MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE

OF

DR. JAMES BEATTIE.

DR. BEATTIE was born at Laurencekirk, in the county

of Kincardine, Scotland, on the 5th day of November 1735. His father, who was a farmer of no considerable rank, is said to have had a turn for reading and for versifying; but as he died in 1742, when his son James was only seven years of age, could have had no great share in forming his mind.

James was sent early to the only school his birth-place afforded, where he passed his time under the instructions of a tutor named Milne, a man to whom tradition has given talents and virtues that entitled him to a situation of higher fame, and more extensive usefulness. He is said to have preferred Ovid as a school-author, whom Mr. Beattie afterwards gladly exchanged for Virgil. Virgil he had been accustomed to read with great delight in Dryden's translation, as he did Homer in that of Pope; and these, with Thomson's Seasons and Milton's Paradise Lost, of all which he was very early fond, probably gave him that taste for poetry which he afterwards cultivated with so much success.

At this school he made great proficiency by unremitting diligence, which he was sensible was the only stock he could command; and appeared to much advantage on his entering Marischal College, Aberdeen, in 1749, where he obtained the first of those bursaries or exhibitions which were left for the use of students whose parents are unable to support the entire expences of academical education. Here he first studied Greek, under Principal Thomas Blackwell, author of the

Inquiry into the Life and Writings of Homer;" "Letters concerning Mythology ;" and "Memoirs of the Court of Augustus;" works which indicate no small portion of classical taste and learning, and, with the exception of a certain pomposity of manner and quaintness of phraseology, approach nearer the modern style of elegant and nervous writing than had been attempted by any of his countrymen at that period.

Blackwell, with much of the austerity of pedantry, was kind to his diligent scholars, and found in Mr. Beattie a disposition worthy of cultivation and of patronage. In the following year he bestowed on him the premium for the best Greek analysis, which happened to be part of the fourth book of the Odyssey. The other professor, with whom Mr. Beattie was particularly connected, was the late Dr. Alexander Gerard, author of "the Genius and Evidences of Christianity;" "Essays on Taste "and Genius ;" and other works, particularly two volumes of "Sermons," of acknowledged merit. Under these gentlemen our author's diligence, both at college and during the vacations, was very exemplary, and he accumulated a much more various stock of general knowledge than is usual with young

'men whose ultimate destination is the church. The delicacy of his health requiring amusement, he found all that amusement can give in cultivating his musical talents, which were very considerable. But there is too much reason to think that his hours of relaxation were very few, and that the earnestness with which he dissuaded his son from excessive study, arose from his repenting that he had not paid more attention to the exercises which promote health.

The only science in which he made no extraordinary proficiency, and to which he even seemed to have a dislike, was mathematics. In this, indeed, he performed the requisite tasks, but was eager to return to subjects of taste, or general literature. In every other branch of academical study, he never was satisfied with what he learned within the walls of the college. His private reading was extensive and various, and it was with him, as it appears to have been with almost every man of learning, of whom we have had a minute account; he was insensibly guided to cultivate those branches on which his future celebrity was to depend.

In 1753, having gone through every preparatory course of studies, he took the degree of Master of Arts, the only one attainable by students (except of medicine) in any of the univer◄ sities of Scotland. The intermediate degree of Bachelor is not known, and that of Doctor of Laws or Divinity is usually bestowed on application, at any time of life after leaving college, without the necessity of keeping terms. Mr. Beattie, therefore, had now technically finished his education, and had a profession to seek. He had hitherto been supported by the

generous kindness of an elder brother; but he was anxious to exonerate his family from any farther burden. With this laudable view, there being a vacancy for the office of schoolmaster to the parish of Fordoun, adjoining to Laurencekirk, he accepted the appointment. There can be no doubt that he performed the duties of this situation with punctuality, but it was neither suited to his disposition, nor advantageous to his progress in life. The emoluments were very scanty, the site remote and obscure; and there was nothing in it to excite emulation, or gratify the ambition which a young man, conscious as he must have been of superior powers and knowledge, might indulge without presumption. He obtained in this place, however, a few friends, who honoured him with encouraging notice; and he employed his leisure hours in some poetical attempts, which, as they were published in the "Scots Magazine," with his initials, and, if I mistake not, with his place of abode, must have contributed to make him yet better known and respected. There are few introductions into life more successful than a pleasing or popular poem; and, indeed, any literary production from an obscure part of the country is generally considered as a phenomenon. These poems attracted the more attention that they happened to be dated from a village little known, and written by a man never heard of.

The church of Scotland was at this time the usual resource of well educated young men, and with their academical stores in full memory, there were few difficulties to be surmounted before their entrance on the sacred office. Although this

church presents no temptations to ambition, Mr.Beattie appears to have regarded it as the only means by which he could obtain an independent, however humble, rank in life; and, with his diligence, was confident that the transition from the studies of philosophy and ethics to that of divinity would be easy. He returned, therefore, during the winter to Marischal College, and attended the divinity lectures of Dr. Robert Pollock, of that college, and of Professor John Lumsden, of King's, and performed the exercises required by the rules of both.

While the church seemed his only prospect, and one which, I have been told, he never contemplated with satisfaction, although few young men lived a more pious and regular life, there occurred a vacancy for one of the masters of the grammar school of Aberdeen, a situation of considerable importance in all respects. This school, which is a public foundation, is conducted by a rector, or head master, and three subordinate masters; the whole is in the patronage of the magistrates of the city, who are, however, governed in their choice by the issue of a very severe trial of the candidate's ability, carried on by the professors of the university. On this occasion, Mr. Beattie was advised to become a candidate; but he was diffident of his qualifications, and did not think himself so retentive of the grammatical nieeties of the Latin language as to be able to answer readily any question that might be put to him by older and more experienced judges. In every part of life, it may be here observed, Mr. Beattie appears to have formed an exact estimate of his own talents; and in the present instance he failed just where he expected to fail, rather in the