126 YOUNG KENNIE AT SCHOOL, PART VIT. 



sophy which he had begun at Phantassie and pursued 

 in the burgh school at D unbar, he determined to place 

 himself at the University of Edinburgh, then a semi- 

 nary of rising celebrity. In taking this step he formed 

 the resolution >by no means unusual amongst young 

 men of his country inspired by a laudable desire for 

 self-improvement of supporting himself at college en- 

 tirely by his own labour. He was persuaded that by 

 diligence and assiduity he would be enabled to earn 

 enough during the summer months to pay for his 

 winter's instruction and maintenance ; and his habits 

 being frugal, and his style of living very plain, he was 

 enabled) to prosecute his design without difficulty. 



He accordingly matriculated at Edinburgh in No- 

 vember, 1780, and entered the classes of Dr. Robison, 

 Professor of Natural Philosophy, and of Dr. Black, 

 Professor of Chemistry ; both men of the highest dis- 

 tinction in their respective walks. Robison was an 

 eminently prepossessing person, frank and lively in 

 manner, full of fancy and humour, and, though versa- 

 tile in talent, a profound and vigorous thinker. His 

 varied experience of life, and the thorough knowledge 

 which he had acquired of the principles as well as the 

 practice of the mechanical arts, proved of great use to 

 him as an instructor of youth. The state pf physical 

 science was then at a very low ebb in this country, and 

 the labours of Continental philosophers were but little 

 known even to those who occupied the chairs in our 

 universities ; the results of their elaborate researches 

 lying concealed in foreign languages, or being known, at 

 most, to a few inquirers more active and ardent than 

 their fellows ; whilst the general student, mechanic, and 

 artisan were left to draw their principal information 

 from the ancient but ordinary springs of observation and 

 daily experience. 



Under Dr. Robison the study of natural philosophy be- 

 came invested with unusual significance and importance. 



