HOME. 



91 



Kunkel, and exchanging some of his chemical secrets 

 far their methods of preparing phosphorus, he visited 

 the mine* of Saxony, Hungary, Bohemia, and Sweden. 

 He next returned through Holland to Paris, where he 

 far some time ; and when, at the desire of 

 his father, he was about to leave the metropolis, the 

 great Colbert made him Mich high offers in the name 

 of the King, that he was induced to settle in Paris. 

 He embraced the Catholic religion in 168Z, and in the 

 following year be was disinherited by his father for 

 having renounced the faith of his ancestor*. In 1685 

 ha again went to Rome, where he practised medicine 

 for some years with great success. On the 4th Febru- 

 ary 1699, he was admitted a member of the Academy 

 of Science*, and was allowed the constant use of the 

 laboratory of the Academy. The Duke of Orleans, af- 

 terward* Regent of France, erected a magnificent la- 

 boratory in 1702, and path under the charge of Hom- 

 berg. He allowed him a pension, and in I TO* appointed 

 him his first physician In 1709, he married Made- 



Cirtitioner ; but being naturally of a weak constitution, 

 lived only a few years, and was carried off by a dy- 

 ealary, to which he had been liable, on the SttM 

 tensber I7!J. Hombrrg was not the author of any se- 

 parate work . but he rJihshH no fewer than lot me- 

 moirs bathe 



**' E 



Nee I i M..-C .n 



II' <MK. HURT, I.ord Kame*. one of the 

 of the College of J ustice in Scotland, and an eminent 



born in the ye 1696. Hi* ff ' 



faintly, though of sMall fortune, in the 

 wick ; his mother was a daughter of Mr W, 



Me WM CuUCsttsfu prtVMteiy I Dd t MMMil thsf yttf 



ire to attend the office 



step to hi* 

 Ta writer or 



abandon the mereteited occupation of a writer, and 



\V;..!, 



tie wa* eoucsMea pnvsjwry ; an 

 171*. he was bound by indenture 

 or chambers of a writer to the si* 



as a 



riew, ne resolved to supply, of aeasauou* appli 

 the defects of hi* Jsoperlect Ueation ; and be 



ned the study of the ancient and sno- 







to hare been partknlarhr directed 



' 



-J 



thnm^h- 



Mdidt- 



dcf ii _ 



ed tu acquire a 



teotion sec 

 towards metaphy 

 out the whole course of his" lift, be 



IM! il urc'l Iritum 



In tLVrearim, Mr How was called to the Scottish 

 bar, which was, at that period, grant! with the tslsrti 

 of many individual., who afterwards rose to th. first 

 eminence in their pmstniuii. Although his ofad 

 was abundantly stored with solid learning and Ugal 

 knowledge, and he passtsatd, m a high de 



talents of an ingenious reasoner ; Mr Home" 

 gifted with those hroing powers of oratory, which 

 are calculated to bring a young practitioner rapidly 

 notice. Accordingly, it wa* not till after the 

 publication of hi* first work on the law, that be be- 

 fan to enjoy rrcn a modarate share of practice. That 



work, which consisted of a folio volume of the Re- 

 markable Decition* of the Court of. St*sio* t from the 

 year 17 Hi iluMn to the period of its publication, ap- 

 peared in 1798. Mr Home's manner of pleading was 

 peculiar to himself. He never attempted to speak to 

 the passions, or to captivate his hearer* by the graces of 

 oratory ; but addressed himself solely to the judgment 

 of his audience ; employing a strain of language only 

 a little elevated above that of ordinary discourse, which, 

 even by its familiar tone and style-, fixed the attention 

 of the judge, while it excited no suspicion of rhetorical 

 artifice. Ft would appear, however, that his ability lay 

 more in the deviing of ingenious arguments to sup- 

 port his own side of the question, as an opening or 

 leading counsel, than in reply ; for which he seems to 

 have wanted that ready command of copious elocu- 

 tion, which i* necessary for extemporaneous discussion. 

 There was one peculiarity attending his mode of re- 

 plying which is worthy of notice. This consisted in a 

 fair concession and abandonment of all the weaker 

 points of his cause. By yielding these at once to liis 

 antagonist, be succeeded in creating a favourable impres- 

 !on of his own candour, and a persuasion of the strength 

 of his cause; while, at the same time, he frustrated all 

 attack on those weak parti, which might have given 

 matter of triumph to his opponents, anil Ii . I a pr> 

 cial influence on the more solid grounds of his plea. Hut 

 the feature by which Mr Home was principally 

 gniahrd a* a barrister, consisted in the faculty which 

 Ee possMsed, in a wry eminent degree, of striking out 

 new lights upon the most abstruse and intricate doc- 

 trine* of Use law, and of subjecting to the scrutiny of 

 reason those role* and maxims which had become ve- 

 nerable only from long and inveterate usage, having 

 no solid foundation in any just or rational principle. 



In I79t, he published a small volume under the title 

 of Euay* on trvrrol S*l>jtc!i in /,<-.. ,<r. The-. 

 lects had been suggested to him during the course of 

 nil employment a* a counsel in several important 

 causes ; and they contributed greatly to establish the 

 character of the author as a profound and scientific 

 lawyer. From the period of their publication, arrord- 

 ingrV, Mr Home appears to have been engaged in most 

 ot toe fantrt of importance which < > tlie 



of Session. While occupied with t!.r duties of a 

 laborious nroreaaiao, however, he did not neglect the 

 parsuhs of literature and science, to which he teems to 

 nave been at all times ardently devoted ; and a consi- 

 derable portion of his time waa also given to the enjoy, 

 merits of society, in s numerous ana respectable circle 

 of acquaintance. He lived in habit* of intimacy with 

 many of the first literary and philosophical characters 

 of the age, and frequently corresponded with then on 

 the subjects connected with his favourite pursuits. 

 ^ In the year 17*1. Mr Home married Mws Agntha. 

 DnuMDond, a younger dattgnter of Jarnes L/rummond, 

 Esq. of Blair, in the county of Perth, a lady possessed 

 of an excellent understanding, and sn enlightened ami 

 solid judgment in the conduct of" lit i, vreet- 



ness of temper, and gentleness of manners. In the 

 course of the same yeir, he published, in two volumes 

 folio. Tht Decision* of the Comrl of H in In. 



tlUmtion to the Preteiil Time, atnjgrj and Ji^nirrl MM- 

 sfcr proper llroHt. in tie form of a iHcHonary, a work 

 of great labour, and of the highest utility to the profes- 

 sion of the law in Scotland. 



Daring the rebellion hi 1745-6, the course of judicial 

 procedure, in the northern part or a 



interrupted by the disordered state of the country, and 



