beattie."

And to the Rev. John Newton he writes:

"April 26th, 1784.

"I have been lately employed in reading Beattie and Blair's Lectures. The latter I have not yet finished. I find the former the most agreeable of the two, and, indeed, the most entertaining writer, upon dry subjects, that I ever met with. His imagination is highly poetical, his language easy and elegant, and his manner so familiar, that we seem to be conversing with an old friend on terms of the most social intercourse while we read him. In Blair we find a scholar; in Beattie both a scholar and an amiable man, and, indeed, so amiable that I have wished for his acquaintance ever since I read his book."

In January of this year, the secretaries of the Royal Society of Edinburgh1 wrote to inform Beattie that the Literary class of that Society hoped he would soon favour them with an Essay on any subject relating to antiquities, philology, or literature. And, in February, the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester informed him, by their secretary, that he had been elected one of their honorary members as a testimony of their high esteem for his literary character. They added they would at all times receive with pleasure any communication from him on subjects which came within their rules, in which are included all literary and philosophical subjects except religion or British politics. The diploma of this Society was forwarded to Beattie in March by Dr. Thomas Percival (who was mainly instrumental in founding the Society), accompanied by a hope that Beattie might visit Manchester, and afford him the satisfaction of becoming "personally acquainted with one for whose talents and character I entertain the most unfeigned respect."

In April, Beattie set out from Aberdeen, and after remaining a few days at Montrose, where he left Miss Valentine and Montagu, he and James visited his relatives at Lawton, and then went on to Edinburgh. There he made a long stay, finding himself "among a great number of good friends who do everything in their power to raise my spirits."

It was then that, assisted by Sir William Forbes, he made an arrangement for Mrs. Beattie's being boarded at Musselburgh, in the house and under the care of a lady: while during her residence there Sir W. Forbes kept watch over her. That she went there shortly after Beattie left Edinburgh we learn from a letter to Sir W. Forbes, written from Kent in July:

"I sit down to thank you for your two last letters, which came to hand the day before I left town. It is so far fortunate that

1 Alexander Fraser Tytler and Andrew Dalziel.