1802.7 
‘more fuitable fo what were his views. Itis » 
_ that this great charater ‘may be ‘ftrongly 
impreffed upon the minds of all who hear 
me—that they may fee it—that they may 
feel it—that they may difcourfe of it in 
their domeftic circles—that they may fpeak 
of it to their children, and hold it up to 
the imitation of pofterity. If he could now 
be fenfible to what paffes here below—fure 
I am, that nothing could give him fo 
much fatisfaétion as to find that we are 
endeavouring to make his memory and 
example, as he took care his life fhould 
be—ufeful to mankind. 
I will conclude, with applying to the 
prefent occafion, a beautiful paffage from 
the fpeech of a very young orator.* It 
may be thought, perhaps, to favour too 
much of the fanguine views of youth, to 
ftand the teft of a rigid philofophical in- 
quiry ; but it is at leaft cheering and confo- 
latory, and that in this inftance it may be 
exemplified, is lam confident the fincere wifh 
of every man who hears me. ‘* Crime,” 
{ays he, ** is a curfe only to the period in 
which it isfuccefsful, but virtue, whether 
fortunate or otherwife, bleffes not only its 
own age, but remoteft pofterity, and is as 
beneficial by its example as by its imme- 
diate effects.” 
. ~ 
ACCOUNT or THE LIFE ann. 
WRITINGS or THE Late ALEX- 
ANDER GEDDES, L.L.D. 
R.Geppes was born at Arradowl, in 
the county of Banff, and in the 
parith of Ruthven, September 4, 1737, old 
ftyle. His father’s name was Alex.Geddes, 
the fecond of four brothers. His mother’s 
’ gaiden name was Janet Mitchel ; fhe was 
born in Nether Dalachy,in the parifh of Bel- 
lay. They werere{pectable, but not opulent, 
farmers; fuch as farmers are in that part 
of the country, fubject to grievous oppref- 
fions trom their landlords. In that ftation, 
however, they maintained an excellent re- 
putation, and laboured inceflantly to give 
an education to their children far above 
theix rank, In their religious fentiments 
they were liberal Roman Catholics, in 
whofe library, we are told; the principal 
book was an Englith edition of the Bible, 
which ihey taught their fon to read with 
reverence and attention at a very early pe- 
vied : in his infancy, the principal facts 
contained in that book were familiar to 
* Effay on the Progréffive Improvements of 
Mankind 5 an oration delivered in the Chapel 
of Trinity College, Cambridge, December 17, 
-#798, bythe Honorable William Lamb. 
‘ 
Account of thelateDr. Geddes, 
‘heart*. 
- B55 
his mind, and, before he had ‘attained hig 
eleventh year, he knew ail its hiftery by 
His firft {choolmittrefs was a Mrs. Sel- 
lar, whofe diftin€tion of him, Dr. Geddes | 
was accuftomed to fay, was the’ earlieft 
mental pleafure he remembered to have 
felt. > 
He was next put under the care of Mr. 
Shearer, a young man from Aberdeen, 
whom the Laird had engaged to educate 
his two fons, and with whom the fubje& 
of this memoir, the late Roman Catholic 
Bifhop Geddes, of Edinburgh, and ano- 
ther lad about the fame age, were admitted 
to take leffons. 
He was afterwards removed to Scalan, 
an obfcure place of education in the High- 
lands, at which thofe yoyng perfons were 
brought’ up who had been devoted to the 
priefthood, and who were deftined to finifh 
their ftudies at a foreign univerfity. © At 
this feminary, we have reafon to believe, 
young Geddes laid the foundation of that 
{uperior fkill inthe learned languages for 
which he. was afterwards fo eminently 
diftinguifhed. -In Otober 1758, he 
was fent-from Scalan to the Scotch Col- 
lege'in. Paris, where he arrived about the 
end of December, after having narrowly | 
efcaped fhipwreck in his paffage - from 
Aberdeento Camphire. Mr. Gordon was 
thea Principal of the College. Inq few 
days after his arrival, he began to at- 
tend the leétures in the Collegeof Na- 
varre, and entered immediately into Rhe- 
toric. . He foon got at the head of the 
clafs ; although there were two’ veterans 
in it.  Wicaire’ was then Profeffor, and 
contracted a friendfhip for him, which 
lafted all his life. 
At the beginning of the next fchool- 
year, he fhould have entered into a courfe 
of philofophy.: but was perfuaded to ftudy 
% 
philofophy at home at intervais, and to . 
enterindivinity. Heattended thelectures 
of M.M. Buré and De Saurgns at the CoI- 
lege of Navarre, and of Ladvocat,}+ for 
the Hebrew, at the Sorbonne. -Ladvocat 
“was particularly attentive to him, and 
wifhed much to have him remain at Paz 
*® See Dr. Geddes’s General Anfwer td 
Queries, &c. &c. a work to which, perhaps, 
without being formally noticed,. we fhall have 
occafion often to refer. 
T. Profeffeur de la’ Chaire d’ Orleans: a He- 
brew Profefforfhip founded by Louis Dac 
d’Orleans, fon of the Duke of Orleans, *2- 
gent of France, and one of the moft pieus and 
learned princes of his age. 
pb 2 
Z 
—s 
ris: 
\ 
