MEMOIR OF BRUCE. 
21 
virtues. Young Bruce had the misfortune to lose 
his mother in the third year of his age ; his father 
married a second wife, by whom he had two daugh- 
ters and six sons, some of whom embraced a military 
life and died in the service of their country. 
In his childhood, Bruce possessed nothing of that 
daring spirit and athletic constitution which after- 
wards carried him safely through so many perilous 
adventures. The insidious disorder that hurried his 
amiable mother to a premature grave, seemed to 
have marked him out as another victim ; but the 
phthisical symptoms of infancy gradually disap- 
peared, and at eight years of age his father sent him 
to London, where it was intended he should receive 
a liberal education, suitable to his future prospects 
in life, as the heir apparent of the family estate. 
He was entrusted to the friendly care of his uncle, 
Counsellor Hamilton, under whose superintendence 
he remained until 1742, when he was removed to 
Harrow School, then conducted by Dr. Cox. At 
this famous seminary he prosecuted his studies with 
unusual diligence, and had the reputation of being 
one of the most promising boys that the master ever 
had under his charge. 
Bruce quitted that institution on the 8th of May, 
1746; and during the four years of his residence 
there, he not only acquired a competent share of 
classical learning, but gained the esteem of many 
individuals who became his attached friends ever 
afterwards. He had now reached the age of sixteen, 
but he by no means enjoyed confirmed health or a 
