ROBERTSON. 263 



have been published, as if his whole time after break- 

 fast was devoted to these duties. It would have been 

 utterly impossible to find subjects for his visits in 

 that small country parish, not containing two hundred 

 families. 



It is remarkable that, with all the love of study 

 which formed so striking a feature of his character, nay, 

 with the contemplative disposition which his thirst of 

 knowledge for its own sake plainly indicates, he should 

 have joined an extraordinary fitness for the less 

 speculative pursuits of active life, and a manifest 

 willingness to bear a part in them. The rebellion of 

 1745 afforded an occasion on which he conceived that 

 the dangers surrounding civil and religious liberty 

 called for the exertions of all good citizens in its 

 defence. On the news of the rebels marching towards 

 Edinburgh he quitted his parsonage (manse) and joined 

 the volunteers of the capital. How far they marched 

 is not known ; but that they must have proceeded 

 towards the Highlands, and for some time remained 

 under arms, is certain from this, that he always men- 

 tioned the effect of the first coal fire on his head after 

 he had been for some time accustomed to burn peat 

 only. When Edinburgh was surrendered he joined a 

 small body of persons from the city, who offered their 

 services at Haddington to the Commander-in-Chief. 



Soon after his marriage he was returned as a member 

 to the General Assembly, and again his capacity and 

 his inclination for active life , appeared. He devoted 

 himself assiduously to the business of that body ; and, 

 having a very strong and clear opinion in favour of lay 

 patronage, the great question which divided the Church 



