662 MR small's BIOGEAPHICAL SKETCH OF PROF. ADAM FERGUSON. 



bine in it, by keeping them at bay, — leaving them no outlet from home, nor 

 i^oading them with any trifling attacks to keep their attention and animosities 

 directed abroad. There was an expedition to Ostend, and there is one again now, 

 the newspapers say, from Margate, mere proofs that we have not yet learned the 

 character of our enemy or the nature of our contest, but of that no more. I am 

 no oppositionist, and this moment think the nation in a most prosperous state — 

 that is to say, we have men, arms, and spirit, and if we should come to have less 

 wealth we must consume the less, either by having fewer mouths or putting less 

 in them. I was in Edinburgh for a day or two when your last letter came here 

 to Hallyards, otherwise, having now three or four such favours to acknowledge, 

 should have done it sooner. The ' Roman History' advances but slowly. The 

 printers have much other work when our law courts are sitting ; then much of 

 the business proceeds by a kind of paper war from the press. Five octavo vol- 

 umes are projected, but little more than one is yet printed. I shall be obliged to 

 your German author for his prolongation scheme, though having annuities and 

 salaries from other people, 'tis like they think I have prolonged enough. I went 

 to Edinburgh to see our friend G. Johnstone, and was highly gratified.— I am, 

 my dear friend, most affectionately yours, 



"Adam Ferguson."* 



In the following extract from a letter, written in 1799, Fekguson thus ex- 

 presses his opinion of the views then published by Sir James Macintosh. 



At that time Macintosh had lieen recently called to the English bar, and with 

 the view of bringing himself into notice, he delivered a course of lectures on the 

 Law of Nature and Nations. 



The introductory lecture was published as ' A Discourse on the Law of 

 Nature and Nations,' and it, with the other lectures of his course, received the 

 highest praise from men of every shade of political opinion. 



Ferguson states, " I hear very favourable accounts of Mr Macintosh's per- 

 formances at Lincoln's Inn. As I judge only from his pamphlet, his tone, though 

 perhaps more harmonious, is in unison with mine. He had his reasons, probably, 

 for not mentioning me, and I am not solicitous about them. He will probably 

 procure to Moral Philosophy that popularity in England which I wished for, but 

 have been unable to obtain. His taking his ground in the law is not so apt to 

 alarm the Universities and the Church as if he had called his object Moral Philo- 

 sophy, which those authorities sometimes mention among the corruptions of the 

 times." * 



The literary labours of Ferguson were not yet over. In 1801 was published 

 his already mentioned contribution to the Transactions of the Royal Society, under 

 the title of Minutes of the Life and Character of Joseph Black, M.D. In it there is 



* MSS. University of Edinburgh. 



