may be so abundantly afforded; let me add also, that I should be extremely thankful for any intelligence respecting the institutions of the Jesuits in Paraguay, which it has long struck me, might prove a most useful subject of investigation to any one who would form a plan for the civilisation of Africa. Allow me to add, that I shall wait to hear from you with anxiety, because the business must be brought into the house soon after the meeting. I will not waste your valuable time by excuses for this letter, if they are necessary, but once more I will venture to assure myself that you will not think them so. I have the honour to be, with great respect, Sir, your most obedient and humble servant,

W. WILBERForce.

FROM MR. Wilberforce to DR. ROBERTSON.

HAMPSTEAD, 20th February 1788.

SIR,-I have been honoured with your packets by the post, as well as with your Sermon, and return you my sincerest thanks for your very obliging attention to my request; I am fully sensible to the value of the favourable sentiments you express concerning me, and as one concession always produces a new demand, perhaps you will not be surprised at my now taking the liberty of intimating a hope that I may consider what has passed as constituting a sort of acquaintance between us, which it will give me particular pleasure to indulge an expectation of cultivating, when any opportunity shall allow.-I remain, with great respect and esteem, Sir, your obliged and faithful servant,

Dr. Robertson's second son is now Lieutenant-Colonel of the 92d Regiment. His name is repeatedly mentioned with distinction in the History of Lord Cornwallis's Military Operations in India, particularly in the General Orders after the siege of Nundy droog, where he commanded in the European flank company that led the assault. The following paragraph from Colonel Dirom's Narrative contains a testimony to his conduct on this occasion, which would have been grateful to the feelings of his father had he survived to peruse it.

"The carnage which must have ensued in clearing the fort of the enemy, was prevented partly by a number of the garrison escaping by ropes and ladders over a low part of the wall, but chiefly by the exertions of Captain Robertson, who, seeing the place was carried, turned all his attention to preserving order, and preventing the unnecessary effusion of blood. To his humanity the bukshey and killedar owed their lives, and of the garrison there were only about forty men killed and wounded."

NOTE Q,
p. 201.

This request was conveyed to Dr. Robertson by Mr. Dalzel, and was received by him with much sensibility, as a mark of the esteem and approbation of a Society over which he had presided for thirty years.

I neglected to mention in a former Note the Latin Discourses which Dr. Robertson pronounced annually before the University, in compliance with the established practice among his predecessors in office. The first of these was read on the 3d

VOL. X.

Q

of February 1763. Its object was to recommend the study of Classical Learning, and it contained, among a variety of other splendid passages, a beautiful panegyric on the Stoical Philosophy. His second Discourse, (9th of February 1764,) consisted chiefly of Moral and Literary observations, adapted to the particular circumstances of youth. My friend Mr. Dalzel, who has lately perused these Latin Manuscripts with care, observes of this Oration, that the style is uncommonly elegant and impressive, and possesses all the distinguishing characteristics of Dr. Robertson's English compositions."

A third Discourse was pronounced on February 14, 1765, and a fourth on February 20, 1766. The subject of both is the same; the question concerning the comparative advantages of Public and Private Education. The execution is such as might be expected from the abilities of the Author, exerted on a topic on which he was so eminently fitted to decide, not only by his professional situation and habits, but by an extensive and discriminating knowledge of the world.

These annual discourses (which never failed to produce a strong and happy impression on the minds of his young hearers) he was compelled, after this period, to discontinue by his avocations as an author, and by other engagements which he conceived to be of still greater importance. It is indeed astonishing that he was able to devote so much time as he did to his academical duties, particularly when we consider that all his works were at first committed to writing in his own hand, and that he seldom, if ever, attempted to dictate to an amanuensis. It may be gratifying to those to whom the literary habits of authors are an object of curiosity to add, that his practice in composition was (according to his own statement in a letter to Mr. Strahan) “to finish as near perfection as he was able, so that his subsequent alterations were inconsiderable."

ACCOUNT

OF

THE LIFE AND WRITINGS

OF

THOMAS REID, D.D., F.R.S.E.

LATE PROFESSOR OF MORAL PHILOSOPHY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW.

[READ AT DIFFERENT MEETINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH,

IN THE YEAR 1802.]

ACCOUNT

OF

THE LIFE AND WRITINGS

OF

THOMAS REID, D.D.

SECTION I

FROM DR. REID'S BIRTH TILL THE DATE OF HIS LATEST
PUBLICATION.

THE life of which I am now to present to the Royal Society a short account, although it fixes an era in the history of modern philosophy, was uncommonly barren of those incidents which furnish materials for biography. It was spent in the obscurity of a learned retreat, remote from the pursuits of ambition, and with little solicitude about literary fame,-unembellished even by that epistolary intercourse with the world, which has formed the relaxation of many studious men, and in which they have themselves transmitted to posterity the most faithful and pleasing portraits of their own characters. After the agitation, however, of the political convulsions which Europe has witnessed for a course of years, the simple record of such a life may derive an interest even from its uniformity, and, when contrasted with the events of the passing scene, may lead the thoughts to some views of human nature, on which it is not ungrateful to repose.

Thomas Reid, late Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Glasgow, was born on the 26th of April 1710,