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himself in flashes and epigrams, nor languishes into tameness or insipidity; at first sight you would say that plainness and good sense were the predominating qualities; but by and bye, this simplicity is enriched with the delicate and vivid colours of a fine imagination, the free and forcible touches of a most powerful intellect, -and the lights and shades of an unerring and harmonizing taste. In comparing it with the styles of his most celebrated contemporaries, we would say that it was more purely and peculiarly a written style,-and, therefore, rejected those ornaments that more properly belong to oratory. It had no impetuosity, hurry, or vehemence, -no bursts or sudden turns or abruptions, like that of Burke; and though eminently smooth and melodious, it was not modulated to an uniform system of solemn declamation like that of Johnson, nor spread out in the richer and more voluminous elocution of Stewart; nor still less broken into that patch-work of scholastic pedantry and conversational smartness which has found its admirers in Gibbon. It is a style, in short, of great freedom, force, and beauty; but the deliberate style of a man of thought and of learning, and neither that of a wit throwing out his extempores with an affectation of careless grace,-nor of a rhetorician thinking more of his manner than his matter, and determined to be admired for his expression, what ever may be the fate of his senti

ments.

His habits of composition, as we have understood, were not perhaps exactly what might have been expected from their results. He wrote rather slowly, and his first sketches were often very slight and imperfect,-like the rude chalking for a masterly picture. His chief effort and greatest pleasure was in their revisal and correction; and there were no limits to the improvement which resulted from this application. It was not the style merely, or indeed chiefly, that gained by it: The whole reasoning, and sentiment, and illustration, was enlarged and new modelled in the course of it, and a naked outline became gradually informed with life, colour, and expression. It was not at all like the common finishing and polishing to which careful authors generally subject the first draughts of their com

positions,-nor even like the fastidious and tentative alterations with which some more anxious writers assay their choicer passages. It was, in fact, the great filling in of the picture,—the working up of the figured weft, on the naked and meagre woof that had been stretched to receive it; and the singular thing in his case was, not only that he left this most material part of his work to be performed after the whole outline had been finished, but that he could proceed with it to an inde finite extent, and enrich and improve as long as he thought fit, without any risk either of destroying the proportions of that outline, or injuring the harmony and unity of the design. He was perfectly aware, too, of the possession of this extraordinary power, and it was partly, we presume, in consequence of it that he was not only at all times ready to go on with any work in which he was engaged, without waiting for favourable moments or hours of greater alacrity, but that he never felt any of those doubts and misgivings as to his being able to get creditably through with his undertaking, to which we believe most authors are occasionally liable. As he never wrote upon any subject of which he was not perfectly master, he was secure against all blunders in the substance of what he had to say; and felt quite assured, that if he was only allowed time enough, he should finally come to say it in the very best way of which he was capable. He had no anxiety, therefore, either in undertaking or proceeding with his tasks; and intermitted and resumed them at his convenience, with the comfortable certainty, that all the time he bestowed on them was turned to good account, and that what was left imperfect at one sitting might be finished with equal ease and advantage at another. Being thus perfectly sure both of his end and his means, he experienced in the course of his compositions none of that little fever of the spirits with which that operation is so apt to be accompanied. He had no capricious visitings of fancy which it was necessary to fix on the spot or to lose for ever,-no casual inspirations to invoke and to wait for,-no transitory and evanescent lights to catch before they faded. All that was in his mind was subject to his control, and amenable to his call, though it might not obey

at the moment; and while his taste was so sure, that he was in no danger of over working any thing that he had designed, all his thoughts and sentiments had that unity and congruity, that they fell almost spontaneously into harmony and order; and the last added, incorporated, and assimilated with the first, as if they had sprung simultaneously from the same happy conception.

But we need dwell no longer on qualities that may be gathered hereafter from the works he has left behind him. They who lived with him mourn the most for those which will be traced in no such memorial; and prize far above those talents which gained him his high name in philosophy, that Personal Character which endeared him to his friends, and shed a grace and a dignity over all the socicty in which he moved. The same admirable taste which is conspicuous in his writings, or rather the higher principles from which that taste was but an emanation, spread a similar charm over his whole life and conversation; and gave to the most learned philosopher of his day the manners and deportment of the most perfect gentleman. Nor was this in him the result merely of good sense and good temper, assisted by an early familiarity with good company, and a consequent knowledge of his own place and that of all around him. His good breeding was of a higher descent; and his powers of pleasing rested on something better than mere companionable qualities. With the greatest kindness and generosity of nature, he united the most manly firmness, and the highest principles of honour, -and the most cheerful and social dispositions, with the gentlest and steadiest affections. Towards women he had always the most chivalrous feelings of regard and attention, and was, beyond almost all men, acceptable and agreeable in their society,-though without the least levity or pretension unbecoming his age or condition: And such, indeed, was the fascination of the perfect simplicity and mildness of his manners, that the same tone and deportment seemed equally appropriate in all societies, and enabled him to delight the young and the gay with the same sort of conversation which instructed the learned and the There never, indeed, was a

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man of learning and talent who appeared in society so perfectly free from all sorts of pretension or notion of his own importance, or so little solicitous to distinguish himself, or so sincerely willing to give place to every one else. Even upon subjects which he had thoroughly studied, he was never in the least impatient to speak, and spoke at all times without any tone of authority; while, so far from wishing to set off what he had to say by any brilliancy or emphasis of expression, it seemed generally as if he had studied to disguise the weight and originality of his thoughts under the plainest form of speech and the most quiet and indifferent manner: so that the profoundest remarks and subtlest observations were often dropped, not only without any solicitude that their value should be observed, but without any apparent consciousness that they possessed any. Though the most social of human beings, and the most disposed to encourage and sympathize with the gaiety and joviality of others, his own spirits were in general rather cheerful than gay, or at least never rose to any turbulence or tumult of merriment; and while he would listen with the kindest indulgence to the more extravagant sallies of his younger friends, and prompt them by the heartiest approbation, his own satisfaction might generally be traced in a slow and temperate smile, gradually mantling over his benevolent and intelligent features, and lighting up the countenance of the Sage with the expression of the mildest and most genuine philanthropy. It was wonderful, indeed, considering the measure of his own intellect, and the rigid and undeviating propriety of his own conduct, how tolerant he was of the defects and errors of other men. He was too indulgent, in truth, and favourable to his friends ;-and made a kind and liberal allowance for the faults of all mankind, except only faults of baseness or of cruelty,—against which he never failed to manifest the most open scorn and detestation. Independent, in short, of his high attainments, Mr Playfair was one of the most amiable and estimable of men,-delightful in his manners,-inflexible in his principles, and generous in his affections, he had all that could charm in society or attach in private; and while his friends enjoyed the free and unstu¬

died conversation of an easy and intelligent associate, they had at all times the proud and inward assurance that he was a being upon whose perfect honour and generosity they might rely with the most implicit confidence, in life and in death,and of whom it was equally impossible, that, under any circumstances, he should ever perform a mean, a selfish, or a questionable action, as that his body should cease to gravitate or his soul to live!

If we do not greatly deceive ourselves, there is nothing here of exaggeration or partial feeling,-and nothing with which an indifferent and honest chronicler would not concur. Nor is it altogether idle to have dwelt so long on the personal character of this distinguished individual: For we are ourselves persuaded, that this personal character has almost done as much for the cause of science and philosophy among us as the great talents and attainments with which it was combined, and has contributed in a very cminent degree to give to the better society of this our city that tone of intelligence and liberality by which it is so honourably distinguished. It is not a little advantageous to philosophy that it is in fashion, and it is still more advantageous, perhaps, to the society which is led to confer on it this apparently trivial distinction. It is a great thing for the country at large, for its happiness, its prosperity, and its renown, that the upper and influencing part of its population should be made familiar, even in its untasked and social hours, with sound and liberal information, and be taught to know and respect those who have distinguished themselves for great intellectual attainments. Nor is it, after all, a slight or despicable reward for a man of genius to be received with honour in the highest and most elegant society around him, and to receive in his living person that homage and applause which is too often reserved for his memory. Now, those desirable ends can never be effectually accomplished, unless the manners of our leading philosophers are agreeable, and their personal habits and dispositions engaging and amiable. From the time of Hume and Robertson, we have been fortunate in Edinburgh in possessing a succession of distinguished men, who have kept up this salutary connection

between the learned and the fashionable world; but there never, perhaps, was any one who contributed so powerfully to confirm and extend it, and that in times when it was peculiarly difficult, as the lamented individual of whom we are now speaking; and they who have had the most opportunity to observe how superior the society of Edinburgh is to that of most other places of the same size, and how much of that superiority is owing to the cordial combination of the two aristocracies, of rank and of letters,―of both of which it happens to be the chief provincial seat, will be best able to judge of the importance of the service he has thus rendered to its inhabitants, and through them, and by their example, to all the rest of the country.

In thus mournfully estimating the magnitude of the loss we have sustained, it is impossible that our thoughts should not be turned to the likelihood of its being partly supplied by the appointment of a suitable successor. That it should be wholly supplied, even with a view to the public, we confess we are not sanguine enough to expect. That our professor of mathematics and natural philosophy should have been, for more than thirty years, not only one of the most celebrated mathematicians, but one of the finest writers and one of the highest-bred gentlemen of his age, is a felicity which it is out of all calculation that we should so soon experience again: But, in an age when-very much by his efforts and example-several men of great and distinguished eminence in science can be found, and, as we understand, have already proposed themselves for the vacancy, we do trust that the Chair of Mr Playfair, or any other chair which his death may ultimately leave vacant, will not be bestowed upon a person of questionable or even ordinary attainments.

The object of such an appointment is, no doubt, to instruct youth in the ele ments of knowledge ;—but it is, notwithstanding, a most gross mistake to suppose that a capacity to teach these elements is a sufficient qualification for the office of an Edinburgh professor. If it were so, every second lad who had passed creditably through such a class in one year, might be properly appointed to teach it the year after Nobody, however, will maintain any

thing so absurd as this; and, though we fear that the duties of those who are vested with the right of nomination have not always been correctly understood, no such monstrous misconception can require to be obviated. We have, unfortunately, in this country, but too few desirable situations wherewith to reward the successful cultivators of the abstract sciences. The prizes in their lottery are lamentably few; and it would be the height of injustice not to let them have them all. If it be of importance to a country,-and it is in every respect of the very first importance, that it should possess men eminent for genius and science, it is of importance that it should encourage them, and it is obvious that no encouragement can be so effectual, so cheap, and so honourable, as sacredly to reserve and impartially to assign to them, in proportion to their eminence, those situations of high honour and moderate emolument to which it is their utmost ambition to aspire, and which gives them, not only the rank and dignity they have so worthily earned, but the means of cultivating and diffusing, with great additional effect, that very knowledge to which their years have been devoted. On this ground alone, the duty of giving to men distinguished for science, and devoted to it, the few scientific professorships that are established among us, appears to be absolutely imperative, on the score of mere Justice, as well as of national advantage ;-on that of national Honour, it is not of less cogency. We have once more made ourselves a name as a scientific nation in every quarter of the world; and, by means of Playfair and Leslie, the Scottish philosophy of physics is nearly as well known all over the civilized world as the Scottish philosophy of mind. The Edinburgh school of science now maintains a rivalry with the most celebrated of those in England; and among foreign philosophers the name of Playfair is more honoured and better known than that of any of the alumni of Cambridge. But is this honour, do we think, to be maintained by placing in his chair an obscure or an ordinary teacher? a man capable of instructing boys in Euclid and algebra, and fit enough to teach mathematics or natural philoso

phy in a provincial academy, but without knowledge of the higher parts of the science, and without genius to enlarge its boundaries, or to grapple, at least, with their resistance? While there are men of eminence and genius to be found, and Scotch bred men, too, of this description, willing and anxious, as they are able, to maintain the honour of their country and their school,—we trust that no such disgrace will be put on Scotland and Edinburgh on this critical and important occasion.

If lower and more selfish considerations were wanting, they too all lead to the same conclusion. An ordinary schoolmaster cannot, in fact, teach ordinary schooling so well as a superior person; but, even if he could, he would never attract the same resort of pupils; and the celebrity of the teachers, therefore, is a necessary condition of the greatness of the classes, the increase of the emoluments, and the general resort of families for education-to spend money and pay taxes within the extended royalty!

Perhaps the patronage of such chairs might have been better placed than in the Magistracy of Edinburgh: But we are inclined to augur well of their conduct on this occasion. For a good while back they have discharged this important part of their duty uprightly and well; and seem to have a proper sense of the importance of resisting all sinister influence in those interesting nominations. At this moment, too, they probably feel that they have not much popularity to spare,-and, upon the whole, we have much more fear of their being misled than of their going voluntarily astray. The few considerations we have now thrown out may help, perhaps, to keep them right, and, indeed, they can scarcely go wrong, if they remember, first, that a person qualified to teach the elements of science, but without a name, or the chance of acquiring a name among its votaries, is not fit to be placed at the head of the whole science of Scotland-by being appointed to the first, or the second, scientific professorship in this Metropolitan University; and, secondly, that the chair now to be filled is a chair of Science, and ought not to be made the reward of any other than Scientific eminence.

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