436 



Memoirs of Professor Gregory. 



[June 1, 



standing his national warmth of heart, he 

 had no little of the stoic in his composition: 

 and if his mind seemed often clouded and 

 inactive from a constitutional indolence, 

 the occasional calls of his favourite pursuit 

 (generally rendered it to a sufficient degree 

 vigorous and acute. With a far inferior 

 stock of real merit, or an exalted one of 

 demerit, many a name has become memo- 

 rable. In the annals of human kindness 

 that of Bunbury shall not be forgotten ; 

 ■whilst his failings, trifling when weighed 

 in the balance, shall sleep with him in the 

 tomb. Ne quid falsi dicere audeaf, ne 

 qnidveri non audeat. 



He was twice married ; first, to Lady 

 Sarah Lennox, sister to the patriot Duke of 

 Richmond ; and afterwards, within the last 

 twenty years, happily, to his present widow, 

 a lady of great beauty in her youth, and of 

 the most amiable and charitable disposi- 

 tion. 



Sir Charles is succeeded in his title and 

 estates by his nephew. Sir Henry Edward 

 Bunbury, resident during some time at 

 IMilden Hall, who was knighted for his ser- 

 vices in the late war, at the battle of Maida, 

 and who takes a decidedly patriotic part 

 in politics. He published his sentiments 

 on the existing state of public afl'airs, last 

 autumn, with an acuteness, force, and ele- 

 gance of diction, which did not fail of a 

 proportionate effect ; and his late speech 

 at the Stowmarket meeting would have 

 done honour to the feeling, patriotic fire, 

 and political wisdom of Fox, the friend and 

 compatriot of his late uncle. L. 



DR. GREGORY OF EDINBURGH. 



This gentleman was long at the head 

 of the Medical School and the Medical 

 Practice of Edinburgh, and to his great 

 talents and distinguished character much, 

 not only of the eminence of the University, 

 but also of the prosperity of that city, was 

 to be ascribed. For above forty years he 

 annually taught the Medical Students of 

 the University the most important part of 

 their professional duties; and an admira- 

 tion oC his abilities, and reverence for his 

 character, have, in consequence, extended 

 not only as far as the English language is 

 spoken, buf as far as the light of civiliza- 

 tion has spread in the world. 



He was appointed in the year 1776, at 

 the early age of 23, to the professorship of 

 the Theory of Physic, and he continued to 

 teach this class, with great distinction, for 

 fourteen years. As a ext book for his 

 lectures, he published, in the year 1782, 

 his Conspectus Medicia Theoretic6P,whic\x 

 soon became a work of standard reputa- 

 tion over all Europe, not only in conse- 

 quence of the scientific merits which it 

 possessed, but the singular felicity of clas- 

 sical language with which it was written. 

 In the year 1790 he was appointed, in con- 



sequence of the death of Dr. Cullen, to 

 the chair of the Practice of Physic, the 

 most important medical professorship in 

 the University ; and for .32 years he sus- 

 tained and increased the celebrity which 

 the eminence of his predecessor had con- 

 ferred upon the office. 



During this long period, the fame which 

 his talents had acquired attracted students 

 from all parts of the world, all of whom 

 returned with a feeling of reverence for 

 his character, more nearly resembling that 

 which the disciples of antiquity felt for their 

 instructors, than any thing which is gene- 

 rally experienced. Of the estimation in 

 which his scientific merits were held 

 throughout Europe, it is sufficient proof, 

 that he is one of the few of our country- 

 men who have been honoured with a sea* 

 in the Institute of France ; a distinction 

 which is only confeiTed upon a very small 

 and select number of foreigners. 



As a literary man he has long enjoyed a 

 very high reputation. His acute and disi 

 criminating mind was early devoted to the 

 study of Metaphysics, and to his reputa- 

 tion as an accomplished scholar all the weH 

 informed persons in both parts of the island 

 can bear testimony. He was one of the 

 few men who have rescued this countrjr 

 from the imputation of a deficiency in clas- 

 sical taste, which is thrown upon it with 

 too much justice by our southern neierh- 

 bours, and demonstrated, that the vigour 

 of Scottish talent may be combined with 

 the elegatice of English accomplishments. 

 He was one of the last of that illustri- 

 ous body of literary and scientific men, 

 whose labours gave distinction to their 

 country during the latter part of the last 

 century ; and among the names of his in- 

 timate friends may be ranked those of al- 

 most all his cotemporaries, who will be re- 

 membered in future ages as men of science 

 or learning; of Cullen and Black, ofReid 

 and Smith, and Stewart ; and we will ven- 

 ture to say, that the spot where his remains 

 now lie interred, beside those of Adam 

 Smith, will long be visited by the admirers 

 of Scottish genius, as fitted to awaken no 

 common recollections. 



Great, however, as was his reputation as 

 a Professor and as a man of science and li- 

 terature, it was yet inferior to that which 

 his character had acquired among his per- 

 sonal friends. Descended by the father's 

 side from a long and memorable "line of 

 ancestors, among whom the friend and co- 

 temporary of Newton is numbered ; and by 

 the mother's from one of the most ancient 

 noble families of Scotland, his character 

 was early formed on an elevated model, 

 and throughout his whole life he combined, 

 in a degree seldom equalled, the stu- 

 dies and acquirements of a man of science, 

 with the tastes and honourable feelings of 

 a highborn gentleman. While bis namcj 



