1790.' Of the various letters which are crowded into this busy period, the 51st, though imperfect, will be perused with peculiar interest. We should gladly have extracted from it the Professor's pertinent and even eloquent remarks on the second sight, did we not recollect that, in his Essay on Poetry and Music, he has treated of this superstition of the Scottish Highlanders more at large. We may be allowed to observe, however, that his restriction of the fairies to the Lowlands is more ingenious than true. In the heart of the Grampians they were seen not many years ago; and the vulgar believe that the multiplication of schools has put them down-an idea which is strictly philosophical.

From the very circumstantial account of Dr. Beattie's second visit to London, we select his minutes of the private audience with their Majesties at Kew:

"Tuesday, 24th August, set out for Dr. Majendie's at KewGreen. The Doctor told me, that he had not seen the King yesterday, but had left a note in writing, to intimate, that I was to be at his house to-day; and that one of the King's pages had come to him this morning, to say, "that his Majesty would see me a little after twelve." At twelve, the Doctor and I went to the King's house, at Kew. We had been only a few minutes in the hall, when the King and Queen came in from an airing, and as they passed through the hall, the King called to me by name, and asked how long it was since I came from town. I answered, about an hour. "I shall see you," says he, "in a little." The Doctor and I waited a considerable time, (for the King was busy) and then we were called into a large room, furnished as a library, where the King was walking about, and the Queen sitting in a chair. We were received in the most gracious manner possible, by both their Majesties. I had the honour of a conversation with them, (nobody else being present, but Dr. Majendie) for upwards of an hour, on a great variety of topics, in which both the King and Queen joined, with a degree of chearfulness, affability, and ease, that was to me surprising, and soon dissipated the embarrassment which I felt, at the beginning of the conference. They both complimented me, in the highest terms, on my "Essay," which, they said, was a book they always kept by them; and the King said he had one copy of it at Kew, and another in town, and immediately went and took it down from a shelf. I found it was the second edition. "I never stole a book but one," said his Majesty, "and that was yours; (speaking to me) I stole it from the Queen, to give it to Lord Hertford to read." He had heard that the sale of Hume's Essays" had failed, since my book was published; and I told him what Mr. Strahan had told me, in regard to that matter. He had even heard of my being in Edinburgh, last summer, and how Mr. Hume was offended on the score of my book. He asked many questions about the second part of the " Essay," and when it would be ready for the press. I gave him, in a short speech, an account of the plan of it; and said my health was

so precarious, I could not tell when it might be ready, as I had many books to consult before I could finish it; but, that if my health were good, I thought I might bring it to a conclusion in two or three years. He asked, how long I had been in composing my " Essay?" praised the caution with which it was written; and said he did not wonder that it had employed me five or six years. He asked about my poems. I said, there was only one poem of my own, on which I set any value, (meaning the "Minstrel') and that it was first published about the same time with the "Essay." My other poems, I said, were incorrect, being but juvenile pieces, and of little consequence, even in my own opinion. We had much conversation on moral subjects; from which both their Majesties let it appear, that they were warm friends to christianity; and so little inclined to infidelity, that they could hardly believe that any thinking man could really be an atheist, unless he could bring himself to believe, that he made himself; a thought which pleased the King exceedingly; and he repeated it several times to the Queen. He asked, whether any thing had been written against me. I spoke of the late pamphlet, of which I gave an account, telling him, that I never had met with any man who had read it, except one Quaker. This brought on some discourse about the Quakers, whose moderation, and mild behaviour, the King and Queen commended. I was asked many question about the Scots universities, the revenues of the Scots clergy, their mode of praying and preaching, the medical college of Edinburgh, Dr. Gregory, (of whom I gave a particular character) and Dr. Cullen, the length of our vacation at Aberdeen, and the closeness of our attendance during the winter, the number of students that attend my lectures, my mode of lecturing, whether from notes, or completely written lectures ; about Mr. Hume, and Dr. Robertson, and Lord Kinnoull, and the Arch-bishop of York, &c. &c. &c. His Majesty asked what I thought of my new acquaintance, Lord Dartmouth? I said, there was something in his air and manner, which I thought not only agreeable, but enchanting, and that he seemed to me to be one of the best of men; a sentiment in which both their Majesties heartily joined. "They say that Lord Dartmouth is an enthusiast," said the King, but surely he says nothing on the subject of religion, but what every christian may, and ought to say." He asked, whether I did not think the English language on the decline at present? I answered in the affirmative; and the King agreed, and named the "Spectator" as one of the best standards of the language. When I told him that the Scots clergy sometimes prayed a quarter, or even half-anhour, at a time, he asked, whether that did not lead them into repetitions? I said, it often did. “That,” said he, “I don't like in prayers; and excellent as our liturgy is, I think it somewhat faulty in that respect." "Your Majesty knows," said I "that three services are joined in one, in the ordinary church-service, which is one cause of those repetitions." "True," he replied, "and that circumstance also makes the service too long." From this, he took occasion to speak of the composition of the church liturgy; on which he very justly bestowed the highest commendation. "Observe," his Majesty said, "how flat those occasional prayers are, that are now composed,

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composed, in comparison with the old ones." When I mentioned the smallness of the church-livings in Scotland, he said, "he wondered how men of liberal education would chuse to become clergymen there," and asked, "whether in the remote parts of the country, the clergy, in general, were not very ignorant ?" I answered, "No, for that education was very cheap in Scotland, and that the clergy, in general, were men of good sense, and competent learning. He asked, whether we had any good preachers at Aberdeen? I said, yes, and named Campbell and Gerrard, with whose names, however, I did not find that he was acquainted. Dr. Majendie mentioned Dr. Oswald's "Appeal," with commendation; I praised it too; and the Queen took down the name, with a view to send for it. I was asked, whether I knew Dr. Oswald? I answered, I did not; and said, that my book was published before I read his, that Dr. O. was well known to Lord Kinnoull, who had often proposed to make us acquainted. We discussed a great many other topics; for the conversation, as before observed, lasted for upwards of an hour, without any intermission. The Queen bore a large share in it. Both the King and her Majesty showed a great deal of good sense, acuteness, and knowledge, as well as of good nature and affability. At last, the King took out his watch, (for it was now almost three o'clock, his hour of dinner) which Dr. Majendie and I took as a signal to withdraw. We accordingly bowed to their Majesties, and I addressed the King in these words: hope, Sir, your Majesty will pardon me, if I take this opportunity to return you my humble and most grateful acknowledgments, for the honour you have been pleased to confer upon me." He immediately answered, “I think I could do no less for a man, who has done so much service to the cause of christi. anity. I shall always be glad of an opportunity to shew the good opinion I have of you." The Queen sate all the while, and the King atood, sometimes walking about a little. Her Majesty speaks the English language with surprising elegance, and little or nothing of a foreign accent. There is something wonderfully captivating in her manner, so that if she were only of the rank of a private gentlewoman, one could not help taking notice of her, as one of the most agreeable women in the world. Her face is much more pleasing than any of her pictures; and in the expression of her eyes, and in her smile, there is something peculiarly engaging. When the Doctor and I came out, "Pray," said I, "how did I behave? Tell me honestly, for I am not accustomed to conversations of this kind." "Why, perfectly well," answered he "and just as you ought to do."-"Are you sure of that?" said I.-" As sure," he replied, " as of my own existence : and you may be assured of it too, when I tell you, that if there had been any thing in your manner or conversation, which was not perfectly agreeable, your conference would have been at an end, in eight or ten minutes at most." The Doctor afterwards told me, that it was a most uncommon thing for a private man and a commoner to be honoured with so long an audience. I dined with Dr. and Mrs. Majendie, and their family, and returned to town in the evening, very uch pleased with the occurrences of the day."

Did

Did our limits permit, we could dwell with pleasure on the details of the graduation at Oxford, the Dr.'s attachment to Peterhead, as a summer residence, and on the flattering offers of preferment which were made to him by the patrons of the University of Edinburgh, and by those of some church livings in England. We have been likewise highly gratified by the specimens of his correspondence with some distinguished characters, especially Gray, Mrs. Montagu, and the present Bishop of London: but much must be omitted, to make room for some of the more striking and affecting passages. In an excellent letter to the Duchess of Gordon, he thus gives his opinion of the depression of spirits which is usually ascribed to the author of the "Night Thoughts :"

When I first read Young, my heart was broken to think of the poor man's afflictions. Afterwards, I took it in my head, that where there was so much lamentation there could not be excessive suffering; and I could not help applying to him sometimes those lines of a song,

"Believe me the shepherd but feigns;

He's wretched, to shew he has wit:"

On talking with some of Dr. Young's particular friends in England, I have since found that my conjecture was right; for that, while he was composing the "Night Thoughts," he was really as cheerful as any other man.'

On another occasion, he hazards these remarks on the far famed loves of Petrarch and Laura:

"That Petrarch's passion for the lady was so far sincere, as to give him uneasiness, appears from an account of his life and character, written by himself in Latin prose, and prefixed to a folio edition of his works, of which I have a copy, printed in the year 1554. But that his love was of that permanent and overwhelming nature, which some writers suppose, or that it continued to the end of his life, (as a late writer affirms) there is good reason to doubt, upon the same authority. Nay, there is presumptive, and even positive evidence of the contrary; and that he was less subject, than most men can pretend to be, to the tyranny of the "Winged Boy."

pre

"The presumptive evidence is founded on the very laborious life which he must have led in the pursuits of literature. His youth was employed in study, at a time when study was extremely difficult, on account of the scarcity of books and of teachers. He became the most learned man of his time; and to his labour in transcribing several ancient authors, with his own hand, we are indebted for their servation. His works, in my edition of them, fill 1455 folio pages, closely printed; of which the Italian sonnets are not more than a twentieth part: the rest being Latin Essays, Dialogues, &c. and an epic poem in Latin verse, called " Africa," as long as " Paradise Lost:" His retirement at Vaucluse, (which in Latin he calls Clausa) was by no means devoted to love and Laura. "There," says he, in the

account

account of his life above mentioned, "almost all the works I ever published were completed, or begun, or planned: and they were so many," these are his words, "that even to these years they employ and fatigue me." In a word, Petrarch wrote more than I could transcribe in twenty years: and more than I think he could have composed, though he had studied without intermission, in forty. Can it be believed, that a man of extreme sensibility, pining, from twentyfive to the end of his life, in hopeless love, could be so zealous a student, and so voluminous a writer?

"But more direct evidence we have from himself, in his own account above mentioned of his life, conversation, and character. I must not translate the passage literally, on account of an indelicate word or two: but I shall give the sense of it: "In my youth I was violently in love; but it was only once; and the passion was honourable or virtuous; and would have continued longer, if the flame, already decaying, had not been extinguished by a death, which was bitter indeed, but useful." And a little after, he "" says: Before I was forty years of age, I had banished from my mind every idea of love, as effectually as if I had never seen a woman." He adds some things, in a strain of bitterness, execrating the belle passion, as what he had always hated as a vile and a disgraceful servitude.

"In the above passage, your Grace will observe, that Petrarch does not name his mistress. This, if we consider the manners of that age, and the piety and good sense of Petrarch, may make us doubt whether Laura was really the object of his passion. I had this doubt for a little while: but Hieronymo Squarzafichi, a writer of that age, and the author of another Latin Life of Petrarch, prefixed to the same edition of his works, positively says, that the name of the lady whom the poet loved was Lauretta, which her admirer changed to Laura. The name, thus changed, supplies him with numberless allusions to the laurel, and to the story of Apollo and Daphne. Might not Petrarch, in many of his sonnets, have had an allegorical reference to the poetical laurel, which was offered him at one and the same time by deputies from France and from Italy; and with which, to his great satisfaction, he was actually crowned at Rome with the customary solemnities? In this view, his love of fame and of poetry would happily coincide with his tenderness for Laura, and give peculiar enthu siasm to such of his thoughts as might relate to any one of the three passions.

"But how, you will say, is all this to be reconciled to the account given by the French author of that Life of Petrarch, which Mrs. Dobson has abridged in English?

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I answer: First, That Petrarch's own account of his life, in serious prose, is not to be called in question: and, Secondly, That to a French biographer, in a matter of this kind, no degree of credit is due. I have seen pretended lives, in French, of Horace, Tibullus, Propertius, &c. in which there was hardly one word of truth; the greatest part being fable, and that sort of declamation which some people call sentiment. And your Grace knows, that no other charac ter belongs to the Belisarius" and "Incas of Peru" by Marmontel. The French life of Petrarch I consider in the same light; and that

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