34 EARLY LIFE. 



unremittedly carried on. The same may be said of 

 the ten years he passed in constant study from 1743, 

 the beginning of his residence in a small parish, of 

 very little clerical duty, to 1752, when we know from 

 his letter to Lord Hailes he began his first work. 

 But, indeed, the composition of his three great works, 

 spread over a period of nearly thirty years, clearly 

 evinces that during this long time his studies must 

 have been much more subservient to his own gratifi- 

 cation than to the preparation of his writings, which 

 never could have required one-half that number of 

 years for their completion. 



In 1741, according to the constitution of the Scotch 

 Church, he was licensed by the Presbytery of Edin- 

 burgh to preach, orders being only conferred upon a 

 presentation to a living or kirk. Two years after, he 

 was appointed minister of Gladsmuir, a country parish 

 in East Lothian ; and this event happened fortunately 

 on the eve of the irreparable loss sustained by the 

 family in the death of both their parents, which left 

 his brother and his sisters wholly without provision. 



He immediately took the care of them upon him- 

 self, and would form no connection by marriage until 

 he had seen them placed in situations of indepen- 

 dence. He thus remained single for eight years, 

 during which his eldest and favourite sister super- 

 intended his household. In her sound judgment he 

 always had the greatest confidence ; for he knew that 

 to great beauty she added a calm and a firm temper, 

 inherited from their mother, but with greater meek- 



