ft*' 



Biographical Sketch of the late Dvgald Stewart, Esq. 205 



could once be banished from our minds, it would soon be 

 found that all circumlocution for avoiding the terms infinite- 

 ly/ small, infinitely great, and even orders of infinities, might 

 be dismissed from mathematical language, without produ- 

 cing uncertainty, mystery, or confusion. I consider, therefore, 

 Mr Dugald Stewart as a distinguished writer in the higher 

 departments of mathematics, and eo nomine entitled to our re- 

 spect and our regard." 



The following general view of Mr Stewart's character is given 

 by one who had every opportunity of knowing it well. * 



'' In general company, his manner bordered on reserve; 

 but it belonged more to the general weight and authority of 

 his character, than to any reluctance to take his share in the 

 cheerful intercourse of social life. He was ever ready to ac- 

 knowledge with a smile the happy sallies of wit, and no man 

 had a keener sense of the ludicrous, or laughed more heartily 

 at genuine humour. His deportment and expresion were easy 

 and unembarrassed, dignified, elegant, and graceful. His po- 

 liteness was equally free from all affectation, and from all pre- 

 meditation. It was the spontaneous result of the purity of his 

 own taste, and of a heart warm with all the benevolent affec- 

 tions, and was characterized by a truth and readiness of tact 

 that accommodated his conduct with undeviating propriety to 

 the circumstances of the present moment, and to the relative 

 siuation of those to whom he addressed himself. From an 

 early period of life, he had frequented the best society both 

 in France and in this country, and he had in a peculiar degree 

 the air of good company. ,In the society of ladies he appear- 

 ed to great advantage, and to women of cultivated understand- 

 ing, his conversation was particularly acceptable and pleasing. 

 The immense range of his erudition, the attention he had be- 

 stowed on almost every branch of philosophy, his extensive ac- 

 quaintance with every department of elegant literature ancient 

 or modern, and the fund of anecdote and information which 

 he had collected in the course of his intercouse with the world, 

 with respect to almost all the eminent men of the day, either 



this country or in France, enabled him to find suitable sub- 



* Notice of the late Dugald Stewart, Esq. in the Annual Biography and 

 Obituary for 1828. 



