B E A 



102 



n i 



p. 129), and they do credit to hi* sincerity and courage: 

 for it was no slight thing for a young and almost unknown 

 man to attack an author formidable at once from 



. ami high standing in society ; and this he 

 ut with the uncompro- 



hostility of one who believes his antagonist to bo not 

 01 ly a mistaken but a mischievous person. If Beattie could 



t quite attain hi* own wish of being 'animated without 

 ng his temper,' something must be conceded to his deep 

 ing of the importance of the subjects in dispute. The 

 ever, was received with much anger by Mr. Hume 

 and his friends, as a viol, nt and persiiniil attack ; and that 

 :e' zeal might require some tempering we may conclude 

 from knowing that an intended preface to the second edition 

 (published early in 1771) was cancelled by the advice of 

 some of his best friends. His work appeared in May, 1 7 70, 

 under the title Lssay on the Nature and Immutability 

 nf Truth, in opposition to Sophistry and Scepticism. 

 The plan of it is thus given by his biographer. ' Dr. 

 Bealtie first endeavours to trace the several kinds of evi- 

 dence i:p to their first principles, with a view to ascertain 

 uulard of truth, and explain its immutability. He 

 shows, in the second place, that his sentiments on this 

 head, how inconsistent soever with the genius of scepti- 

 cism, and with the principles and practice of sceptical 

 writers, are yet perfectly consistent with the genius of true 

 philosophy, and with the practice and principles of those 

 whom all acknowledge to have been most successful in the 

 investigation of truth ; concluding with some inferences or 

 rules, by which the most important fallacies of the sceptical 

 philosophers may be detected by every person of common 

 sense, even though he should not possess acuteness of meta- 

 physical knowledge sullicient to qualify him for a logical 

 confutation of them. In the third place, he answers some 

 objections, and makes some remarks, by way of estimate of 

 scepticism, and sceptical writers.' Forbes, p. 1C7. 



The Kuay nn Truth was only the first part of an intended 

 lecture on the evidences of morality and religion. Habitual 

 ill health, and an avowed dislike to severe study, prevented 

 Dr. Beattie from completing his design. 



The first canto of the Mutxtr'l was published anony- 

 mously in 1771. It was mast favourably received by the 

 public, and honoured by the warm praise of Gray, the more 

 valuable because the praise was accompanied by a letter 

 of minute criticism. This is preserved in Forties's Life 

 (vol. i. p. 197). In the same year iie visited London, for the 

 first time since he had been known as an author ; and re- 

 ceived distinguished and flattering notice from Dr. Johns, n, 

 Lord Lytileton, and the best literary society of the metro- 

 polis. 



It was the wish of his friends to obtain some permanent 

 provision for one who had no patrimony, whose literary pro- 

 fits were small, and whose only other resource was the scanty 

 income of his professorship; and it was thought that his 

 oils in the cause of revealed religion entitled him to 

 this mark of public favour. In 1773 he again visited London 

 to urge his claim, and ow ing to the powerful interest which 

 ho was then able to command, he obtained a pension of -20UI. 

 The King (George III.) received him with distinguished 

 favour: and the University of Oxford conferred on him the 

 honorary degree of D.C.L. During this visit, Sir Joshua 

 Reynolds painted and pre-eni.-d to him the well-known 

 portrait, which contains the allegorical triumph of Truth 

 over Sophistry, Scepticism, and Infidelity. In the same 

 autumn there occurred a vacancy in the University of Edin- 

 burgh, which it was thought would open the chair of moral 

 philosophy to Dr. Beattie; hut this preferment, though 

 strongly urged upon him, ho declined for the sake of p ace 

 and quiet. At this time ho was engaged in finishing the 

 second book of the Minstrel, which was published in the 

 following spring. 



Several of Beattie'* friend*, and some eminent persons 

 So not appear to have been influenced by personal re- 

 gard, were desirous to induce him to take orders in the 

 h church, and more than one living was pressed upon 

 hi* acceptance. In 1774 he received the offer of a hung 

 near SOU/, per annum, from Dr. Thomas, Bishop oi 

 Winchester. It appears that Beattie took these pro- 

 posal* into serious consideration, and that he enter! 

 no objections on the *coro of discipline or doctrine: but 

 he refused them principally on the ground that his ac- 

 ceptance might give a handle to the opponents 

 religion for asserting that the Eitay on Truth was win ten 



for the sake of preferment. 1'artly,' he say*, ' because it 

 might be construed into a want of principle, if, at the age of 



thirty-eight. I were to quit, with : imrftit ni 



than i -ii-ring my circuni^lai. hureh of 



which 1 have hitherto been a member.' It is not superfluous 

 to praise this delicacy and independence of t. -ause 



many persons whom it would be harsh to condemn as having 

 -o'.d their opinions for preferment, have a' vn a 



culpable neglect of their own characters an 1 -st of 



truth, by accepting preferment under circumstance* which 

 were almost sure to fix the imputation of venality upon 

 them. (See Beattie' s Letter to Dr. Portevs, Forbes, vol. i. 

 p. 359.) 



The Essay on Truth was re-published in 1 776, with i 

 other essays : On Poetry at/d Mitnir, nv they affect the 

 Mind; On Laughlir mitt Linliriftui Comjii^iH n ; On the 

 I'tilitij of Classical Learning. These were followed at 

 intervals by otln .ations, chiefly taken 



from his academical lectures: l)it\crtutinni> Mural and 



Cri tind, o'i Mi-m'irij tind Jinnginatiun, on Dieanini: 

 the Theory of 1. ''< uinl liomm- 



Attachment* of ,' .''?i/.\trnti ' H* nf Xitlilimity, 



l-'.i-idfni-i'snfthe. Christian l\'fli<;i">i, I7sfi : 

 of Mural SnV -lift; vol. i.coiitainii. -lural 



Theology, 1 7'JO; vol. ii. conlaiii;i -, Po- 



s _ -, and a Dissertation on the Xlure Truth: 17'.i.'l. 

 But he appears to ln\c engaged in no new investigations or 

 studies; and his letters explain the cause of tins to have 

 been ill health, and consequent disinclination to labour, 

 aggravated by mental depression, and a considerable - 

 ot domestic disquiet, produced by an hereditary ili- 

 tion to insanity in his wife. His hi' until 1790 



without marked events, in the discharge of his acade- 

 mical duties; varied in his long sum 1 . 

 unfrequcnt visits to London, and to many persons emi- 

 nent by their talents or rank, who sought his society for the 

 sake of his powers as a companion, as much as for his repu- 

 tation. In 1790 he suffered an irreparable loss in the death 

 of his eldest son at the age of twenty-two, a young man of 

 great promise ; and his declining health received another 

 shock in 17% in the unexpected death of his only sun 

 :vr a week's illness, in the eighteenth jear of his 

 lie said, in looking on the corpse, ' I have now done wiih 

 the world,' and he never again applied to study of any sort. 

 The closing years of his life exhibit a melancholy scene of 

 gloom and distress, bodily and mental. He was struck by 

 palsy in April, 179'.), and after one or two subsequent at- 



-. expired August ISth, 1803. 



In the relations of private life, and in his public duties 

 as a teacher, Dr. Beattie was most amiable ; and he com- 

 manded, in an unusual degree, the esteem and affection of 

 his pupils, as well as of a large circle of friends. 1 1 



d to his honour, that long before the abolition of 

 the slave trade was brought before parliament, Beat!;, 

 active in protesting against that iniquitous traffic : and he 

 introduced the subject into his academical course, with the 

 express hope that such of his pupils as might IK' led by fc r- 

 tuue to the "West Indies would recollect the lessons of hu- 



which he inculcated. 



Of his writings, the Minstrel is that which now "probably 

 is most read. It exhibits u strong feeling for the beauties 

 of nature, which will probably prevent its being entirely lor- 

 uolten. Beanie's metaphysical writings have the reputation 

 of being clear, lively, and attractive, but ii"t prolbund. 



on Truth was much read and admired at. the ii 

 its publication, but has fallen into comparative nrglect, with 

 the doctrines against which it was especial!) din 

 /'/>, by Sir W. Forbes, two vols. .|to.) 



M'C.VIKK. a town in France on the right bank of 

 the Rhone in the department of (iard, .|:; ' .V.. nf 



b> Moulins, Clermont, Mendc and Niuies. It is in 

 43 46' N. lat., 4 30' K. long. 



Bcaucairo seems to have existed in antient times under 

 the inline of Ugornum. It probably was at first a depen- 

 dency of Ntmes. In 1 7iM a Roman road leading Ironi 

 Ntmes towards Bcnttcaire v rod by M. Vergile de 



tide. On this road v. 1 Human i 



numbered, as it seems, in the direction from Ni i 

 Ninii's) as the capital of the di-tnet to rhenium. Some of 

 sir, nes not having been displaced alforded the 

 ining by actual measurement the length of 

 the Koman mile, which was found to be 752 toises 4 feet 



ii measure, equal to 1004 yards 12 inches English. 



