Musa Sacræ:-" In obitum Thomæ Rheidi [Rhædi] epicedium extat elegantissimum Roberti Aytoni, viri literis ac dignitate clarissimi, in Delitiis Poëtarum Scotorum, ubi et ipsius quoque poëmata, paucula quidem illa, sed venusta, sed elegantia, comparent."

The only works of Alexander Reid of which I have heard, are Chirurgical Lectures on Tumors and Ulcers, London, 1635; and a Treatise of the First Part of Chirurgerie, London, 1638. He appears to have been the physician and friend of the celebrated mathematician Thomas Harriot, of whose interesting history so little was known, till the recent discovery of his manuscripts by Mr. Zach of Saxe-Gotha.

A remarkable instance of the careless or capricious orthography formerly so common in writing proper names, occurs in the different individuals to whom this note refers. Sometimes the family name is written-Reid; on other occasions, Riede, Read, Rhead, or Rhaid; [In Latin, Rhædus, Rheidus, Reidus, &c.*]

NOTE B, p. 248.

Dr. Turnbull's work on Moral Philosophy was published at London in 1740. As I have only turned over a few pages, I cannot say anything with respect to its merits. The mottos on the title-page are curious, when considered in connexion with those inquiries which his pupil afterwards prosecuted with so much success; and may, perhaps without his perceiving it, have had some effect in suggesting to him that plan of philosophizing which he so systematically and so happily pursued.

"If Natural Philosophy, in all its parts, by pursuing this method, shall at length be perfected, the bounds of Moral Philosophy will also be enlarged."—Newton's Optics. "Account for Moral, as for Natural things."-Pope.

For the opinion of a very competent judge with respect to the merits of the Treatise on Ancient Painting, vide Hogarth's Print, entitled, Beer-Lane.

NOTE C, p. 262.

James Moor, LL.D., Author of a very ingenious Fragment on Greek Grammar, and of other philological Essays. He was also distinguished by a profound acquaintance with ancient Geometry. Dr. Simson, an excellent judge of his merits both in literature and science, has somewhere honoured him with the following encomium :- "Tum in Mathesi, tum in Græcis Literis multum et feliciter versatus."

Alexander Wilson, M.D., and Patrick Wilson, Esq., well known over Europe by their Observations on the Solar Spots, and many other valuable memoirs.

NOTE D, p. 287.

A writer of great talents, (after having reproached Dr. Reid with "a gross ignorance, disgraceful to the University of which he was a member,") boasts of the * See also Reid's Collected Works, pp. 35, 36, 38.]

trifling expense of time and thought which it had cost himself to overturn his Philosophy. "Dr. Oswald is pleased to pay me a compliment in saying, that 'I might employ myself to more advantage to the public, by pursuing other branches of science, than by deciding rashly on a subject which he sees I have not studied.' In return to this compliment, I shall not affront him by telling him how very little of my time this business has hitherto taken up. If he alludes to my experi ments, I can assure him that I have lost no time at all; for having been intent upon such as require the use of a burning lens, I believe I have not lost one hour of sunshine on this account. And the public may perhaps be informed, some time

or other, of what I have been doing in the sun, as well as in the shade."1

NOTE E, p. 304.

The following strictures on Dr. Priestley's Examination, &c., are copied from a very judicious note in Dr. Campbell's Philosophy of Rhetoric, Vol. I. p. 111, [Book I. chap. v.]

"I shall only subjoin two remarks on this book. The first is,-That the author, through the whole, confounds two things totally distinct,-certain associations of ideas, and certain judgments implying belief, which, though in some, are not in all cases, and therefore not necessarily connected with association. And if so, merely to account for the association, is in no case to account for the belief with which it is attended. Nay, admitting his plea, (p. 86,) that by the principle of association, not only the ideas, but the concomitant belief may be accounted for, even this does not invalidate the doctrine he impugns. For, let it be observed, that it is one thing to assign a cause, which, from the mechanism of our nature, has given rise to a particular tenet of belief, and another thing to produce a reason by which the understanding has been convinced. Now, unless this be done as to the principles in question, they must be considered as primary truths in respect of the understanding, which never deduced them from other truths, and which is under a necessity, in all her moral reasonings, of founding upon them. In fact, to give any other account of our conviction of them, is to confirm, instead of confuting the doctrine, that in all argumentation they must be regarded as primary truths, or truths which reason never inferred through any medium, from other truths previously perceived.-My second remark is,-That though this examiner has, from Dr. Reid, given us a catalogue of first principles, which he deems unworthy of the honourable place assigned them, he has nowhere thought proper to give us a list of those self-evident truths, which, by his own account, and in his own express words, 'must be assumed as the foundation of all our reasoning.' How much light might have been thrown upon the subject by the contrast! Perhaps we should have been enabled, on the comparison, to discover some distinctive characters in his genuine axioms, which would have preserved us from the danger of confounding them with their spurious ones. Nothing is more evident than that, in whatever regards matter of fact, the mathematical axioms will not answer. These are purely fitted for evolving the abstract relations of quantity. This he in effect owns himself, (p. 39.) It would have been obliging, then, and would have greatly contributed to shorten the controversy, if he had given us, at 'Priestley's Examination of Reid's Inquiry, &c. p. 357. See also pp. 101, 102, of the same work.

least, a specimen of those self-evident principles, which, in his estimation, are the non plus ultra of moral reasoning."

NOTE F, p. 315.

Dr. Reid's father, the Rev. Lewis Reid, married, for his second wife, Janet, daughter of Mr. Fraser of Phopachy, in the county of Inverness. A daughter of this marriage is still alive,-the wife of the Rev. Alexander Leslie, and the mother of the Rev. James Leslie, ministers of Fordoun. To the latter of these gentlemen I am indebted for the greater part of the information I have been able to collect with respect to Dr. Reid, previous to his removal to Glasgow ;-Mr. Leslie's regard for the memory of his uncle having prompted him, not only to transmit to me such particulars as had fallen under his own knowledge, but some valuable letters on the same subject, which he procured from his relations and friends in the north.

For all the members of this most respectable family, Dr. Reid entertained the strongest sentiments of affection and regard. During several years before his death, a daughter of Mrs. Leslie's was a constant inmate of his house, and added much to the happiness of his small domestic circle.

Another daughter of Mr. Lewis Reid was married to the Rev. John Rose, minister of Udny. She died in 1793. In this connexion, Dr. Reid was no less fortunate than in the former; and to Mr. Rose I am indebted for favours of the same kind with those which I have already acknowledged from Mr. Leslie.

The widow of Mr. Lewis Reid died in 1798, in the eighty-seventh year of her age, having survived her step-son, Dr. Reid, more than a year.

The limits within which I was obliged to confine my biographical details, prevented me from availing myself of many interesting circumstances which were communicated to me through the authentic channels which I have now mentioned. But I cannot omit this opportunity of returning to my different correspondents, my warmest acknowledgments for the pleasure and instruction which I received from their letters.

Mr. Jardine, also, the learned Professor of Logic in the University of Glasgow, a gentleman who, for many years, lived in habits of the most confidential intimacy with Dr. Reid and his family, is entitled to my best thanks for his obliging attention to various queries, which I took the liberty to propose to him, concerning the history of our common friend.

INDEX TO MEMOIRS BY MR. STEWART.