CAMPBELL. 



Campbell, that interesting occasion, Wo d row has given a very 

 George. p art i cu l ar an d affecting account, which is highly 

 worthy of the reader's perusal, and of which he 

 may also see a beautiful abridgment in Fox's History 

 of the Reign of James II. See Wodrow's History 

 of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland; Bur- 

 net's History of his own Times ; Scots Mist cleared 

 up ; Original MSS. in the possession of^Mr Black- 

 wood, Bookseller, Edinburgh. (?) 



CAMPBELL, GEORGE, D. D. was born at Aber- 

 deen, on the 25th of December 1719- His father, who 

 was one of the ministers of that city, died suddenly 

 in 1728, and left his family, consisting of three sons 

 and thre daughters, in circumstances not very af- 

 fluent. This event, which at first bore an unfavour- 

 able aspect on the future fortunes of young George, 

 proved advantageous to him, by the necessity of per- 

 sonal exertion which it imposed, and by the early 

 and powerful stimulus which it gave to the innate 

 energies of his mind. He studied the languages at 

 the grammar school and university of his native 

 place. In the former, the Latin tongue was taught 

 with great ability, and in the latter, a taste and 

 zeal for Grecian literature had been happily intro- 

 duced by Professor Blackwell, whose eminence in 

 that department is well known to every scholar. 

 George Campbell made great proficiency in both, 

 and thus laid the foundation of that critical erudition 

 by which he was afterwards so much distinguished. 

 At first he intended to follow the profession of a 

 lawyer, and actually served an apprenticeship with a 

 writer to the signet in Edinburgh. But, from what 

 cause it is not known, he soon abandoned that view, 

 and began to qualify himself for the clerical office. 

 The short time, however, which he spent in study- 

 ing law was attended with advantage, as it furnished 

 him with a general knowledge of that important 

 subject, accustomed him to closeness and ingenuity 

 of reasoning, and gave him the faculty of drawing 

 up papers with accuracy and skill. And though in 

 making these acquisitions he had been tempted to 

 neglect his Greek, yet he soon recovered what he 

 had thus lost, when exertion and application became 

 necessary. Having attended the theological classes, 

 both at Edinburgh and Aberdeen, during the requi- 

 site number of years, and having undergone the pro- 

 bationary trials prescribed by the laws of the church 

 in such cases, he was licensed to preach the gospel 

 by the presbytery of Aberdeen, on the llth of June 

 1746. In the following year he was a candidate for 

 the parish of Fordoun, but for reasons which it is 

 unnecessary to mention, he did not succeed in the ap- 

 plication. Another year, however, did not elapse, 

 till he received preferment. In 1748, he was ordain- 

 ed minister of Banchory Ternan, in the presbytery of 

 Kincardine-o-niel, which living he obtained through 

 the generous and disinterested patronage of Sir Alex- 

 ander Burnett of Leys. In this parish he was chiefly 

 distinguished by his powers of lecturing or expound- 

 ing the scriptures, a practice which forms a regular 

 part of the service observed in the church of Scot- 

 land, and has been found extremely useful in pro- 

 moting the religious knowledge of the people. And 

 it was while engaged in this important and laudable 

 exercise among the humble rustics over whom he was 

 set, that he first entertained the great design which 

 he afterwards so ably and happily executed, of giving 



a new translation of the gospels. It is curious also Campbell, 

 to observe, that in this country parish, where scarce- George, 

 ly any thing could occur to draw his attention to 

 the niceties of grammar and the beauties of compo- 

 sition, and where all his ordinary duties and pursuits 

 were rather hostile to metaphysical investigations, he 

 composed a great part of his acute and excellent 

 work on the Philosophy of Rhetoric. Here, too, he 

 entered into a matrimonial union, by marrying Miss 

 Grace Farquharson of Whitehouse, a lady of good 

 understanding and amiable dispositions, who uniform- 

 ly and minutely attended to his comfort, and who was 

 happily spared to him till a very few years before 

 his death. 



In 1757> he was translated to Aberdeen, and be- 

 came one of the city ministers. This new situation, 

 in which he had easy access to books, enjoyed the 

 opportunity of associating daily with literary men, 

 and lived in the immediate neighbourhood of two 

 universities, which held out to him objects of ambi- 

 tion and of hope, stimulated him to greater efforts, 

 and led him on to higher attainments than he could 

 have been expected to make in the narrow sphere to 

 which he had been hitherto confined. Accordingly 

 we find him more active in the pursuit of knowledge, 

 and more successful, both in the acquisition and ap. 

 plication of it. While he did not neglect the pecu- 

 liar duties of his profession, and was especially so at- 

 tentive to one branch of these, as to establish, and 

 even increase his reputation as an expounder of holy 

 writ, .he allowed his studies to take a wider range, 

 and began to cultivate, with equal diligence and suc- 

 cess, the taste which he already indulged for litera- 

 ture and philosophy. About a year after his settle- 

 ment in Aberdeen, a society was formed, which af- 

 forded him the means at once of improving his mind 

 and displaying his talents. This society will be deem- 

 ed worthy of record, when it is recollected that its 

 leading members consisted of such men as Campbell, 

 Reid, Gregory, Gerard, and Beattie, and that in it 

 were first conceived, and partially produced, many of 

 those writings by which these eminent men have 

 done honour to themselves and service to mankind. 

 Its constitution was well calculated to sharpen the 

 intellect, to elucidate truth, and to ameliorate the 

 social dispositions. Instead of that stiff formal pro- 

 cedure, common in such associations, which obliges 

 the mind either to remain at rest, or to move in af- 

 fected dignity, there was a spirit of freedom which 

 expressed itself rather in easy conversation, than al- 

 ternate debate, and combined pleasure with advan- 

 tage. And in room of that party temper which 

 sometimes takes possession of learned bodies, sacri- 

 ficing truth and harmony and every thing else to its 

 own contracted views, and converting a season pro- 

 fessedly devoted to intellectual and social intercourse 

 into an occasion of indulging illiberal feelingsj and 

 angry passions, there was a predominance of good 

 will and affection, which rendered the discussion of 

 the gravest points agreeable, and invested philosophy 

 with that moral charm and influence which should 

 always grace her. At the meetings of this society 

 a great variety of subjects were handled, into all of 

 which Mr Campbell entered with his characteristic 

 acuteness; and he himself delivered some .very inge- 

 nious essays on rhetoric, criticism, and other topics 

 to which his attention had been particularly directed. 



