.-Clit 



Account of ProfcJJor Dahell. 



[Jan. 1, 



firft principjes of claffical knowledge, at the 

 public fchool of his native parifli. He went, 

 thence, to the fchools and tlie univeifity of 

 Edinburgh. The gentlcnefs and purity of'his 

 manners, the difcretion and propriety o!' iiis 

 conducV, his enthufialm tor found and elegant 

 literature, and liis extraordinary proficiency 

 in it, rc.ommendc'l him to tlic particuLir no- 

 tice of the lale Earl of Lauderdale, when 

 that nobleman was looking out for a tutor to 

 \\\i eldeft Ion, the negotiator who lias fo re- 

 cently foiled the artifices of Talleyrand, 

 Clarke, and Chan-pjyny, at I'aris. He fu- 

 pcrintcnded the private ftudies and amufe- 

 mcnts of liis noble pupil j aliifted his txcr- 

 cifes in the univerfity ; was with him in I)ear. 

 ing the lefturcs of Miliar, the famous juridi- 

 cal prcftlfor, of Glaf;^o-.v j and aiterkvards ac- 

 companied him to Faris. Upon liis return 

 from the Continent, he was, at the recom- 

 mendation of the lite eari of Lauderdale, ap- 

 pointed to fuccced Mr. Hunter in the profcf- 

 ibiHiip of the Gre^k language at Edinburgh. 

 From this hour, began his career ofgre.it ind 

 jlluftrious public ufefiilnefs. Clallical learning 

 had been on the decline at Edinburgh, from 

 the time when the public lefturcs ceafcd to 

 be read in the Latin language, and when 

 French literature, and compofitlon in Eng- 

 lifli, came to be much in vogue. Even while 

 t'leFoulis' were puiOilliing their famous edi- 

 tions of the Creek Ciadics at Glafgow, and 

 while Moore, one of the nioft ingenious phi- 

 iologifts, and the nioll profound and accurate 

 Greek fchohr, of the age, was teaching in 

 the univerfity of th.it city j Grecian learning 

 was very little regarded at Edinburgh. The llu- 

 dento in|Divinity were content if they learned 

 deck enough to read the Greek Tcilament ; 

 candidates for the higher honors in medicine, 

 fought juft as much of this la.^guage, a? (hould 

 enable them to fpell out the Aphorifms of 

 Hippocrates : none cll'e cared for Greek. 

 Mr. Dalzcll, from the moment of his ap- 

 pointment, thought only, how to mmmuni- 

 cate that pallion which he himfclf felt, for 

 the richell and moft polilhed language of an- 

 tiquity. He adopted the ufe of Moore s Gr.im- 

 mar, the tnortcft, the nioft accurate, and the 

 molb eafily intelligible that had been publilh- 

 ed. To fupply the deficiency of its latter 

 part, he dictated Iclfons, ihort, perlpicuous, 

 elegant, us the Rules of Aloorc. His fup- 

 plementary Syntax of the prepofitions, and 

 other parts of fpecch, was ad'mirab e He 

 explained tlie pafiages of Herodotus, of Xeno- 

 phon, of Thucydides, of Homer, of which 

 the fcntiments and imagery were the moil 

 adapted to win upon young minds, with a 

 cle.irncfs of intelligence, and with a fweet 

 and ardent yet moaeit enthuCafm, which it 

 was impolfible to rtnft. Of a frame of mind 

 remarkably congenial with that of Plato j he 

 toak delight to leleCl the beauties o:' th:t phi- 

 Ijlopber's Di.ilogucs, for the ufe o.' his pu- 

 P'ls. He inftruilcd them in tiie clearen: and 

 mult lively parts of the Critical and ithkal 



Trafls of Ariftotle. The tragedies of Sopho- 

 cles and Euripides furnifhed fcenes of which 

 tlie intev.-ll particularly nflifted his endeavours 

 in favor of Grecian learning. From the 

 Lyric anJPaftorai Poets, from .^fop, .^iian, 

 Theopliraftus, I.uclan, from the Epi^^ramma- 

 tifts, and efpecially from Demotthenes mid the 

 other orators, he culled whatever wai the moft 

 intelligible and attr.i^flive to young mindi, 

 with a diligence, and a fond fol!citude almoft 

 without example. 1 htfe feletlions formed the 

 courfs of readings, in which it v.as his defire 

 to engage and detain his ftudcnts for at leaft 

 four or rive feflions. At firft, he only indi- 

 cated whit books he wiihed the ftudmts to 

 provide themfelves with, for the readings in 

 their rcfpcftive clafles. But, the variety anl 

 the cxpenfe were, too great: and his other en- 

 deavours would have been defeated, if his zeal 

 for the revival of Greek learning, his tender 

 inteveft in the inftruftion of his pupils,and che 

 coiifcience he put in thediTcharge of his duty, 

 had not excited him to compile and print, at a 

 confiderablc expenfe, and with extraordinary 

 pains and labor, a feries of ColieCiions out of 

 the Greek authors, including all thofe paf-. 

 fages which he wiihed to explain 4n teaching 

 the language. 'Ihefe were piint d in fevera! 

 volumes, under the titles of Cclldclar.cu M]- 

 n'^ru and CoJcc!i.'nea l\fi3Jyra. He added, In 

 each volume, Ihort notes in Latin, explann- 

 tory of the difncult places. '1 he Greek Texts 

 were printed with fingular accuracy. The 

 Notes are admirable for brevity ,perfpituity, and 

 judgment. His Latinity, in the Notts, and 

 in (hort Prefaces to the feveral parts of the 

 Colleftim, is the molt remarkable for deli- 

 cate propriety and genuine power of claflic.il 

 expreflion, perhaps of any thing that h^s been, 

 for many years, written, in this country, in a 

 learned laifguagc. He, at the fame time, 

 compofed and read to the ftudents, a leries of 

 leftuieson the language and antiquities, the 

 philofophy and the hillory, the literature, the 

 eloquence, the poetry, and the fine .irts of 

 the Greeks. Thofe lefturcs were tf.e refult 

 of the unren/ilting (ludy of the Grecian au- 

 thors themfelves ; of a diligent comparifon of 

 thofe originals with every collateral ilhiilra- 

 tion which was to be found ; of intimate ac- 

 quaintance witli the beft modern writers in 

 hillory, phllolbphy, poetry, and criticifm. 

 The compolition was unatfefledly elegant. 

 The train of the Icitures was beautifully con- 

 fecutive and fylVematic. Mr. Daktll was 

 careful to read them with a flow, diflinfl, 

 emphatic, and yet ea'y elocution, the molt 

 convenient to the ear and the undt-rftanding. 

 There v.as ?. fuavity in his voice and nianner 

 than which nothing could well be more at- 

 traftive. His enthufi.lfm for every excel- 

 lence appertaining to the Greeks, was, from 

 time to time, breaking out in emotions ariecl- 

 ing his voice and manner. And it was at- 

 cempted with an ingenious modefty; fome- 

 times timi.l, as if he had been in the prefence 

 of the molt di.linguifhei judges; .ind, cei- 

 2 tainfy. 



