GOOD’s LIFE 
pleader-like a partiality for John of 
Gaunt. Much light is thrown upon 
the minor poems of Chaucer; their 
chronological order seems satisfactorily 
arranged, and their design ascertained 
with as much precision or probability as 
could on so remote a subject be expected. 
Some facts also respecting his life have 
been recovered from public records, 
which, if not of material importance, at 
Jeust attest the diligence of the bio- 
grapher, and appear in their proper 
place. 
' Should Mr. Godwin undertake any 
pther history, (and he has now some ca. 
OF GEDDES. 478 
pital to begin with,) we advise him to 
recollect that unity is of as much impor- 
tance in history as in the drama. He 
should also regulate the size of his work 
by his materials, and not his materials 
by the size of the work. Books which - 
are made by the piece, will never be 
-made well. The work for whichthese 
late studies have best qualified him, and 
for which perhaps the public would be 
most indebted to him, would be an edi- 
tion of the works of Chaucer, exclusive 
of the Canterbury Tales. This would 
really be an acquisition to English li- 
terature. 
Agr. HI. Memoirs of the Life and Writings of the Reverend Alexander Geddes, LL. D. 
By Joun Mason Goon. 
THE late Dr, Geddes was certainly 
one of those characters of superior in- 
terest, who not only acquire during 
their lives a portion of celebrity, but 
are entitled to more permanent comme- 
moration, and justly claim a place in 
the records of posthumous fame. He 
Was not merely the tranquil and retired 
scholar orsphilosopher, whose life glides 
away with litile diversity of event, aud 
little scope for observation; his mind 
| presented bold and prominent features, 
_ worthy of the examination and analysis 
of the moralist; and his fortune and 
connexions placed him in situations more 
warious and Jess common than usually 
a to the lot of men of letters. The 
_ foss.of the detailed biography of such a 
“man would have caused a deficiency in. 
the history of literature, which would 
have been justly the subject of regret. 
__ Dr. Geddes has had the fortune to 
have met with a biegrapher worthy of 
him, in a man of learning and taste, 
versed in those studies, the pursuit of 
which had been the principal object of 
te own literary labours. ‘The claims of 
. Mr..Good to public notice, were not to 
be first established by his present work: 
asa poet and linguist he has already 
1 
~ displayed powers and attainments of a 
highly respectable order. He possessed 
also the singular advantage of intimate 
“acquaintance with the subject of his 
Marration; his work therefore contains 
all the requisite materials of authenti. 
city and important information, which 
fly vindicate him in having presented 
it to public notice, and which gave in- 
_deed’to the public a sort of claim upon 
his labour. 
_ Alexander Geddes was a native of 
8vo. pp. 580. 
Scotland. He was born in the year 
1737, of parents in a humble station of 
life, his father being the tenant of a 
small farm in the county of Banff, and 
inreligious profession a roman catholic, 
In a remote viliage of Scotland, “ extra 
anni solisque vias,” under the instruction 
of a village-matron, the future biblical 
critic received his first’ rudiments of 
tearning. In the scanty library which 
his father’s cottage might be expected to 
afford, the principal volume was an 
English bible. In opposition to the com- 
mon prejudice, that vernacular transla-. 
tions have been uniformly discouraged 
by the catholics, this volume he was 
taught by his parents to read with rever- 
ence and attention. It is a very ad. 
missible speculation of his biographer, 
that to this accidental circumstance may 
be traced, in some measure, the future 
complexion of his literary life. 
From the humble species of instruc- 
tion, of which alone he had hitherto 
enjoyed the opportunity, he was trans- 
ferred gratuitously and liberally to the 
more useful care of a tutor, employed 
by the laird of the district in the edu- 
cation of his own sons. From this 
tuition he was removed to Scalan, an 
obscure seminary in the highlands, li-. 
mited to the education of youths in- 
tended for the clerical office in the roman 
catholic church, whose education is to 
be completed in some foreign university. 
This college, not less melancholy than 
the paraclete of Abelard, is described 
as situated in a vale, “so deeply ex- 
cavated and overhung with surrounding 
hills, as to require almost as constant a 
use of the lamp, as the subterranean 
cell of Demosthenes.” 
