with the banished king; and, after the battle of Sheriffmuir, several of the professors had to retire in consequence of the part which they had taken against the government. It was not till after the suppression of the Rebellion of 1715, — indeed, not fully till after the crushing of the chieftain power after 1745, that the north-east of Scotland became one with the south of Scotland in religion and in national feeling.

In the universities, both under Prelatic and Presbyterian domination, the philosophy taught had been to a great extent Aristotelian and scholastic. The university commissioners appointed, in 1643, a cursus for Aberdeen; and in it the student is required, after taking Greek the first year, to go on the second year to the dialectics of Ramus, to Aristotle's categories, interpretation, and prior analytics, and in the third year to the rest of logics and portions of the ethics of Aristotle, &c. In the "Metaphysics" of Robert Baron, who lectured in Marischal College in the first half of the seventeenth century, he treats of being, unity, and goodness; enters fully into the controversy between the Thomists and Scotists; gives the divisions of ens and of cause, and treats of necessity and contingency, of sameness and diversity, of absolute and relative, of whole and parts. In the university library of Aberdeen we have theses occupying 121 pages by Andrew Cant, the younger, of date 1658; in these he shows that he knew the Copernican theory of the heavens and Harvey's discovery of the circulation of the blood: but the whole discussions are conducted in a formal manner; and he dwells fondly on the scholastic logic, in the treatment of which he shows some independence of thought. In 1710 there was published a work by Thomas Blackwell, who had come from Paisley, in 1700, to be minister at Aberdeen in the Presbyterian interest, and who was made professor in 1711, and principal in 1717: his work is entitled "Schema Sacrum, or a Sacred Scheme of Natural and Revealed Religion;" and in it the common orthodox theology is defended by the old distinctions, and there are no traces of a new spirit or a new school.

But, after the year 1715, Aberdeen was prepared for a new style of thought. The High Church theology was no longer encouraged, except among a scattered nonjuring clergy subjected to poverty and privation. The Calvinistic divinity had.

never struck its roots deep into the soil; but the literature and physical science of England were known to and relished by the educated classes, and there must be a fresh philosophy to meet the awakened intelligence and new tastes of the country. The first to gratify this feeling was a young graduate of Edinburgh, appointed as one of the rectors in Marischal by the Crown, which had seized the patronage of the college, vacated by the attainder of Earl Marischal, who had been out in the rebellion.

XII. GEORGE TURNBULL.

THE celebrated Hogarth, in his "Beer Street," has a graphic picture of a porter drinking barley wine, after depositing on the ground a load, directed to the trunk-maker, of five enormous folios; one of which has on the back, "Turnbull on Ancient Paintings." Turnbull was one of the most voluminous writers of his age. I have read many thousand pages written by him ; but I fear the greater part of the copies of his works have gone. to the destiny indicated by Hogarth. It is disappointing to find that this author, who was both an able and a graceful writer, has passed away from the public view so effectively that it is difficult now to procure materials for his biography, or even to get a sight of most of his works. It may be doubted whether any one, except the writer of this history, has been at pains to peruse his works as a whole, for the last hundred years. Dugald Stewart, so well informed on British philosophy, had only looked into one of his volumes; and Sir William Hamilton, in his multifarious researches among obscure writers, does not seem to have thought it worth his while making any inquiries about him. Yet it can be shown that he exercised a greater influence than all other masters and writers put together on his pupil Thomas Reid, the true representative of the Scottish philosophy. He seems to have been the son of the Rev. George Turnbull (his mother's name was Elizabeth Glass), of whom we

1 Parish records of Alloa in Register Office, Edinburgh; "Catalogue of Graduates in Edinburgh," edited by Laing (Bannatyne Club); “Presentation Book" of Marischal College, Aberdeen.

can gather a few scattered notices: as that he was born about 1656; that he graduated in Edinburgh University in 1675; that he became minister of Alloa in 1689, when the Episcopal clergyman was ejected; that he was translated to Tyningham in 1699; that he was nominated but not carried as moderator of the General Assembly in 1711; that he preached before that body in 1713; that his name appears among the members of "The Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge,” in 1720; and that he died in June, 1744, at the age of eighty-eight. His son was born in 1698 (he was baptized July 15); graduated in Edinburgh in April, 1721; and in November of the same year he was appointed, by a presentation from the Crown, regent of Marischal College; and is taken on trial in philosophy and the Greek language, and declares his willingness to sign the Confession of Faith. He comes to have among his colleagues Thomas Blackwell, son of the principal, admitted regent in 1723, who did much to create a taste for Greek in the college, and who is still known to antiquarian scholars by his learned but uninteresting works, "Inquiry into the Life and Writings of Homer," "Letters concerning Mythology," and "Memoirs of the Court of Augustus." In Aberdeen at that time there was -—as we have seen there was in Glasgow - a principal's party and an opposition. party; and there were disputes about the election of the rector. The majority of the masters, including Mr. Turnbull, in opposition to the principal, Blackwell the elder, wish the society to make up a list of persons recommended for the office of rector, to be submitted to the procurators chosen by the students in their nations; and, upon the principal refusing, they elect a preses in his room, and choose a rector, who holds a court and summons the principal to appear before them; but they are stayed in their career by a suit from "the Lords of Council and Session." On April 14, 1726, he has carried a batch of thirty-nine students through a course of philosophy on to graduation; and the last name on the list is Thomas Reid. As having to preside on this occasion, he prepares a thesis, afterwards published, to be discussed by the candidates, --" De Pulcherrima Mundi Materialis tum Rationalis Constitutione," in which the new physics are employed to furnish proofs of the existence of God, and in which he declares that natural science (physiology) is to be taught before moral philosophy, and inclines to censure Socrates because

LIBRARY

CALIFORNIA.

he discouraged inquiries into the structure of nature. He also printed, when at Aberdeen, a "Thesis on the Connection of Natural and Moral Philosophy." In his lectures on pneumatology he delivered to his students those views which, after being rewritten, were given to the world in his treatise on moral philosophy. In his later writings he frequently quotes Hutcheson and Butler; but his own philosophic opinions seem to have been formed, and delivered in lectures, before either of these influential writers had published any of their works.

In 1726, he published "A Philosophical Inquiry concerning the Connection between the Doctrines and Miracles of Jesus Christ." In it he treats of subjects in which there is a revived interest and which are anxiously discussed in our day, and advances principles which would be favorably received by many in these times. He argues that the works of Jesus were natural proper samples of his doctrines. That he had abandoned the old theology of Scotland is evident, from his declaring that the Scripture way of talking about the Spirit of God and his opera、 tions means simply assistance to the virtuous. It is interesting to notice, that in this treatise he refers once and again to common-sense as settling certain moral questions; in this, as in other matters, anticipating and probably guiding Dr. Reid.

In the spring of 1727, Turnbull resigned his office in Marischal College; and for the next twelve years we have little record of him. There is reason to believe that he became a travelling tutor, it is said, to the family of the Wauchopes, of Niddry, near Edinburgh. It is certain that he must have travelled extensively on the Continent, and made himself conversant with the treasures of art in Italy. In 1732, he received the honorary degree of doctor of laws from the University of Edinburgh. He seems to have mingled in the literary circles of London,1 and acquired friends among persons of eminence. During these years he prepared an immense store of literary works, which were issued in rapid succession, more rapidly, I suspect, than the public were prepared to receive them. In

1 In the Preface to his "Moral Philosophy," he refers to a certain poet, "universally confessed to have shown a most extraordinary genius for descriptive poetry in some of his works, and in all of them a heart deeply impregnated with the warmest love of virtue and mankind," as likely from friendship to cast his eye on that Preface; from which we may argue that he had contracted a friendship with James Thomson.

October, 1739, he advertises, at four guineas, in sheets, his "Treatise on Ancient Painting;" in which he has observations on the rise, progress, and decline of that art among the Greeks and Romans, comments on the genius of Raphael, Michael Angelo, Nicholas Poussin, and others, and illustrates the work with engravings of fifty pieces of ancient painting. It will be remembered that Shaftesbury had "Disquisitions on Taste;" and we shall see most of the Scottish metaphysicians speculate on taste and beauty. The work was not of such an original or daring character as to recommend it to the genius of Hogarth; yet it seems to have had a considerable roll of subscribers. His style is pleasant, and the remarks judicious and highly appreciative of the classical painters. In February, 1740, there appeared his most important work, and the only one that continues to be read, “The Principles of Moral Philosophy." At the close he promises, as soon as his health admits, a work on "Christian Philosophy," which was actually published before the close of the year; and in it he treats of the Christian doctrines concerning God, providence, virtue, and a future state, and recommends the Word of God because it embraces and illustrates such doctrines. He dates October, 1740, a preface and appendix to Heineccius's "Methodical System of Universal Law."1 In 1742, he published " Observations upon Liberal Education;" and in it he speaks as having long been engaged in the work of education. He subscribes himself as Chaplain to the Prince of Wales, and dedicates the treatise to the "Right Reverend Father in God," Thomas, Lord Bishop of Derry; in whose esteem, he says, "he had long had a share."2 It appears that before

1 I cannot find that this work was published till 1763, the date of the copy in W. S. Library, Edinburgh. In 1740, he published a translation of "Vertot, Three Dissertations."

2 This was Thomas Rundle (born 1686, died 1743). Strong objections were taken to his getting the see of Gloucester, and so he went to Derry, when Thomson writes of him in a poem to the memory of Talbot : —

"Though from native sunshine driven,

Driven from your friends, the sunshine of the soul,

By slanderous zeal and politics' infern,

Jealous of worth."

In these times, men were sent to Ireland who would not be tolerated in the

Church of England.

Pope says of him: "Rundle has a heart ;" and Swift:"Rundle a bishop, well he may,

He's still a Christian more than they."

He was the author of "Letters to the late Mrs. Barbara Landis," in which he