76$ 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1805. 



ID stron» terms. The turn of liis 

 mind docs not seem to have led him 

 to study (lie science of qiiantilij, for 

 proficiency in uhich Dr. Rcid nnd 

 Dr. Smith were m> eininenf. A\'li;iU 

 ever light such an antipathy niav 

 throw upon the peculiarity of his 

 mental character, it is certain that 

 it produced no good etlect during 

 the period of his n'rofessorship. 



The discoveries of Xe«ton had 

 excited an uncommon degree of ar- 

 dour in mathematical study, among 

 the British youth. The great 

 M'Lanrin had the merit of effecting 

 this in Scotland. Surpassed by none 

 in his eminence as a mathematician, 

 at once acquainted witii the ancient 

 and the modern geometry, aud pro- 

 foundly skilled in the modem ana- 

 lysis, he was also an early admirer 

 of the doctrines taught by Sir Isaac. 

 To those qualifications he added 

 those of being an admirable classical 

 scholar, and a very popular lecturer 

 on tiie mathematics, I rather ima- 

 gine, howeverj that the same success 

 as a teacher I'.ad not been expe- 

 rienced by him in Aberdeen, which 

 he met M'ith in Edinburgh, because 

 a zeal for this kind of study was not 

 remarkably cherished there, for a 

 considerable time after M'T^aiirin 

 (about 1721) Mcnt to Edinburgh. 



Besides the study of mathema- 

 tics, Beattie's attention was, dining 

 the second session, directed to his- 

 tory, geography, chVonology, with 

 an introduction to natural history. 



1 have not been able to ascertain 

 ^vhether Beattic studied any time 

 under professor "William Duncan, 

 the translator of Cicero's Orations, 

 ^c. and t]n^ translator al>o (a fact 

 which is not generally known) of the 

 second volume of what is commonly 

 called, •' \\'atson's Horace." Dun. 



can succeeded Dr. Vcrncr, about 

 the month of July, 1752. 



Dr. Beattie, as well as almost all 

 his relations, possessed a very cor- 

 rect ear for music. Even at a pe- 

 riod preceding this, the natural im- 

 pulse of his mind had induced him 

 to cultivate his talents in this way ; 

 and it is certain that he practised, 

 in the most busy j)art of his life, 

 what ho recommended to other stu- 

 dents in his works, and what con- 

 stituted the favourite amusement of 

 Luther and of Milton, in the inter- 

 vals between their ustial hours of se- 

 rious study. 



Beattie was now about to enter 

 the highest class in the academical 

 arrangements in (he university of 

 Aberdeen. lie could not have been 

 more fortunate in a ])rofessor, than 

 in the person who at that time was 

 to be his teacher ; this was Dr. Alex- 

 ander Gerard. 



The regular course of Marischal 

 College is completed in four years. 

 Beattie, in the usual time, took his 

 degree. To the greater number of 

 young men this must be considered 

 as one of the most important pe- 

 riods of their lives. AVhen they 

 were sent to the university, the de- 

 sign was, that they should be there- 

 by fitted to discharge with proprie- 

 ty and honour the parti(;ular duties 

 of the profession of which they had 

 made choice. A youth of modesty 

 or delicacy, however aspiring his 

 views, however slender his finances, 

 and whatever sense he might have of 

 the difticulties which he had to en- 

 counter, before he accomplished his 

 aims, was now obliged to declare 

 himself. If his parents, or, as in 

 the present case, if others had sup- 

 ported him, or had exerted them- 

 selves to the utmost in his behalf, it 



vras 



