MEMOIR 



OF 



SIR HENRY STEUART, BART., OF ALLANTON, 



LL.D., F.R.S.E., &c. 



It has been frequently remarked, that the details of a 

 retired and literary life must be necessarily few and 

 unimportant. While there is, in most instances, not a 

 little truth in this statement, it does not, however, foUow 

 that it is either universally just, or that there should be 

 any necessary connexion between a studious or even 

 ordinary retirement and the absence of utility or interest, 

 whether of a local or more general character. It is true 

 that, both in the history of nations and individuals, striking 

 events or brilliant exploits are calculated to awaken and 

 compel a high degree of interest and admiration, however 

 little beneficial or important may prove their results, to 

 either the individual himself or the nation in whose 

 history these events have occurred. If we turn to the 

 page of history, what is it which generally arrests the 

 attention 1 The rise of empires whose progress is stained 

 and marked by blood, the consequences of hostile invasion, 

 or the plots and conspiracies of internal discord, supply 

 materials for the historian, and afford an interest to his 

 readers, apart from all considerations of general utility 



