4:56 On a late Election of a Prqfejfor at Edinburgh. [Dec. 1 , 



and abfurdity of his adverfary are to 

 neatly expofed, that laughter is foine- 

 tlines unavoidable. It may be called 

 the wit ofieafon. The points in quellioo 

 are of very little general importance ; 

 but tlie pamphlet, as a candid, acute, 

 and fatisfaotory piece of reafoning, is 

 calculated to afford entertainment to all 

 v\lio can he entertained by the beauty of 

 a denii'.nlhation. 



The third queftion of any importance, 

 treated of in the three pamphlets, re- 

 lates, as we have already obferved, to 

 the motives by which the nhnilters, ia 

 their oppofition to Mr. Lellie, were ac- 

 tuated. 



Mr. Playfair, in his Letter to the Pro- 

 voft, maintains that, if the practice of 

 uniting profeilbrfliips uith church-livings 

 fliould gnin gr<jund, la}raen would be 

 almolb nectjiarily excluded from the- 

 univerfity of Edinburs;h ; and, wiien they 

 came forward as candidates, would aU 

 moft always have a powerful combina- 

 tion of niiniliers in Edinbiu'gh a^ainil 

 theui. The Examiner afhrms, that no 

 luch combination exilted ; arid that it is 

 uiicandid to fuppofe them capable of 

 combination. Mr. Ptayfair, in his Letter 

 to theExaminer, fays, among other things, 

 " Is it not notorious. Sir, to all the 

 world that the miniiters of Edinburgh 

 have combined r^—that they have com- 

 bined to oppole Mr. Lcllie's election by 

 nuans that it is iuipoffible to juUify ? 

 Still you atiiriu that they ha\e not. They 

 unite in writing a pamphlet, and virtu- 

 ally fet their names to it, in order to 

 fupport tite meafures in qucllion : and 

 yet, with this Round liobtn in your 

 hands, you come forward exclaiming that 

 there IS no combination ; you aihancc 

 at the head of this ecclefiaitical phalanx, 

 crying, M'oe to him that fays we have 

 combined together! Tliere can luirdly 

 be a greater outrage on connnon fenfe, 

 than fiich conduct as this. The more 

 loudly you raiic your voice, tlie more 

 anger and violence you betray, the mor» 

 dillicult do you render it to give cricdit 

 to your alVertions. If any of the conir 

 binations for railing wa<:es, that happen 

 to be the olije(!-ts of lecal animadverlion, 

 "ere proved \vith half tlie evidence that ' 

 this admits of, the puniihment of the 

 ringleaders would be inevitable." p. 39, 

 — " ^'ou remark, with much warmth, 

 that it has been thought necefiary to lYig- 

 niati/e'fuch charges a iainft the ininifters 



the Rev Dr. Hunter, profcffor of di- 

 vinity ; it was truly apoftolical find pa- 

 ternal. 



If there were really pretty good ground 

 for lufpeciing Lellie of atheifin, he inigiit 

 lull be a \ try good teacher of mathp- 

 inatics ; though n(jt of divinity, pncu- 

 matology, moral philofophy, or e\en, 

 perhaps, of tiic dead languages. Ar- 

 chimedes was not a chriftian ; nor A- 

 poll(,nius, nor Euclid. The auLhors of 

 dilcoveries and inventions were not all 

 of them chiduans, nor even theifts. 

 Agriculture, the moll uleful of all the 

 arts, was firft tanght by the hog : the 

 uncommon luxuriance of the vegetal;les 

 that fprang up in hi? furrows, firlt tanght 

 Tnan to till the grOLi.^id and f)w feeds. 

 Now this is no difparagcment to Pro- 

 feifor Coventry. 



After all liiat has befn urged in de- 

 fence of Mr. Leilie's note, 1 miiil fay 

 of this what he iiays of Sir Ifaac's invifi- 

 T)le irchers: it was in an evil hour that 

 he threw out this bally note, for which 

 there docs not appeiu' to have been any 

 necelhty. 



iib !o the queftion, whether it be for 

 the interelis of the uni\eifity of Edin- 

 burgh that profeiforlhips ihould be united 

 vith church-livings, it is decided in the 

 negative, beyond all pollibiliiy of doubt, 

 by Mr. Playfair's admirable Letter on 

 the fubje6t to the lord provoft of Edin- 

 burgh, above quoted. Jiut Mr. Play- 

 fair's reafoning, wliMtevcr conviction it 

 may have produced in the mind of the 

 Examiner of Mr. Stewart's pamphlet, 

 does not filence him ; though he cannot 

 be faid to reafon fairly with Mr. Playfair, 

 nor even, properly fpeaking, to wrangle. 

 He only nibbles, and, as well as he can, 

 keeps up a gabble. Were all that the 

 examining rninillcr contends for con- 

 ceded to him, the polition, that it is not 

 for the interell of the nniveifty that 

 profeflbrfliips iLould Lcuniled vvithch'.nrh 

 livings, would remain incontrovertible. 

 The proverbial phrafe, Maleriuin Jhpei- 

 ebat ojiu.i, was never fo applicable as to 

 Mr. Playfair's Letter to Jthe Examiner. 

 It is a piece of pure reafnning. animated, 

 though unmixed with any degree of ma- 

 lignant paflion. There is, indeed, not a 

 little fatire iti it ; and wit or ridicule too. 

 Not that the profeflor feems to aim de- 

 fignedly at either; but his conclvilions are 

 fo fair and pointed, fo Iharpcned by the 

 atitithelis of truth and cnin; right and 

 T\roiig, and the artifice, iuconliliency, 



of Ediiibui^h witii the epithets they d& 



