arts and sciences in that kingdom, and for his patronage of the celebrated James Watt, who, under his roof, brought to maturity his own improvement of the steam engine: so that Kinneil may be considered as an academy of the two philsophies. Thither Parr went in 1819, and there was received as one great man must be received by another; and how he was estimated we may learn from Mrs. Dugald Stewart's declaration, that she had never seen any one there before who was equal to her husband, but she was proud to have Parr under her roof, who was his superior.

Professor Dugald Stewart, to Dr. Parr.

DEAR SIR,

Edinburgh, 30th May, 1801. The pleasure I received from your very kind and flattering letter was increased to a degree, which I am unable to express, by the subsequent perusal of your sermon. A coincidence of opinion with so superior a mind on some of the most important subjects of human speculation, I feel as a substantial addition to the happiness of my life. Nor can I help reflecting, with a new satisfaction, on the tendency of what I have written, when I find myself numbered by Dr. Parr among the authors who have attempted to throw "a pure and steady light upon moral truth."

The general train of thought and reasoning which runs through your discourse, meets with my warmest approbation; and the powerful effect of your eloquence in all your appeals to the heart, I consider as the most unequivocal test of the soundness of your philosophy. The admirable strictures on Godwin are, at the present moment, peculiarly seasonable. I know of no book, in our times, which has done so much mischief among half-informed readers; nor, indeed, can I conceive a system more dextrously contrived in all its parts for retarding the progress of human improvement, or the cause of rational freedom.

Your sermon, however, (luminous as it is in its principles, and pathetic in its practical application,) has scarcely instructed and delighted me more than the philosophical erudition, and discriminating criticism, displayed in your notes. The liberal and benevolent spirit so conspicuous in all of them cannot fail, with candid minds, to operate powerfully in favour of the truths which you have laboured to recommend.

In looking over the works of our modern Divines, I have been often astonished and mortified to observe the facility with which so many of them have joined issue with Mr. Hume and Helvetius, in depreciating the powers of the human intellect, and in ridiculing what is commonly called the light of nature. That "to be a philosophical sceptic is, in a man of letters, the first step towards being a sound, believing Christian," is a maxim which might have been expected to awaken some suspicion, when connected with the general scope of Mr. Hume's writings. That "Christianity, on the contrary, presupposes the truth of natural religion, and that whatever weakens the evidences of the latter, must a fortiori injure the interests of the former," is a proposition sanctioned by the opinions of Dr. Clarke, and consonant to the common sense of mankind. And yet I am much afraid that the language of the Divine, in this instance, accords less than that of the philosopher, with the theological doctrines of the present day.

The eloquent and philosophical strain in which you have expressed yourself on this subject, added to the just celebrity of your name, and to the authority of those earlier writers of the English Church whom you have called to your aid, will, I trust, go far to discountenance so dangerous an error. Many of the passages which you have collected from these are highly valuable; and they contain, (as you have justly remarked,) "without any attempt to preserve the peculiar forms, or to employ the technical language of philosophical investigation, the germ of thoughts which have been expanded into fuller luxuriance, in the more popular productions of latter times."

Among your predecessors of a more modern date I am particularly delighted with the praise you have bestowed on Butler, whose conclusions concerning the productions of morality (although they seem to me to approach nearer to the truth

than those of any other author) have had hitherto very little influence on the speculations of subsequent writers in the southern part of the island. Nothing has indeed surprised me more, among the capricious directions which public opinion has taken, since I first began to reflect on such questions, than the popularity which has been acquired by such ethical systems, founded on principles long ago exploded, so completely, by that excellent author.

I am by no means insensible to the merits of Mr. Paley; but I can scarcely persuade myself that Butler's discourses on Human Nature, and his Dissertation on Virtue, have been perused by him and his followers with the attention which the importance of the argument demanded.

Upon the whole, I can with great truth assure you, that I regard your volume as a lasting and splendid monument to your learning, eloquence, philosophy, benevolence, and piety; and I shall indulge the hope, that it may prove the precursor to other works from your pen, in further illustration of the same doctrines.

I am very sorry to learn from your advertisement that your health has been indifferent; and from your letter that your sight is weak. I hope, however, that these circumstances will induce you the sooner to accomplish your visit to Edinburgh. You will find a comfortable and quiet apartment in my house ready for your reception, and a most cordial welcome from Mrs. Stewart and myself.

I shall request your acceptance, in a few weeks, of a biographical account of our late principal, Dr. Robertson. The undertaking was not altogether a matter of choice, as I have neither talents nor inclination for that species of writing; but some particular circumstances rendered it, on my part, an indispensable duty. I have found myself also obliged to yield to the wishes of some of my friends in drawing up a short memoir with respect to the life and writings of Dr. Reid. With this performance (which is now nearly finished) I hope to close for ever my attempts as a biographer.

I ever am, with the greatest respect, my dear Sir, your much obliged, and most obedient friend and servant, DUGALD STEWART.

CHAPTER XIX.

Terentianus Maurus, &c.

Among Parr's other projected works, when he was released from the drudgery and cares of a Preceptor, was an edition of Terentianus Maurus de Literis, Syllabis, Pedibus, et Metris. This book had been sent forth from the press of Colinæus Nic. Brissæus, with a very imperfect Commentary, and there were other editions so little illustrative of the obscure subjects, that Mr. Tunstall, of Christ's College, Cambridge, was encouraged to publish a new edition; for which purpose, through the patronage of Dr. Seale,* Chaplain to Archbishop Moore, the MS. notes of Dr. John Taylor on Terentianus Maurus, belonging to the University of Cambridge, were confided to his care. There are several letters from Mr. Tunstall on this subject, written to Dr. Parr, of which the following will display sufficiently Mr. Tunstall's occupation, and Dr. Parr's assistance in it:

DEAR SIR,

London, June 21, 1787.

I have met with nothing but disappointments in the very objects where my success could have made me happy. The world, I am afraid, is not much my friend, and therefore, whatever may be the occasion of my misfortune, the fault will be said to lie in myself, and not with my employers. As I feel

* John Barlow Seale, D. D. Fellow of Christ College.

within myself the greatest reverence for the generosity of that patronage which has already protected me, I should be most miserable were I to appear as an object where your favours had been misapplied. But I think a detail of the littlenesses of my accusers, and the unimportance of the accusations, below the dignity of epistolary correspondence, and hope you will extend your usual candour to me till Dr. Shepherd or myself may have the pleasure of seeing you. As you had the goodness to say that you would revise the collection that I should make of Dr. Taylor's notes, I have taken the liberty of sending it to you. My poor thanks for your kindness are but of little moment; but Terentianus Maurus will be a testimony to the world how much I am indebted to you. Mr. Seale, who has just left London and gone into Kent, tells me that he thinks it will be two months before I can get Terentianus Maurus to the press; and I am not very sorry for it. Taylor seems to me to have made little progress in the final execution of his work. There are not, I think, complete notes to above 200 lines. But though the ground-work still remains, yet the superstructure will be much lost; for Taylor seems to have had an excellent method of embellishing and raising his work. I have collected all his notes, references, &c., which are more dispersed and confounded than ever the Sybil's leaves were. I have aimed at accuracy, though there are yet some references whose affinity I cannot discover. I have found great inconvenience from his short hand, and not being able to apply to his references. In his Analecta he seems to have taken no notice of the annotations of Mr. Hotchkiss and some others; but I have given place to all those I thought the most plausible. I rather suspect he must have had some other manuscript; for in the Sanct. edition, which I have sent you, and which I suppose he meant to have printed by, there are many observations which I have not met with in the old Adversaria. The punctuation, as far as it goes, seems much the same as this edition of Brissæus; I have therefore proceeded in the Sanct. edition, where Taylor left off, with the punctuation after the old Adversaria. As to the Gerund in do, I find that Terentian has made it short in four instances. Taylor refers to Servius, Æn. 4th, 413. So upon the diphthongs, rhythm, &c. he gives references without drawing any conclusions. Are the references sufficient?