14 EARLY LIFE. 



and his irreproachable character, as well as his untir- 

 ing diligence and exemplary patience in the discharge 

 of his duties, commanded the respect of all, and 

 endeared him to those who had the inestimable benefit 

 of his instruction. He had the faculty of exciting 

 both an ardent love of the subjects he taught, and a 

 spirit of inquiry into all that related to them. Stirred 

 by his precepts and example, I spent the months dur- 

 ing which I was kept from school by indisposition, in 

 reading and trying my hand at composition. The 

 progress I made during this illness clearly proved to 

 me two things : first, the importance of allowing boys 

 sufficient time for reading, instead of devoting the 

 whole day, as at school, to Latin and Greek exercises ; 

 next, the great benefit of having a teacher who would 

 dwell upon subjects connected with the lessons he 

 taught, but beyond those lessons, thus exciting the 

 desire of useful knowledge in his pupils. 



Dr Adam had been violently assailed for his ex- 

 cellent Grammar by Gilbert Stuart, who had also 

 attacked Dr Eobertson's ' History of Scotland/ in 

 various reviews both in London and in one which he 

 established in Edinburgh. Stuart was in both in- 

 stances, and, indeed, in all his writings, entirely influ- 

 enced by his violent temper and his self-interest. The 

 historian was attacked because he was supposed to 

 have, as Principal, defeated his attempts to obtain a 

 professorship ; the grammarian was attacked because 

 his work had superseded one by Stuart's cousin, Eud- 

 diman. Stuart was a man of extraordinary talent 



