from the Siege of Berwick, to the Siege of Aquileia, for he very naturally conceived, that any national allusions might tend to foment the jealousy which then unfortunately subsisted between the Scots and English. It was acted in 1759, Some of the passages are very fine, but upon the whole, it is a tame performance. The Fatal Discovery was produced in 1769, and reluctantly permitted during nine nights. Though Alonzo had the advantage of Mrs. Barry's admirable acting, it shared the same fate; the author mentions in his preface, that she received applause greater than ever shook a theatre. Mr. Home's last production, Alfred, lived only three nights. In the year 1760, Mr. Home published a volume of plays, containing Agis, Douglas, and the Siege of Aquileia, which he dedicated to his present Majesty, then Prince of Wales. His other three tragedies appeared some time after. The whole were collected and edited in two volumes at Edinburgh, in 1798, under the inspection of the late Mr. Woods. Lord Bute having represented Mr. Home to his Majesty as a man of talents, his name was placed on the pension list, nearly at the same time with that of Dr. Johnson. He lived in a state of retirement from this period to the time of his death. Nearly half a century after Douglas had been written, when the author had returned to, and was settled in his native country, Master Betty, better known by the name of the young Roscius, commenced his theatrical labours at Edinburgh, in the character of young Norval. The author attended the representation, and declared that, that was the first time he had ever seen the part of Douglas played according to his ideas of the character when he conceived and wrote it. Mr. Home, at the advanced age of seventyeight, published his long meditated work, entitled, "The History of the Rebellion in Scotland, in 1745 6," in which he recorded the exploits and remarks of his youth. Of his work it is sufficient to observe, that the principles are just, and the opinions liberal. For a considerable time prior to his death, Mr. Home's mind, as well as body, seemed to be much impaired. He lived in the most secluded manner, so much so, that the house he inhabited had all the marks of a deserted dwelling. So long as he continued to possess sufficient strength, he used to walk for a certain time every day; the most acute physiognomist, however, who met him, could scarcely have traced any remains of the author of Douglas. He seemed to pay no attention to what was passing, and to possess little more than mere existence. In this distressful state, he lingered for many years. He died at Merchiston house, on the 4th of September 1808, in the 85th year of his age. A life so little varied by incident as that of Mr. Home, affords few materials for personal character. With a mind well stored with useful and ornamental knowledge, he appears at an early age to have cultivated an acquaint ance with the most celebrated literary charac ters of his time. Fidelity to his friends, and generosity to his enemies, were conspicuous traits in his character. If, in his declining years, his temper appeared to be soured and morose, and his manners harsh and uninviting, we must attribute it to the infirmity of old age, rather than to original disposition. As a clergyman, he attached himself to that party in the church, who, enlightened in their views, and liberal in their sentiments, present their hearers with a rational view of the doctrines of Christianity. Divesting religion of unmeaning mystery, and checking the spirit of superstitious bigotry, he appears to have performed his ministerial duty with that fidelity and attention which endeared him to his people, and which their conduct at his resignation abundantly testified. man of Letters, he will be known to posterity by his tragedies, and especially by his "Douglas," which will probably retain a place among the most approved compositions of that class, and will long continue to delight and interest a British audience. As a [Further particulars of Dr. James Anderson, of whom some account is given at p. 435, of our last volume.] James Anderson was born about the year 1739, at Hermiston, a village about six miles from Edinburgh, of pa rents who succeeded their forefathers for several generations in cultivating the same land. Nothing remarkable is known of them: they were a family of respectable farmers; and our author may be said to have inhaled with his first breath, that spirit of agricultural knowledge for which he became so distinguished. In his boyish years he formed an intimacy, which remained uninterrupted till his death, with his kinsman and namesake, the present James Anderson, M.D. physician General at Madras: born in the same village, they went to school together, learnt the same task, fought each others battles, and joined in the same amusements; this early association produced a similarity in their future pursuits, the one being no less eminent in India than the other has been in Europe, for a patriotic life and exertions for the benefit of mankind in general. They kept up a constant correspondence, and communicated to each other their various productions and discoveries. Having been deprived of both his parents while yet very young, it was the wish of his guardian that he should occupy the paternal farm when old enough to undertake such a charge; and as much learning was not thought necessary for a farmer, young Anderson was discouraged by his friends from prosecuting his studies beyond a common school education; but that decision and firmness which were throughout his life the most conspicuous features of his character, now began to appear, and he displayed a resolution to judge and act for himself He informs us,* that having read * See vol. i. P. 50. 'Home's After Home's Essay on Agriculture," and find- strenuously in representing to the public the ing that he could not understand the reason- unavoidable faultiness of the intended publiing for want of chemical knowledge, he im- cation, and the fraudulent circumstances atmediately resolved to attend Cullen's ketures tending it, that the mercenary promoters of on that science. Being very young, and un- it were constrained to abandon the design.* aided by the countenance of any friend who Among the first things he did upon his farm, could give him advice or introduce him to was to introduce for the first time the small the world, he waited on Dr. Cullen, and ex- two-horse plough, now in universal use over plained his views and intentions The docthe greater past of Scotland, and particularly tor, considering it as a boyish whim, which in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, where might lead him away from his necessary pur- the land is cultivated to a degree of perfecsuits, at first endeavoured to dissuade him tion almost incredible. In effecting this imfrom the undertaking; but finding that our provement, he found considerable difficulty youth had fully reflected on the subject, and in overcoming the prejudices of his servants. adopted his resolution with a fixed determiHis friends soon perceiving that his ardour in nation to persevere in it, he assented to the the pursuit of literary knowledge was not to design; and as the penetration of that cele- be controuled, suggested a medical profession brated man soon discovered the capacity and as the most advisable for him to foilow; but steadiness of his young pupil's mind, he not to this he took a dislike, and could never be only encouraged his present object, but be- reconciled to it: he therefore determined to came his sincere friend, carefully directed prosecute his original line of life. his future studies, "listened with conde- having occupied Hermiston for a few years, scension to the arguments that were dictated he quitted it as a place that did not possess a by youth and inexperience, and patiently re- sufficient field for his enterprizing mind, and moved those difficulties that perplexed him." took a long lease of a large farm in the wilds Thus began a friendship and intimacy between of Aberdeenshire, consisting of about 1300 them, which never ceased during the life of acres of land almost in a state of nature. that eminent professor. With the assistance This vast undertaking was entered upon beof such a patron, and with the natural enerfore he was of age, the execution of the lease gies of his own understanding, it is not to be having been deferred till that period arrived, wondered at that he made rapid advances, not In the midst of the difficulties he had to cononly in chemistry but also in other branches tend with in bringing this tract into cultivaof learning, which, as it were, grew out of tion, which were very great, arising chiefly. this his first academical study; for the va- from the badness or total want of roads, the rious branches of science are so connected remote distance from markets, and the prewith each other, that, to a mind constituted cariousness of the climate: he began his career like his, the attainment of information on as an author with his Essays on Planting, one constantly induce the desire of prosecu- &c. first printed in the year 1771, in the ting others: and this takes place in an emi- Edinburgh Weekly Magazine, under the nent degree at the university of Edinburgh, signature of Agricola, and again published where the great attention and abilities of the separately in 1771. The first edition of his professors, combined with the moderateness Essays on Agriculture, Observations on Naef the expence, have for many years afforded tional Industry, and several others of his remarkable facilities and encouragement to early writings were composed during a resithe student. At the same time he did not dence of more than twenty years at Monksneglect the duties of his farm, of which he hill, the name of the above-mentioned farm. took the management upon himself about In 1768, at the age of twenty-nine, our authe age of fifteen, assisted by four older thor married Miss Seton, of Mounie, a desisters; and he employed himself in the exscendant of the ancient and noble house of ercise of his profession and his studies with Winton, who brought him thirteen children: o much assiduity for several years, that he by this marriage the estate of Mounie, in barely allowed sufficient time for the repose Aberdeenshire, came into his possession, and required by nature. About this time Dr. still remains in the family. His merits as Cullen delivered a course of lectures on agrian author having become generally known, culture, in a private manner, to a few of his and his abilities as a practical farmer being friends and favourite students, of which Anacknowledged, his acquaintance and correderson was the only one who took notes. spondence began to be courted by men of Many years afterwards a copy of these notes letters throughout the kingdom, and his was surreptitiously obtained from him, and, society sought by persons of the first respecmuch to his astonishment, advertised for tability in his own neighbourhood. In the publication as Cullen's Lectures on Agricul- year 1780 the honorary degrees of A.M. and tare. Dr. Anderson felt so much for his late LLD. were conferred upon him by the Unifriend's reputation on the prospect of his boy-versity of Aberdeen, not only without soliciish notes being published as a complete set of on his part, but before any commulectures, that his friends never observed him suffer more uneasiness or vexation on any other occasion; and he exerted himself so tation See his opinions on this transaction in his Recreations, vol, ii. p. 232. nication took place with him on the subject. In 1783, having previously arranged matters for the conducting of his farm, he removed to the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, principally, we believe, with a view to the education of his encreasing family, and influenced, no doubt, by a desire to live where he could enjoy more of literary society than was to be had in so remote a part of the country; and to this end no place could be more conducive than the northern metropolis. Previous to his departure from Aberdeenshire, he was actively employed in promoting measures for alleviating the distresses of the poorer classes in that county, owing to the failure of the crop of grain in 1782; and by his great exertions in exciting the attention of the neighbouring gentlemen to the state of the county on that trying occasion; we have reason to think that he was the principal ineans of averting the calamities of severe famine from that part of the kingdom. About the same year he printed and circulated among his friends, a proposal for establishing the Northern British Fisheries. This tract was never published, but the attention of Government being excited to the subject by it, he was applied to by the treasury to undertake a survey of the Western Coast of Scotland, for the purpose of obtaining on this important subject. This public-spirited enquiry he undertook, and accomplished in 1784, having a revenue cutter appointed to convey him round the coast; thus devoting his time and abilities to the public, much to the detriment of his own private affairs; and we are well assured he never received one shilling of remuneration from Government for this meritorious service, although the ministers expressed themselves perfectly satisfied with his performance of it; and it was even with great difficulty, and after many applications, that he obtained the reimbursement of his actual necessary expences incurred in the service. In 1788 he was deprived of his wife, a woman endowed with most of the excellencies which exalt the female character, and render it the chief source of comfort and happiness to man: to elegance of person were added an excellent and well-cultivated understanding, and an affectionate and honourable disposition. To expatiate further on the virtues of this admirable woman, would be foreign to our purpose; those of our readers who knew her will allow that what we have said is far short of her real merits. It will readily be supposed that the loss of such a woman would inflict a severe and lasting wound on Dr. Anderson's spirits; and though he strove to bear it with manly fortitude, he never completely recovered its effects, but was ever afterwards occasionally subject to a melancholy recollection of past times having, * See Report of the Committee appointed to enquire into the State of the British Fisheries, 11th May, 1785. About We the "eye big with the latent tear." this time he was employed in his researches on the subject of sheep, and the improvement of wool, in concert with Sir John Sinclair, his opinions thereupon delivered to the Highland Society, are before the public. next find him engaged in preparing for the publication of the Bee. This was a project he had long contemplated, namely, a weekly periodical work, designed for the dissemination of useful knowledge, which by its cheapness should be calculated for all ranks of people, while sufficient attention was paid to its various literary departments to render it respectable in the highest circles. His name was now so highly established, that the encouragement given by the public to this performance was wonderful, and nothing but great mismanagement, in conducting the commercial part of the work, for which, like most persons of similar habits, he was ill adapted, could have caused it to fail in being a yery profitable concern to him. His own writings form a conspicuous part of this book; some of them will be seen under the name of Senex, Timothy Hairbrain, Alcibia des, and the greater part of the matter without signature. It is painful to observe how seldom the genius to conceive and, instruct is united with sufficient perseverance to execute. the doctor takes an affecting leave of his readers at the end of the eighteenth volume, finding it impossible for him to contend longer with the difficulties he experienced in conducting it; and principally those of getting in the subscription money. During the progress of this work, he opened a correspondence with many eminent persons who were distinguished as literary and public spirited characters abroad and at home: among these we may mention General Washington, with whom he carried on an interesting correspondence, and Mr. Johnes, the elegant biographer of Froissart, &c. with whose intimate friendship he was honoured till the day of his death. In the course of this publication a circumstance happened that affords us an opportunity of admiring the steady independence of his spirit, and that firmness of conduct which conscious rectitude alone could inspire. At the time that the baneful effects of French revolutionary principles had perverted the senses of most classes of people, the Scottish metropolis was not the least conspicuous for its violence in the cause of mistaken freedom. At length Government considered it necessary to interfere in repres sing the dissemination of these destructive doctrines: prosecutions had already been commenced against several of the leading zealots, when our publisher received a summons to appear before the Sheriff, who demanded of him to give up the name of the author of the "Political Progress of Great Britain," a series of essays that had appeared in the Bee. This he peremptorily refu sed to do, requesting that he might be considered He was mained in it to excite any other than melan- sidered as the author himself. No one, how- seen He in in the neighbourhood of his farm are still highly sensible; and many of them own, that a great proportion of the agricultural improvements, so conspicuous in that part of the country, originated in him. Failings of a nature which too often accompany genius, however, deprived him of most of the benefits of his labours. He was deficient in that plodding perseverance which was necessary to mature the works he had begun; and he often neglected one object to adopt another. But above all, his utter negligence of pecuniary matters brought him into difficulties which embittered the best of his days; for to those affairs he could never be induced by any present necessity, or prospect of future gain, to pay common attention; and he was consequently always suffering great losses through his own inattention and the imposition of others. Of his industry and abilities, the best account we can give is, to refer to his own writings, a list of which we subjoin. Various as the subjects are, their tendency seems only one, that of making mankind better and happier. In his political tracts he pays less attention to the object of power for which governments usually contend, than to the improvement of society; and he deprecates the aggrandisement of the state at the expence of justice and morality. In his style, it will be observed, he attends more to perspicuity and force than to elegance or grammatical correctness. His language flows with natural ease, and never fails to convey his meaning without the least obscurity or ambiguity, though it frequently abounds with provincial idioms, prolix-sentences, over charged with relatives and tautology; yet the clearness of the sense, and the unconstrained simplicity of the diction, beguile the reader and lead him to pass over the faults without noticing them. That these faults proceeded more from carelessness than from any deficiency in grammatical knowledge, is evident from his writings on language and gramimar. Impatient of interfe rence, he rarely admitted of advice, but prosecuted his labours by himself. Of a lively fancy, he was warm in his friendships, and warm, sometimes bitter, in his resentments; but, if the ardour of his sentiments occasionally led him into error, his own candour soon corrected it; and when he thought he had received an injury, he made a maxim of avoiding to mention the author of it, lest his resentment should lead him to unjust accusations. The sense he entertained of the general meanness of avaricious characters, caused him to hold in rather too great, coutempt those who devote the whole of their attention to the improvement of their fortunes. In his younger days he was handsome in his person, of middle stature, and rooust constitution. Extremely moderate in his living, the country exercise animated his countenance with the glow of health; but the overstrained exection of his mental powers afterwards MONTHLY MAG. No. 183. impaired his health, ultimately wasted his faculties, and brought on the premature effects of old age. Many instances of inventive powers appear in his works: we shall here only notice a mode of draining swampy grounds by tapping, first invented by him, and published in 1776 in his Essays on Agriculture. Mr. Elkington having discovered the same method twenty years afterwards, a reward of 10001. was voted to him by Parliament for that invention. In the knowledge of the fine arts he bore a respectable rank, as also appears by his writings, one of the most remarkable of which, is an Essay on Grecian and Gothic Architecture, &c. He had a fine taste for gardening and rural scenery. An early example of this appeared in the laying out of the grounds about his residence, wherein he combined elegance with utility; a thing till of late seldom thought of in the contrivance of farm homesteads, especially in the north of Scotland. He had, as might be supposed from the general tenor of his pursuits, a particular turn for natural philosophy, or the investigation of physical causes and effects. As an example of his reasoning on this head, we may point out a paper in the first edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, published in July 1773, before the return of Cook from his first voyage, wherein he predicts the result of one of that navigator's enquiries, by pointing out from what was known of the trade-winds and monsoons, that there could not exist an extensive tract of land besides those already known in any other part of the southern hemisphere than that wherein New Holland was afterwards found to be situated. Of Dr. Anderson's numerous family only five sons have survived him, three of whom are settled in this metropolis, and two in India, and one daughter, already a widow, with five children. She was married in 1800 to the late Mr. Benjamin Outram, of Derbyshire, who died in 1805, in the prime of his life-a man of uncommon worth and talents, whose works as an engineer will remain lasting testimonies of his great and inventive genius. Dr. Anderson published a great number of eminent works. He was also the author of several articles for the Encyclop. Brit. 1st vol. Edin. among which are, under the heads Dictionary, winds and monsoons, language, sound. He contributed numerous essays, under a variety of signatures, in the early part of the Edin. Weekly Mag. the principal of which were, Agricola, Timoleon, Germanicus, Cimon, Scoto Britannus, E. Aberdeen, Henry Plain, Impartial, a Scot. He reviewed the subject of agriculture for the Monthly Review for several years. We understand he has left behind him several unpublished manuscripts, one in particular, An Address to the People of Scotland: this was intended to be the last thing he should ever publish: there are only 17 pages of this work written, which are on the subject of the poor laws. PROVINCIAL RI |