16*2 MEMOIR OF DR WRIGHT* 



often heard to express the apprehension he began 

 to entertain of the truth of his friend's prediction ; 

 observing with an action, and an emphasis correspond- 

 ing to the words, " There is certainly something here 

 which I should be much better without." 



The desire of posthumous distinction appears to 

 have been early implanted in the mind of Dr 

 Wright. It was indeed his ruling passion, and may 

 be said without a figure, to have been strong even in 

 death. The occasions were probably few on which he 

 had reason to complain of injustice from his contem- 

 poraries, and it was still more seldom that he chose to 

 notice the plagiarisms to which an original thinker, 

 who expresses his ideas in unpretending language, is 

 peculiarly liable. The love of fame, in the mind of 

 Dr Wright, so far from tending to any querulous or 

 misanthropical feeling, partook rather of the generous 

 and social sentiments with which it was associated. 

 Such, accordingly, was the regard which he bore to his 

 friend Dr Currie, as to lead him to disclaim the en- 

 comiums which that high-minded individual has with 

 equal justice and liberality applied to his name. Far 

 from disputing with Dr Currie, as to the priority of 

 his pretensions, or the ratio of their respective claims 

 to the gratitude of posterity, he was contented, he was 

 accustomed to say, to be handed down to future ages 

 by his friend, or with his friend, as a benefactor of 

 mankind. To a man who cherished such sentiments 

 as these, it was natural that some revulsion of feeling 

 should take place when he found the biographers of 

 his deceased friend, disregarding the positive, and in- 



