EOBEKTSON. 261 



tion ; he appears to have at the same time indus- 

 triously completed the work of rendering some ancient 

 treatises, which peculiarly interested him. He had even 

 prepared for the press a translation of Antoninus's ' Me- 

 ditations,'* having thus early felt a strong leaning 

 towards the Stoical philosophy. The appearance of a 

 very poor translation at Glasgow prevented the execu- 

 tion of this design, but the work remains : I have it 

 now in my possession, and shall give one or two pas- 

 sages in the Appendix. In elocution he acquired faci- 

 lity and correctness by attending a society which met 

 weekly to debate literary and philosophical questions. 

 This society gave rise many years later to another, 

 which was frequented by the men who in after life 

 proved the most distinguished of their countrymen : 

 Hume, Smith (neither of whom ever took part in de- 

 bate), Wedderburn (afterwards Chancellor), Fergu- 

 son, Home (Lord Kames), were of the number. But 

 his thirst of knowledge was not confined to these its 

 more easy and more inviting walks. He had deeply 

 studied some branches of the severer sciences. It is 

 not, therefore, without good cause that he speaks of 

 mathematical subjects (in his preface to the work on 

 India) as having been embraced in his course of study, 

 though not having been carried so far as a discussion 

 of the Brahminical astronomy might require. 



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 



* Marc. Aurel. : Twv etc ICLVTOV. 



