LIFE of Dr BUCK. 113 



to be chofea by others. Many years member of a foclety * com- 

 pofed of men of the higheft rank, of Judges, lawyers and mili- 

 tary men, ns well as citizens and profelfed men of letters ; he 

 kept his place with propriety, and in this group never betrayed 

 any awkward peculiarity of his education or calling. His more 

 intimate affociates and friends, befides thofe of his own profef- 

 fion CuLLEN and Monro, were James Watt, now of Birming- 

 ham, an engineer of the firft order, whether ancient or modern, 

 and who has happily united, in the grounds of his art, chemical 

 as well as mechanical fcience ; Mr Geddes of the Glafs-works 

 at Leith, an eminent manufa(5turer, w^ho well knew the value of 

 his friend's fuggeftions. Such intimates as thele could fcarcely al- 

 low Black to relax from the toils of his profeflional ftudies. But 

 he had others, for whom his profefflon had no charm, and 

 whofe attachment to him, as to one another, arofe from the ex- 

 perience of ingenuity and candour, rather than the identity of 

 ftudies, or agreement of opinions. Such were Davzd Hu me, Efq," 

 Dr Adam Smith, John Home, Alexander Carlyle; and 

 John Clerk of Elden,of whomthe laft, without having ever been 

 at fea, inftrufled the navy itfelf in naval tadtics. At the head of 

 either lift, however, in refpedl to Black's habits of intimacy, 

 ought, perhaps, to have been placed James Hutton, who made 

 up in phyfical fpeculation all that was wanting in any of the 

 others. It may be difficult to fay, whether the chara<fl:ers of 

 Black and Hutton, fo often mentioned together, were moft to 

 be remarked for refemblance or contraft. Both profound in 



P 2 phyfical 



* This fociety formed itfelf, about the year 1770, upon a principle of ieal for 

 the Militia, and a coaviflion that there could be no lafting fecurity for the free- 

 dom and independence of thefe iilands, but in the valour and patriotifm of an armi- 

 ed people. It became known, b/ fome 'whimilcal accident^ by the name of the 

 PoierClub. 



