100 



AND! 



'[ IVccmlMT, 1700, to the 21st of January, 

 i;;>l. The numbers published, form eighteen 

 volumes duodecimo, niul throughout tlir whole of 

 tluit space, we believe there iloes not occur one line 

 which can be considered reprehensible for its moral 



About the year 1797, J)r A. removed with 

 hi;- family to London, where lie undertook various 

 works connected with his favourite study of apicul- 

 ture. For several years lie wrote the articles of this 

 nature in the Monthly Review ; and from 1799 to 

 1802, he conducted a separate miscellany, under the 

 title of " Reerealions in Agriculture," which was only 

 discontinued on account ol some obstructions incident 

 to such a mode of publication. From the last men- 

 tioned date, he devoted himself almost entirely to 

 the relaxation which advanced years and severe 

 studies had rendered necessary, and particularly to 

 the cultivation of his garden, which became a minia- 

 ture of all his past labours. In 1801, he married a 

 second \\ife, who survived him. He died on the 

 15th of October, 1808, at the age of sixty-nine. In 

 his younger days, Dr A. was remarkably handsome 

 in his per>on, of middle stature, and robust make. 

 Extremely moderate in his living, the country exer- 

 cise animated his cheek with the glow of health; 

 but the overstrained exertion of his mental powers 

 afterwards shook his constitution, and hurried him 

 into old nge. He was a man of independent mind ; 

 and in the relative duties of husband and father, ex- 

 hibited a prudential care, mixed with affection, which 

 commanded the admiration of his friends. Of Dr 

 A.'s abilities, his works exhibit so many proofs, that 

 they may be appealed to with perfect confidence. 

 Although a voluminous writer, there is no subject 

 connected with his favourite pursuit, on which he 

 lias not thrown new light. A minute specification of 

 nN works is to be found in the Scots Magazine for 

 1809. 



ANDERSON, John, M. A., an eminent presbyterian 

 clergyman of the last century, was at first minister 

 at Dumbarton, and afterwards at Glasgow, where he 

 died about 17^3. The earliest of his productions is 

 entitled, " A Dialogue between a Curat and a 

 Countreyman concerning the English Service, or 

 Common-Prayer Book of England," which was 

 printed in quarto at Glasgow, about 1710. Soon 

 afterwards, A. published a " Second Dialogue," 

 dated 1711, "in wliicb," says he, "there is hardly 

 any tiling of importance which is not said in the very 

 words' ofthe writers of the other side," and in which 

 South, Beveridge, Hammond, and Burnet are the 

 curates whose sentiments are opposed. " A Letter 

 from a Countreyman to a Curat," followed the dia- 

 logues, and received several answers, of which we 

 shall only mention one, written by Robert Calder, an 

 episcopalian clergyman. To this attack A. replied 

 in a pamphlet entitled "Curat Calder Whipt." He 

 soon after published, " A Sermon preached in the 

 church of Ayr at the opening of the Synod, on Tues- 

 day the first of April, 1712," printed at the desire of 

 the synod of Glasgow and Ayr ; and in 1714, the 

 work by which he is best known appeared, entitled, 

 " A Defence of the Church-Government, Faith, 

 Worship, and Spirit of the Presbyterians, in answer 

 to a book entitled ' An Apology for Mr Thomas 

 Rhind,' " &c. 4to. In the same year (1720) in which 

 he was appointed one of the ministers of Glasgow, 

 " Mr Anderson's Letters upon the Overtures con- 

 cerning Kirk Sessions and Presbyteries," appeared in 

 12mo. These letters extend to six, and although 

 now little known, as they refer merely to an ephe- 

 meral subject, contain some curious historical infor- 

 mation, and not a little satire. Mr A. did not long 

 survive his call to Glasgow ; the date of his death 

 has not been ascertained, but his successor was' ap- 



pointed in 17^!!. I IN controversial writings are full 

 of valuable historical information, and show him to 

 have been thoroughly versed in theological litera- 

 ture, but it cannot be'too much rcgrelUd that he so 

 far indulged in intemperate language. 



ANDKHSON, John, V. K.S., professor of natural 

 philosophy fa the univer-iiy of (ila^govv , and founder 

 of the eminently useful institution bearing bis name 

 in that city, was lioru in the parish of Uoscncath, in 

 Dumbartonshire, in the year IT'.'li. lie was the 

 eldest sou of the Hev . .lames Anderson, minister of 

 Koseneath, who was, in his turn, the eldest son of the 

 Rev. John Anderson, whose memoir is given in the 

 preceding article. Tin; subject of this memoir, 

 having the misfortune to lose liis father in early life, 

 v>a> educated by his aunt, Mrs Turner, widow of one 

 of the ministers of the High church of Stirling. I It- 

 received the more advanced part of liis education at 

 the college of Glasgow, where, in 1760, lie was ap- 

 pointed to be professor of oriental languages being 

 then in the thirtieth year of his age. In I7(i(), he 

 was appointed to the chair of natural philosophy, end 

 entered upon the business of that class with enthu- 

 siasm. Not contented with the ordinary duty of de- 

 livering a course of lectures, though he performed 

 that duly in a manner alone sufficient to obtain dis- 

 tinction, he was indefatigable in studying and e\em 

 plifying the application of science to mechanical 

 practice ; visiting, for this purpose, the workshops of 

 artisans in the town, and receiving, in return for Un- 

 scientific doctrine which he had to communicate, a 

 full equivalent of experimental knowledge. The 

 most estimable characteristic of professor A., was ii 

 liberal and diffusive benevolence in regard to the 

 instruction of his race. Under the inspiration of this 

 feeling, he instituted, in addition to his usual class 

 which was strictly mathematical, one for the working 

 classes, and others whose pursuits did not enable I hem 

 to conform to the prescribed routine of academical 

 study, illustrating his precepts by experiments, so as 

 to render it in the highest degree attractive. He 

 continued to teach this anti-toga class, as he ad led it, 

 twice every week, during the session, to the end of 

 his life ; and it would not be easy to estimate the ag- 

 gregate of good which he thus rendered to his fel- 

 low creatures. As a lecturer, his style was easy and 

 graceful, his command of language unlimited, and 

 the skill and success with which his manifold experi- 

 ments were performed, could not be surpassed. He 

 excited the interest, and attracted the attention of his 

 pupils, by the numerous and appropriate anecdotes 

 with which he illustrated and enlivened his lectures. 

 Enthusiastic in his profession, his whole ambition and 

 happiness consisted in making himself useful to man- 

 kind, by the dissemination oruseful knowledge; and 

 nothing afforded him purer pleasure than hearing tliai 

 any of his pupils had distinguished themselves in the 

 world. The only distinct work which he published 

 in connexion with his favourite science, was a valu- 

 able one, entitled " Institutes of Physics," which ap 

 peared in 1786, and went through fiv e editions during 

 the next ten years. On the commencement of those 

 political changes in France, which ended in such un- 

 happy results, Mr A., as might have been pre- 

 dicated from his ardently liberal and enlightened cha- 

 racter, was among those who sympathized most warm- 

 ly with the proceeding's of the emancipated people. 

 Previous to that period, lie had prosecuted a taste for 

 the military art, and invented a species of gun, the 

 recoil of which was stopped by the condensation of 

 common air, within the body of the carriage. Hav- 

 ing in vain endeavoured to attract the attention of the 

 British government to this invention, he went to Paris, 

 in 1791, carrying with him a model, which he pre- 

 sented to the national Convention. The governing 



