LIFE of Dr BLACK. 113 



to be chofen by others. Many years member* of a fociety * com- 

 pofed of men of the higheft rank, of Judges, lawyers and mili- 

 tary men, ?ts well as citizens and profeiTed men of letters ; he 

 kept his place with propriety, and in this group never betrayed 

 any awkward peculiarity of his education or calling. His more 

 intimate alTociates and friends, befides thofe of his own profef- 

 fion Cullen and Monro, were James Watt, now of Birming- 

 ham, an engineer of the firft order, whether ancient or modern, 

 and who has happily united, in the grounds of his art, chemical 

 as well as mechanical fcience ; Mr Geddes of the Glafs-works 

 at Leith, an eminent manufacturer, who well knew the value of 

 his friend's fuggeftions. Such intimates as thefe could fcarcely al- 

 low Black to relax from the toils of his profeflional ftudies. But 

 he had others, for whom his profeiTion had no charm, and 

 whofe attachment to him, as to one another, arofe from the ex- 

 perience of ingenuity and candour, rather than the identity of 

 iludies, or agreement of opinions. Such were David HuME,Efq," 

 Dr Adam Smith, John Home, Alexander Carlylej and 

 John Clerk of Elden,of whom the laft, without having ever been 

 at fea, inftructed the navy itfelf in naval tactics. At the head of 

 either lilt, however, in refpect to Black's habits of intimacy, 

 ought, perhaps, to have been placed James Hutton, who made 

 up in physical fpeculation all that was wanting in any of the 

 others. It may be difficult to fay, whether the characters of 

 Black and Hutton, fo often mentioned together, were molt to 

 be remarked for refemblance or contrail. Both profound in 



P 2 phyfical 



* This fociety formed itfelf, about the year 1770, upon a principte of %eal for 

 the Militia, and a convi&ion that there could be no lafting fecurity for the free- 

 dom and independence of thefe iflands, but in the valour and patriotifm of an arm- 

 ed people. It became known, by fome whimfical accident, by the name of the 

 Poker Club. 



