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promotion to the Scottish bench in 1752 to note the particulars of every remarkable case which occurred in the practice of the court of session, with his own observations on the decision, and occasionally on the opinions of his brother judges.-These reports are a striking proof that, amidst his variety of literary and philosophical pursuits, he never lost sight of his judicial duties. They were published in 1780, in one volume folio: and may be regarded as a supplement to the Remarkable Decisions which he had printed while a barrister.

The last literary work, in which lord Kames was engaged, was a treatise on education. This was undertaken in his eighty-fifth year; and was published at Edinburgh in 1781, under the title of Loose Hints on Education. It refers rather to a system of moral than intellectual culture; but it contains many judicious observations, the fruit of his past experience and reflection; and it exhibits the piety and benevolence of the author in a very pleasing point of view. The following sentences, which are quoted by lord Woodhouselee, sufficiently prove that the mind which could dictate them, as one of the last bequests of its wisdom, had long been the sanctuary of charity and of peace.

'Teach your children to prefer their own religion, but inculcate that the virtuous are acceptable to God, however erroneous in point of belief. Press it home to them, that there is nothing in nature to prevent different sects of Christians from living amicably together, more than different sects of philosophers or of men who work in different arts; especially as the articles of faith which distinguish these sects are purely speculative: they have no relation to morals, nor any influence on our conduct. Yet from these distinctions have proceeded rancour and animosity, as if our most important concerns had been at stake. In a different view the absurdity appears still more glaring. These articles, the greater part at least, relate to subjects beyond the reach of human understanding. The Almighty by his works of creation, has made his wisdom and be, nevolence manifest; but he has not found it necessary to explain to his creatures the manner of his existence; and in all appearance, the manner of his existence is beyond the reach of our conceptions. Persecution for the sake of religion would have been entirely prevented by wholesome education, instilling into the minds of young people that difference of opinions is no just cause of discord, and that different sects may live amicably together. In a word, neglect no opportunity to impress on the minds of your pupils that reli gion is given for our good, and that no religion can be true, which tends to disturb the peace of society."

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quotes, p. 225, vol. ii, and ascribes to Dr. Franklin, is al tered from Jeremy Taylor's Liberty of Prophecying' where it appears to more advantage than in the variation of the American philosopher.

Lord Kames was now approaching his long home,' and we shall soon behold the material receptacle of his genius and worth consigned to the sepulchre of death. He had enjoyed a more than ordinary share of good health; for at the advanced age of 85, he was free from any chronical disease, or any considerable infirmities, which are the usual symptoms of decay. His habits of intense study, the bad effects of which were counteracted by regular exercise in the open air, had not occasioned a premature declension of his corporeal strength; and the faculties of his mind were even less impaired than those of his body.

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During the vacation of 1782, Lord K. went as usual with his family to Blair-Drummond' It is very possible,' said he, to his daughter-in-law, that this journey may shorten my life a little space; but what then, have I not lived long enough?'

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very few days before his departure from Blair-Drummond, in a short walk which he took with her (his daughter-in-law) in the garden, he desired her to sit down by him on one of the benches, saying he felt himself much fatigued; and adding that he was sen sible he was now growing weaker every day. On her expressing a hope that, on his going to town, his friend Dr. Cullen, who knew his constitution, might be able to give him some advice that would be of service to him, and that she flattered herself his disease had been rather less troublesome to him for some time past. My dear child,' said he, looking in her face with an earnest and animated expression, don't talk of my disease, I have no disease but old age. I know that Mrs. Drummond and my son are of a differ ent opinion; but why should I distress them sooner than is necessary? I know well that no physician on earth can do me the smallest service, for I feel that I am dying, and I thank God that my mind is prepared for that event. I leave this world in peace and good will to all mankind. You know the dread I have had of outliving my faculties; of that, I trust, there is now no great probability, as my body-decays so fast. My life has been a long one; and prosperous on the whole beyond my deserts; but I would fain indulge the hope that it has not been useless to my fellow-creatures. My last wish regarded my son and you, my dear child, and I have lived to see it accomplished: I am now ready to obey my Maker's summons.' He then poured forth a short but solemn and impressive prayer. On leaving the garden he said, 'This is my last farewell to this place: I think I shall never see it more. Ig to town chiefly

to satisfy Mrs. Drummond; otherwise I would willingly have remained here. But go where I will, I am in the hands of Almighty God.'

Lord Kames attended the court of session for a few days after his return to Edinburgh; but he soon found the effort too great for his strength. On the last day of his attendance, he took a separate and affectionate leave of each of his brethren on the bench; and he died in about eight days after this, in the eighty-seventh year of his age. Few live so long, and fewer spend their time so well. To professional men and to men of letters, lord Kames may be usefully recommended as a model of incessant assiduity. He suffered no time to flit away without its appropriate occupation. His mind was never without some object of pursuit; and, when that was attained, no relaxation ensued. The completion of one work was the beginning of another. His thoughts were perpetually busied with some object of general utility; and whether it were law, policy, morality, metaphysies, criticism, agriculture, or education, the general good, or the good of some large class of his fellow creatures, was the end which he proposed. Whether we regard him as a philosopher, who explains the principles, or who illustrates and exemplifies the abstractions of law, as a practitioner who develops the habitual routine of the courts, as a critic who delivers the laws of composition, or as a moralist who inculcates rules of life, he always preserves a dignified respectability. He had read too much, conversed too much, and thought too much, to be shallow in his ideas or superficial in his knowledge on any subject on which he chose to write. He is never frivolous, though not always profound. Where he does not impress conviction by the solidity of his arguments, he seldom fails to excite admiration by his ingenuity. His mind was quick and excursive; and the multiplicity of his studies rather augmented than diminished the facility of his combinations. Rapidity, or rather a certain instantaneous velocity of apprehension is apt in young persons, who are not sufficiently aware of the little which the wisest know, and of the comparative ignorance which invelops even those whom we deem profound, to generate an overweening selfsufficiency and conceit, Something of this kind was observable in some juvenile traits of the character of lord Kames, but it seems to have been renounced in his maturer years. The more a man really knows, the more modest he becomes : and though there is a kind of diffidence, which often accompanies ignorance, yet wisdom is more often associated with

that estimable quality. Lord Kames knew how to form and to maintain an opinion, but he was not a blind nor bigoted dogmatist. He was open to conviction; and he could hear what was to be said on the other side.

As a writer, lord Kames deserves the praise of copiousness of matter rather than elegance of style. His diction has not that nicety of polish which the discriminating sensibility of taste only can give. There is little variety or melody in his periods. The colloquial vulgarities, perhaps we ought rather to say familiarities, which he occasionally admits into his sentences, were, perhaps in a great degree, owing to the habits of forensic debate, in which they are unavoidable. And we all know how difficult it is, even when we think ourselves on our guard against the practice, to avoid forms of expression or modes of phraseology to which we are accustomed. The technical idiom of a profession or a trade, seems to influence the mechanism of the mind.

The philosophy of lord Kames, whatever alloy of the fanciful or absurd may have been mingled with the richer ore, contained what is often wanting in the works even of philosophers, a considerable mixture of good sense. His habits of reflection made him a speculative, but his habits of busipess kept him a practical man. He did not soar into the region of metaphysics to lose sight of this visible diurnal sphere. He often turned his eyes to the surface of common life; and he thought that philosophy the best which is most useful to man. Of the theological opinions of Lord Kames, we shall only say, that he was a rational, a steady, and a consistent believer in the power, the wisdom, the benevolence, and the moral government of God; and we heartily wish that those who have reviled him for not believing more, did, themselves, believe as much.

In private life Lord Kames appears to have been an amiable man; and of this we have no uncertain indication in his fondness for the society of young persons of both sexes. There must be a large substratum of benevolence in the character, where age can accommodate its feelings to the frolic gaiety of youth. His mind was naturally elastic and cheerful; and his cheerfulness partook of that religious serenity which so far reposes on an overruling Providence as never to be dejected with doubt, nor distracted with care. He looked at the bright side of things; and he did not, with querulous solicitude, anticipate uncertain ills. It is now time to take our leave of lod Kames, and to speak of the manner in which his biographer has executed his task. Lord Woodhouselee has brought together a great

mass of information relative to the literary history of Scotland, during a period which was adorned by the most splendid talents and the most memorable names; but some of his details are too extraneous, some of his digressions are too irrelevant, and many of his reflections too common place. We are far from affirming that the work is dull; but it is not so animated as it might have been rendered by throwing out some of the languid and flat passages, which lessen the interest of the whole. In the diction and in the structure of the sentences, there are many parts which are very uncouth to an English ear. More condensation in the matter, and more ease, harmony, and elegance in the style, would have rendered this a most engaging specimen of that species of biography which renders the life of some eminent individual a centre on which to revolve the literary history of the times. But non ego paucis offendar maculis:-Though there are some defects in this production of Lord Woodhouselee, we should be guilty of great injustice to him and to the public, if we did not acknowledge that it contains a great variety of important matter; and that those, who will read it through with as much attention as we have done, will find it a reservoir of much instruction and amusement. The appendix contains many valuable letters, some of which we regret that we have not room to quote.

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ART. III.-The dormant and extinct Baronage of England, &c. By T. C. Banks, Esq. (Continued from p. 402 of the last Volume).

THE second volume of this work, as we have before mentioned, is appropriated to those families whose honours had their origin by writ, and thenceforth became an inheritance in fee descendible to the heirs general,' In examining its con tents we shall pursue the plan adopted in our first article, of noticing some few of the particulars exhibited in it which wear to us the appearance of novelty, and are calculated to afford general entertainment to our readers.

The barony of Abergavenny has been supposed by many writers to pass with the possession of the castle, in the same manner as the castle of Arundel has been adjudged to carry the earldom to every successive proprietor; but Mr. Banks has, we think, very satisfactorily corrected this mistake by his statement of the several descents through which the title has passed,especially in the female branches. The decision in

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