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If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Academic Gregories - -Author: Agnes Grainger Stewart - -Illustrator: Joseph Brown - -Release Date: November 26, 2016 [EBook #53601] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ACADEMIC GREGORIES *** - - - - -Produced by Richard Tonsing, MWS and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - - THE ACADEMIC GREGORIES - -[Illustration] - - BY - AGNES GRAINGER STEWART: - - - FAMOUS - ·SCOTS· - ·SERIES· - - PUBLISHED BY ● - OLIPHANT ANDERSON - & FERRIER·EDINBVRGH - AND LONDON ◯ ◯ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - The designs and ornaments of this - volume are by Mr Joseph Brown, and - the printing is from the press of - Messrs Turnbull & Spears, Edinburgh. - - _April 1901_ - - - - - PREFACE - - -As far back as I can remember there hung in my father’s study two -prints, the one a mezzotint of Professor James Gregory, and the other, -inferior as a picture, but most beautiful in its subject, an engraving -of William Pulteney Alison. - -In answer to nursery enquiries as to the stories belonging to these two -pictures, there had always perforce to be some dark facts related in -connection with Dr James Gregory, but these were kept rather in the -background, and the impression we got of him came nearer to the -incidental portrait which Robert Louis Stevenson draws of him in ‘Weir -of Hermiston.’ With William Pulteney Alison we could, as it were, shake -hands, for the story teller could here insert a piece of real history, -of how, long ago, this man had sat beside his crib watching over him, -holding him back from the arms of Death. We watched with him as he sat -there ministering to this sick child, keeping alive the little flicker -of life, keeping the little restless body still. ‘If he moves, he will -faint,’ Professor Alison had said. ‘If he faints, he will die.’ Across -the gap of years other children held their breath till the little -patient fell asleep. - -But the most interesting fact about Gregory and Alison to us as children -was that they had both been professors of the Practice of Physic in -Edinburgh University, and the little boy who had so nearly died now -lectured in the place of the physician who had saved his life. - -This early acquaintance gave me a love for these professors, and when I -came to be asked to write a book upon the Academic members of the old -Scottish family of Gregory, two of them at least were familiar as -friends. - -In the preparation of my book I have received much kindness, and I -should especially like to thank Mr Philip Spencer Gregory, of Lincoln’s -Inn, Barrister-at-Law, late Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge, for the -help which he as a representative of the family was able to give me, and -also for his very interesting ‘Records of the Family of Gregory.’ My -thanks are also due to Professor Campbell Fraser for personal -introduction to sources of information, to Mr Turner, Savilian Professor -of Astronomy in the University of Oxford, and to Mr Henry Johnstone of -the Edinburgh Academy and Mr R. S. Rait, Fellow of New College, Oxford, -who have read my proofs. I must also record my debt of gratitude to the -Editors for the great kindness and courtesy they have shown to me. - - AGNES GRAINGER STEWART. - - - - - CONTENTS - - - PAGE - - CHAPTER I - - THE GREGORIES 9 - - CHAPTER II - - DAVID GREGORIE OF KINAIRDY, 1625–1720 19 - - CHAPTER III - - JAMES GREGORIE, 1638–1675 27 - - CHAPTER IV - - DAVID GREGORY, 1661–1708 52 - - CHAPTER V - - DAVID GREGORY, 1696–1767 77 - - CHAPTER VI - - (1) JAMES GREGORIE, 1666–1742; (2) CHARLES GREGORIE, 1681–1739; 84 - (3) DAVID GREGORIE, 1712–1765 - - CHAPTER VII - - (1) JAMES GREGORIE, 1674–1733; (2) JAMES GREGORIE, 1701–1755 92 - - CHAPTER VIII - - JOHN GREGORY, 1724–1773 100 - - CHAPTER IX - - JAMES GREGORY, 1753–1821 125 - - CHAPTER X - - WILLIAM GREGORY, 1803–1858 141 - - CHAPTER XI - - RETROSPECT 152 - - Rev. John Gregorie of Drumoak = Janet Anderson - | - +---------------------+--------------------------+ - | | - David of Kinnairdie, d. 1730 James, St And., Mathematics, 1669–74 - | Edinburgh, Mathematics, 1674–75 - | | - +--------+-------+------------+-----------+--------+ | - | | | | | | - David, Edin., | Charles, St And., | | | - Math., 1683–91 | Math., Isobel Margaret | - Oxford, Astronomy, | 1707–39 = = | - 1692–1708 | | Patrick Innes Lewis Reid | - | James, St Andrews, | | | | - | Phil., 1685–91 | Alex. Innes, | | - | Edinburgh, Math., | Mar. Coll., | | - | 1691–1725 | Philosophy, | | - | | 1739–42 | James, King’s - David, Oxford, David, | Coll., Medicine, - Modern History, St Andrews, Math., | 1725–32 - 1724–67 1739–65 | - +------------+ - | | - Thomas Reid, King’s Coll., | - Phil., 1751–64 | - Glas., Phil., 1764–96 | - +----------------------------+--+ - | | - James, King’s Coll., John, - Med., 1732–55 King’s Coll., Phil., 1746–49 - King’s Coll., Med., 1755–66 - Edinb., Practice of Physic, 1766–73 - | - +--------------------------------+ - | | - James, Edinb., Inst. of Med., 1776–89 Dorothea = Rev. Arch. Alison - " Practice of Physic, 1790–1821 | - | | - +---------------+----------+ William Pulteney Alison - | | Edinb., Med. Juris., 1820–21 - William, King’s Coll., Chem., 1839–44 | " Inst. of Med., 1821–42 - Edinb., Chem., 1844–58 | " Practice of Physic, 1842–55 - | - Duncan Farquharson, Fellow of Trin. Coll., Camb. - - - - - THE ACADEMIC GREGORIES - - - - - CHAPTER I - - THE GREGORIES - - ‘The moon’s on the lake, and the mist’s on the brae, - And the clan has a name that is nameless by day. - Then gather, gather, gather Grigalach!’ - - _The Macgregor’s Gathering_—SCOTT. - - -The able Scots family of Gregorie can trace its descent from the -Macgregors of Roro, the younger branch of the Glenlyon family. The name -Gregorie,—which is the Saxon form of M’Gregor—had, most fortunately for -its owners, been assumed before 1603, the darkest time in the annals of -that clan. The proscription which then fell upon everyone bearing the -name of M’Gregor could not touch the Gregories; but the change of name, -which saved them from the penalties that fell so heavily upon their -Highland cousins could not and did not alter their natures, and all the -Gregories, with perhaps the single exception of the Dean of Christ -Church, were at heart M’Gregors. Nothing that civilisation, education, -wealth and society could do to modify their disposition was able -entirely to obliterate in them the warlike character of their Highland -forefathers. We remember this, and when in the nineteenth century we see -a learned professor of the Practice of Physic beating his -fellow-professor in Edinburgh University quadrangle, we know that he was -not really James Gregory but James M’Gregor. - -The claim of the Gregories to recognition in Scottish biography does not -rest on the outstanding genius of any individual member of the family, -so much as on the number of great and brilliant men belonging to it, who -have, in their day, formed and educated generations of the youth of -Scotland. From the middle of the seventeenth century to the middle of -the nineteenth century, with a gap of only a few years, some of the -Gregorie connection were professing either mathematics or medicine in -one or other of the Scottish universities. They were great teachers, -lucid, clear-sighted and advanced in their views, and naturally leaders -of men. Galton, in his book on _Hereditary Genius_, in which he -‘endeavoured to speak of none but the most illustrious names,’ cites the -Gregories as a striking example of hereditary scientific gifts. He -considers that the mathematical power came into the family with Janet -Anderson, who married the Rev. John Gregorie, parish minister of Drumoak -in the year 1621. From these two are descended no less than fourteen -professors, and as there is no record of special power in the Gregorie -family till we come to the sons of John Gregorie, it may be taken for -granted that the ability came from the Andersons, who were distinguished -in the foregoing generations. - -Janet Anderson was the daughter of David Anderson of Finzeach, in -Aberdeenshire; a man who was possessed of such universal talent that he -was popularly called ‘Davie do a’ thing.’ Two of his deeds come down to -posterity; the one, the building of St Nicholas steeple in Aberdeen, -upon which he himself is said to have placed the weather-cock; and the -other, the removal of a great boulder, called Knock Maitland, which lay -in the entrance to Aberdeen harbour and endangered the passage of every -ship sailing in or out. This he removed by placing chains under it at -low tide, and fastening them to a huge raft, which at high tide lifted -up the rock and carried it out to the open sea. - -Janet Anderson’s near kinsman was the Professor of Mathematics in the -University of Paris, and she herself was a great mathematician and is -said to have taught her sons. If that was the case, one at least of her -pupils did her great credit, for her younger son, James, lived to take a -foremost place among the mathematicians of his day, and to be the -inventor of the Gregorian Telescope. - -In 1621, when the Rev. John Gregorie married Janet Anderson, he was the -minister of Drumoak, a remote parish on the Dee, where in peaceful times -he might have fulfilled his quiet duties with little to disturb him. -Towards the end of the first half of the seventeenth century, however, -Scotland was in a ferment, and in a state of civil and religious turmoil -which made itself felt throughout the land. In Aberdeenshire, both the -clergy and the laity were in sympathy rather with Laud and Prelacy than -with Henderson and Presbytery. This brought them into violent collision -with the party in power, and among the rural clergy there were few names -more distasteful to the Covenanters than the name of John Gregorie. When -therefore in 1639, the government sent an army to coerce refractory -Aberdeenshire, he knew that he would receive no toleration and fled, -meaning to join the king at Newcastle. The ship in which he tried to -escape was boarded, and the fugitives were made to return, and in the -following year Gregorie’s fears were realised, for General Monro, who -was then stationed near Aberdeen on the outlook for rebels from the -Covenant—especially rich ones—remembered the minister of Drumoak. -Spalding tells us the pitiful story. - -‘Upone the second day of Junij, Mr Johne Gregorie, minister at Dalmoak, -wes brocht in to Munro be ane pairtie of soldiouris. He wes takin out of -his naikit bed upone the nicht, and his hous pitifullie plunderit. He -wes cloislie keepit in Skipper Andersonis hous haveing fyve muskiteris -watching him day and nicht, sustenit upone his awin expensis. None, no -nocht his awin wyfe could have privie conference of him, so straitlie -wes he watchit. At last he is fynit to pay generall Major Munro 1000 -merkis for his outstanding agains the covenant and syne gat libertie to -go. Bot in the Generall Assemblie holdin in July, he wes nevertheless -simpliciter deprivit, becaus he wold not subscryve the covenant; and -when all wes done he is forst to yield, cum in and subscryve, as ye have -hierafter.’ - -It was not till 1641 that, at St Andrews, the Laird of Drum’s petition -for his restoration had effect; when in token of his reinstatement, -Gregorie along with his rival, Mr Andrew Cant, was chosen to preach at -the visitation of the Presbytery of Aberdeen. This fellowship with a -man, whose qualities have been embalmed in his name, very nearly cost -him the favour of the party to which he now belonged. Here again is -Spalding’s account, naïve and full of the spirit of the time. - -‘Upone Tuysday 6^{th} September, Mr Johne Gregorie, minister at Dulmoak -at the visitatioun of the Kirk of New Abirdene teichit most lernidlie -upone the 4^{th} verss of the 2^{nd} chapdour to the Collosians, and -reprehendit the order of our Kirk and new brocht in poyntes. Mr Andrew -Cant, sitting besyde the reidar, as his use was, offendit at this -doctrein, quicklie cloissit the reidaris buke, and laid down the glass -befoir it wes run, thinking the minister sould the sooner mak an end; -bot he beheld and preichit half ane hour longer nor the tyme. Sermon -endit the bretheren convenis to their visitatioun, quhair Mr Andrew Cant -impugnit this doctrein, desyring the said Mr Johne to put the samen in -wreit, who answerit, he wold not only wreit bot print his preiching, if -neid so requirit, and baid be all what he had teichit as orthodox -doctrien. The bretheren hard all and had their owne opiniouns, and but -ony more censure they disolvit, sumwhat perturbit with Cantis -curiositie. Upone Thuirsday, he raillit out in his sermon aganes the -said Mr Johne Gregorie’s doctrein, and on Sunday likwais. At last, be -mediatioun of the toune’s balleis at a coup of wyne, they twa war satled -with small credet to Cantis bussines.’ - -Though Gregorie was not censured by the whole body of the clergy in -1642, as there seems little doubt Mr Cant had intended, he was not -absolutely free from anxiety. No doubt life went smoothly enough with -him at times, for he amassed quite a large fortune. The estates of -Kinairdy and Netherdale were given to him on the insolvency of the -Crichtons in satisfaction of £3,800 which he had lent to them; and his -wife on her part had succeeded on her father’s death to a portion of the -estates of Finzeach. The land brought its sorrow with it, and passed out -of the hands of the family again, but that was afterwards. - -In 1649 John Gregorie was once more deposed, and for the last time. The -Synod recommended that he should be reinstated, but he did not long -survive this recommendation. He died in 1650, and was buried at Drumoak. - -Among the slaty monuments in the churchyard there is none that bears the -name of John Gregorie. Two hundred and fifty years have obliterated what -must once have been written, and the Dee is gaining ground from the -graveyard at every time of spate. The old church stands and the manse, -which has been turned into a farmhouse, but that is all. - -There is a memorial of John Gregorie and his wife in a mortification for -the education and maintenance of ten poor orphans ‘within the said -Burgh’ of Aberdeen. - -John Gregory left three sons, Alexander, who was served heir to his -father’s very considerable property in 1651, David, known as David of -Kinairdy, and James, the great professor of astronomy. His two -daughters, Margaret and Janet, were both married, the latter to Thomas -Thomson of Faichfield. - -Loving and generous, as no one who reads about Alexander Gregorie can -doubt that he was, he would yet barely have been included in this book, -if it had not been for his terrible death, which made the family estates -fall into the hands of his younger brother. Kinairdy and Netherdale, -which had been allotted by law to his father on the bankruptcy of the -Crichtons, were too much favoured by their former possessors to be -relinquished without disturbance into the hands of their rightful -owners. The Crichtons harried Alexander Gregorie, and that so -frequently, that he was obliged at last in 1660 to seek the shelter of -the law. James, second Viscount Frendraught, took no notice of the -summons to appear at court, and so was outlawed, but this sentence was -remitted upon his giving security (in a bond of £40,000 Scots or £3,333, -6s. 8d. sterling) to keep the peace and to appear before the Privy -Council to answer the charges made against him. Bonds such as this -succeeded each other, till the final outbreak which occurred on the 7th -of March 1664. Then with the shed blood of Alexander Gregorie came -peace, but at what a cost. In the records of the Justiciary Court there -is a description of the murder, which somehow belies its dusty origin, -and sounds as if some old Aberdeenshire gossip were telling the tale -with real enjoyment over her peat fire. - -‘It is of veritie that the said James, Viscount of Frendraught and the -said James Crichtoun of Kinairdy, and Frances Crichtoun his sone, having -unjustlie conceaved ane deidlie hatred and cruell malice against -umq^{le} Mr Alex^r Gregorie of Netherdeall and the said Frances -Crichtoun having upon the sevent day of March last by-past rancountered -with the said Mr Alex^r Gregorie at the hous of Mr Alex^r Gairdine -minister at Forge, the said Frances treacherouslie inveited and desyred -the said Mr Alex^r to goe alongs with him from the said hous, which he -fearing no harme did, and as they went alongs the said Frances Crichtone -without any provocatione (of) foirthought, felony and precogitat malice -drew his sword and rane at the said umq^{le} Mr Alex^r Gregorie thinking -to have killed him at one thrust; but the said umq^{le} Mr Alex^r, -everting the stroak and closing with him, not offering to doe him any -prejudice at all, the said James Duffus drew his sword and stroke at the -said umq^{le} Mr Alex^r whereat his horse running away and the said -Frances mounting on his horse, he divers times ran upon the said -umq^{le} Mr Alex^r and wounded him in his arme, whereupon the said -umq^{le} Mr Alex^r yielded himself prisoner to the said Frances and -delivered to him his sword being requyred be him sua to doe, hoping that -his honour would therrupon have obliged him to have desisted from all -furder trubling and assalting him, but upon the contrair the said -Frances baislie and treacherouslie with the assistance of the said James -Duffus his servant persewed him more eagerlie than befoir, fyred -pistolls at him, gave him several wounds in his breast and head to the -effusione of his blood in great quantitie and then caused him to mount -up behind the said James Duffus and caryed him to the hous of George -Morisone of Boignie, and putt him in ane chamber wherein the said James -Viscount of Frendraught was lodged and then the said Frances Crichtone -left him and upon the morne, being the last day of March last by past, -about thrie hours in the morning, the said Frances Crichtone accompanied -with Walter Henry, gairdiner at Frendraught, William Innes yr., George -Mearns yr., Rob Tarres yr., James Howie, sone to Georg Howie in -Tounslie, and the said James Duffus all in armes cam to the said hous of -Boignie, where the said umq^{le} Mr Alex^r Gregorie was lying bleeding -in his wounds, they and the said James Viscount of Frendraught and -George Forbes his servant efter many baise and opprobious threatenings -uttered be them against the said umq^{le} Mr Alex^r did most inhumanly -and barbarouslie dragg him out of his bed as he was lying bleiding in -his wounds, and that without cloak, hat, or shoves, or bootts, and did -cast him overthwart ane hors, upon his breast, his head and armes -hanging on the ane syd and his leggs on the other syd and so caryed him -away in ane cold and stormy morneing to George Yong’s hous in Coanloch -being ane obscure place and myles distant from the said hous of Boignie -where they keiped him prisoner ... in his wounds be the space of threi -days, _tanquam in privato carcere_; and then, deserting and leaving him, -he was upon the threttein day of the said month by the help of some -friends caryed to the burgh of Aberdeine, where he lay languishing of -the said wounds and the bad usage which he had receaved of the -foir-named persons, and then dyed of the samyne and sua was cruelly and -unnaturally killed and murdered be them; of which murder under trust, at -least slaughter committed upone precogitat malice and forethought -felony, as also of the said usurpatione of His Majestie’s authority in -takeing and apprehending unwarrantably ane frie leidge, the foirsaids -persons and ilk ane of them, as also the said James Crichtoune of -Kinairdie by whose instigation and hunding out the foirsaids crymes of -slaughter upon foirthought felony and precogitat malice and usurpation -of His Majestie’s authoritie were committed and are actors airt and -pairt, and the samyne being found be ane assize they aught to be -punyshed theirfor in their persons and goods to the terour and example -of utheris to commit the lyk heirafter.’ - -Surely this was not a case for the King’s leniency; yet because Francis -Crichtone was a Roman Catholic, and favoured by the Duke of York, a -warrant came from His Majesty for the suspension of the trial of Francis -Crichtone. - -‘Compeired Mr George Mackenzie advocate, and produced ane letter from -His Majestie directed to the Justice General and Justice depute whereof -the tenor follows, Superscribed Charles R. Whereas we are informed that -Alexander Gregorie did not die of the wounds alleged to have been given -him by Frances Crichtone now prisoner at Edinburgh, these are to require -you to suspend that criminal process against Frances Crichtone until we -shall hear further concerning that business from our Privy Council at -their next meeting in June, for which this shall be your warrand. Given -at our Court at Whitehall the 13^{th} day of May 1664 and of our reign -the 16^{th} year by His Majestie’s command. - - ‘Sic subitur Lauderdaill. - -‘To our right trustie and right well-beloved cousin and counselloure and -to our trusty and well-beloved our Justice General or Justice Depute.’ - -James Crichtone of Kinairdy and Viscount Frendraught were acquitted at -the trial, the assistants at the murder were ‘put to His Majestie’s -horn, and all their goods forfeit.’ As for Francis Crichtone, the -principal in this affair, having procured the postponement of his trial, -he escaped from the Tolbooth Prison; and after another futile attempt on -the part of the Gregories to secure a trial, he obtained a pardon under -the Great Seal in 1682. - - - - - CHAPTER II - - DAVID GREGORIE OF KINAIRDY, 1625–1720 - - ‘Not skill alone of ear and eye - Was yours, but something more—a heart.’ - - —_Echoes and After-thoughts._ - - -David Gregorie, the second son of the Reverend John Gregorie, was -destined by his father for a commercial career. Alexander, his elder -brother, as we have seen, was heir to the estates of Kinairdy and -Netherdale, and to a good deal of money: the young brother James was so -remarkable a mathematician that he was allowed to follow his own bent -and devote himself purely to mathematics. But David, poor David, most -unwilling to go, was sent to Holland to learn to be a merchant, probably -to Campvere, the happy haven to which so many Scots traders turned. -Herrings and stockings—the great Aberdeen exports of the day—how we can -imagine David Gregorie seeing to the unlading of such cargo as this, -with his heart and very likely his head far away in Scotland! Anyhow he -did not stay a day longer in Holland than was necessary, for after his -father’s death he returned home and settled in Aberdeen in 1655. In the -same year he married Jean, daughter of Patrick Walker of Orchiston, a -great Episcopalian, and also a great Tory. - -David Gregorie was only thirty, and the best of life was still before -him. He spent his time in just such a way as attracted him. He studied -medicine, mechanics, mathematics and physics, read every interesting -book within his reach, and corresponded with scientific contemporaries -both in Scotland and out of it. His letters, full of thoughts about the -atmospheric laws, went to Edmé Mariotte in his cell. He may have got -some help from them—certainly Gregorie was immensely interested in the -Frenchman’s discoveries. - -His life was enriched by many delightful friendships, but more than all -by the affection shewn to him by his brothers and expressed in so many -practical ways. In 1660 Alexander settled the property of Over -Aschalache on David and his family, subject to the life-rent of old Mrs -Gregorie. It was a most kind arrangement, and must have been a great -help in providing for the growing family. Three years later he was made -librarian of King’s College, and there he spent his time, reading and -searching and arranging in the dreamy way of an old world librarian. But -life, which is so fearfully unknown, held in it for David Gregorie in -1664 that which was to alter his whole career. By the tragic death of -his brother, who left no children, all the family estates passed to him, -and he became suddenly a rich man. He left Aberdeen, and went to live in -the mansion-house of Kinairdy, with which his name is now always -associated. - -Few people pass through the remote parish of Marnoch, which lies on the -borders of Banffshire and Aberdeenshire, but those who do are most -certainly rewarded. The Deveron, not so well known as the Dee, still -keeps a charm of loneliness for those who love her, and the burns are -browner than in the southland. By such a burn was Kinairdy built, on a -little promontory where the stream joins the Deveron. When I asked to -see Kinairdy, I was told ‘There’s nothing to see there, only the old -tower down by the river,’ but the old tower was enough for me, and -packed full of memories. To this old house it was that David Gregorie -took his wife and children in 1664. We get occasional glimpses of him as -he passes about the country, at one time laughed at by his neighbours -for his total ignorance of farming, while at another, in a case of -illness, they would eagerly wait for his coming, with a feeling as if -life and death were in his hands. Sometimes no doubt it was so, and to -rich and poor alike he would go, giving his advice gratuitously for the -love of doctoring, and because he was benevolent. - -This medical skill of his stood him in good stead on one occasion, when -a deputation of ministers called upon him to answer for himself on the -charge of being a wizard. There were dread stories abroad concerning -him, how, by having sold his soul to the Devil, he was able to foretell -the weather (what a thing to sell your soul for in Scotland!) how, after -days of sunshine, he could predict rain and sure enough the rain would -come, and he might make it go on raining for weeks through his -intercourse with the powers of darkness. Poor Gregorie, face to face -with his accusers, went through the little crowd of his children, and -brought in the familiar spirit, which was only a barometer, tried to -explain how it worked, asked them to examine it (which I do not believe -any of them would do), and won them over to his side by his sheer -lovableness. After all, who was to doctor them with the skill of David -Gregorie if he were burned for a wizard? So the kind doctor was left to -his home and his work. The ministers did not understand his defence, but -there was not one of them who could not remember how, with some -well-chosen simple, he had healed one of their dear ones in the hour of -need. - -As his sons and daughters grew up, Gregorie found it more and more -impossible to get the quiet which he so much wanted for his work. His -patients and his children between them were taking up all his leisure. -In these circumstances he determined to rearrange his hours. He retired -early to bed, and rising about two in the morning, worked for a few -hours in the stillness of the night. When that was over, he went to -sleep till he felt rested. If these nocturnal habits were known to the -deputation that waited upon him, there was some excuse for their fears. -What more alarming than the shadows in the room! The midnight crucible -and the sulphurous smell were not there, but it must be admitted that -the Laird of Kinairdy loved the hours of darkness better than the day. - -David Gregorie had twenty-nine children. Fifteen of them were the -children of his first wife, and fourteen the children of his second. -Nine of them died as quite little babies, but twenty grew to be older; -and so, though everyone says, that it was remarkable for Kinairdy to -have three sons professors of mathematics, it must be allowed that he -had a most unusual number of children to choose from! - -In the pedigree of the family of Gregorie in Mr Philip Spencer Gregory’s -book, from which the table of the professors is for the most part taken, -it is seen that David, Professor of Mathematics in Edinburgh, and later -of Astronomy in Oxford, Isabel, the grandmother of Professor Innes of -Aberdeen, and James, Professor of Mathematics at St Andrews and -Edinburgh, were the children of the first marriage; while Margaret, the -mother of Thomas Reid, and Charles, Professor of Mathematics in St -Andrews, were of the second marriage. - -Jean Walker was probably a cleverer woman than Isabel Gordon, Gregorie’s -second wife. In the first place she converted her husband to Episcopacy -and Toryism, and secondly, her son David was much the most brilliant of -the Kinairdy children. To him it was, when he was working as Savilian -professor at Oxford, that old Kinairdy confided a model of an improved -cannon, which in his enthusiasm to improve the munitions of war, he had -designed in his peaceful home by the Deveron. His son, who thought it -most ingenious, showed it to Sir Isaac Newton, and the great philosopher -evidently agreed with him; but to invent an instrument, the only object -of which was to kill better than any cannon in use, seemed to him a -fearful abuse of ingenuity. The horrors of Marlborough’s wars, where men -were slaughtered by the thousand, were they not enough as it was? Who -could deserve mercy from his Maker if he were to bid god-speed to such a -terrible machine? Sir Isaac asked the professor to destroy the model, -which he did, and the little toy which may have been a gatling gun, for -aught we know, was broken in pieces. - -Old David Gregorie, who had been preparing to join the allies in -Flanders, to see his cannon in use, bore his disappointment most -sweetly. Perhaps Newton was right, he thought, for although he had meant -to help his fellow-countrymen, the invention would soon be known to the -enemy, and the Gregorie gun be levelled against his compatriots. - -There seems to be something almost pitiful about the end of David -Gregorie’s life. Kinairdy was made over to his son, the Savilian -professor at Oxford, the sweet old house forsaken, the rooms in which -such merry life had been lived, deserted, and the flowers from which the -gentle herbalist had drawn so many healing virtues, left to die. It -would be best to think that he returned to Aberdeen at the call of -King’s College, which ‘Beautified with bells within, without decked with -a diadem,’ is said to ring her sons back to her before they die. But -there were probably other reasons, and more potent ones. His children -had to be provided for, and his wife, shrewd and not poetical (or else -how could she have been a Hanoverian?) thought of all that her brother, -the Provost of Aberdeen, had in his power, and she knew he could do much -and would do much for her children, so they set up house once more in -the old town of Aberdeen. - -In 1715 comes another turmoil, a flitting, almost a flight across the -North Sea to Holland, to be out of the difficulties of conflicting hopes -and fears, to be out of the country, to take at least no part against -the Stuarts, whom we suspect Kinairdy of loving in his secret heart. -Likely enough they may have offered him bribes, and a title in the -coming kingdom, but there was another counsellor nearer and dearer to -him, and with her and his children he sought the shelter of a foreign -land. Two or three years passed before they returned to Scotland. They -were content to wait till the storm was past. When they came back -Gregorie’s life was nearly over. He died in 1720, an old man of -ninety-five. - - ‘And in his story still remains - A distant memory of life’s loss and gains, - A starlit picture of his joy and pains.’ - -A visit to his widow, who was Thomas Reid’s grandmother was described by -her grandson in after years in a letter to James Gregory, Professor of -Medicine in Edinburgh. ‘I found her,’ he says, ‘old and bedridden, but I -never saw a more ladylike woman. I was now and then called into her -room, when she sat upon her bed, or entertained me to sweetmeats and -grave advices. Her daughters, who visited her, as well as one who lived -with her, treated her as if she had been of superior rank, and indeed -her appearance and manner commanded respect. She and all her children -were zealous presbyterians, the first wife’s children were Tories and -Episcopalians.’ - -But to return to what interests us about David Gregorie of Kinairdy, in -connection with his many professorial sons and other kindred, he was a -great lover of science, and a worker to whom all scientific matter came -home to stay. His mathematical and mechanical gifts, great as they -were—and we know he was far advanced in meteorological studies—were not -to be compared with the power which he had, and which now appears for -the first time in the Gregorie family—the inborn gift of doctoring. He -had no training except what he gave himself, but he could no more help -being a physician, than his brother Professor James could help his -incessant work at mathematics. David and James Gregorie were the -children of their mother far more than of their father; who, good as he -probably was, is, we must confess, just a little dull. Yes, Janet -Anderson, you have lived again for us in your sons! - - - - - CHAPTER III - - JAMES GREGORIE, 1638–1675 - - ‘He learned the art - In Padua far beyond the sea.’ - - —SCOTT, _Lay_ 1, xi. - - -James Gregorie, the third son of the minister of Drumoak, was certainly -the cleverest member of that family. He was so clever that no one had -any time to tell anything about him, except his achievements in pure -mathematics and in the science of optics; and indeed from his earliest -days his love for mathematics was such, that his pretty mother unwilling -to wait till her boy was able to go to school taught him herself all she -knew of geometry, sending him away when the time came to the Grammar -School of Aberdeen already far ahead of his class. He studied at -Marischal College, and took his degree (laureated is the pleasant -Scottish word) along with Gilbert Burnet, the readable if imaginative -historian, with whom likely enough he did not find much in common, -representing as they almost did fact and fancy. Now their portraits hang -side by side in the Picture Gallery—Gregorie’s grey and grave and stern, -with an indication of what he was in the mathematical globe by his -side—Burnet’s less severe, satisfied with himself, and a most prosperous -portrait. - -After the graduation James Gregorie gave himself up to his studies, and -before he was twenty-four made his great discovery of the Reflecting -Telescope. It was not a chance discovery, for indeed he only described, -and never saw put together, the telescope which bears his name. Anyone -can see them nowadays, for they are still used, and the beautiful one -set up by James Short in Edinburgh, is as clear as the day it was made, -and is not used now, only because a commoner one can do the work which -it did for so many years in the Royal Observatory. To the uninitiated it -has a great merit, for things present themselves through it as they -appear to the naked eye, and not upside down as is the case with most of -the great telescopes. - -In 1663, his book entitled _Optica Promota_, which contained a -description of his telescope, was published in London, and thither -Gregorie went, hoping that by the assistance of a practical workman he -might realise his ideal. - -His book had been much read by mathematicians, and amongst others by -John Collins, the Secretary to the Royal Society. We can picture then -the mutual pleasure with which these two men met. It was in an alehouse, -where possibly the jolly tavern keeper took the Aberdonian through the -fumes of his stuffy parlour, and presented him to Master Collins as a -likely friend for him; anyway, this was the beginning of a life-long -friendship, and Collins, who had realised at once what a possibility lay -in the proposed reflecting telescope, determined to have a glass made on -the principles which Gregorie had suggested in his book. With this -object in view, he took his new Scottish friend to the most skilled -glass-grinder in London, but, alas! in vain. Mr Reeves could not -overcome the difficulty of obtaining conoidal reflectors, but to the -great mathematicians of that day, and it was a day of giants, the -discovery was magnificent, and from the hands of astronomy’s master -craftsman, the reflecting telescope emerged in 1668 in a more beautiful -form, as Newton’s telescope. - -Before Gregorie’s time, the telescopes in England were many of them -immensely long, going up even to three hundred feet, and at this length -they were hardly available for scanning the heavens. The new reflector -brought the size down to six or nine feet, and the idea was so -ingenious, that it made Gregorie famous, and what was more, opened the -door for him to friendship with Newton and Collins, to acknowledgment as -an original worker by Huygens, and awakened in the Father of the -Catholic Church an apprehension that one Gregorie, a Scot and a heretic, -might come to deserve the spiritual blight which he is empowered to give -in placing a book on the Index! It was not so very long before, that -Galileo—an earlier maker of telescopes—had been accused by the learned -scribes and pharisees of his day, of magic. ‘Oh, my dear Kepler,’ says -Galileo to his brother astronomer in one of his most amusing letters, -‘how I wish that we could have one hearty laugh together! Here at Padua -is the principal professor of philosophy, whom I have repeatedly and -earnestly requested to look at the moon and planets through my glass, -which he pertinaciously refuses to do. Why are you not here? What shouts -of laughter we should have at this glorious folly, and to hear the -professor of philosophy in Pisa labouring before the Grand Duke with -logical arguments, as with magical incantations, to charm the new -planets out of the sky!’ It is well that Galileo laughed at this stage -of his life; when he fell into the hands of the Inquisition it became no -laughing matter, and even after he had renounced his views, he was -subjected to many griefs, and to a long incarceration in an Italian -prison. - -In the fifty years which intervened between Galileo and James Gregorie, -Louis, the great monarch of France, had taken science under his care, so -the Inquisition was no longer available as a means of preventing the -spread of original thought, and Gregorie, unsuspecting of the pope’s -attitude towards him, went to very Padua itself, and stayed there for -three years. - -Padua, with its still colonnades and drowsy population, is visited now, -not in the eager search for learning, but because of the pale frescoes -with which Giotto had gifted it long before Gregorie was there, but in -the seventeenth century, what other attractions drew men thither! Then -such men as Riccioli, Manfredi and De Angelis were drawing the erudite -from far and near to sit at their feet. Such men as Manfredi and De -Angelis, who were they? Alas! they, the great mathematical champions of -their day, have passed into oblivion, and are only remembered now, even -in Padua, by the work of the masons who carved their names on the walls -of the University. - - ‘In thine halls the lamp of learning - Padua, now no more is burning; - Like a meteor, whose wild way - Is lost over the grave of day, - It gleams betrayed and to betray: - Once remotest nations came - To adore that sacred flame, - When it lit not many a hearth - On this cold and gloomy earth; - Now new fires from Antique light - Spring beneath the wide world’s might: - But their spark lies dead in thee, - Trampled out by tyranny.’ - -As for Gregorie, he was at variance with Riccioli, De Angelis and -Manfredi, and though we have only negative evidence, we hope that he was -at one with the other great teachers of his time in Italy. _Optica -Promota_ had been much read on the Continent, and there the suggestion -which he made that the solar parallax might be determined by the transit -of Venus and Mercury had been accepted, and till a few years ago it was -the method employed in finding out the distance of the sun. But after -all, the most beautiful piece of Gregorie’s work was his telescope. ‘It -consists of a parabolic concave speculum with a hole in its centre, -having near its focus a small elliptic concave speculum. The image -formed by the large parabolic speculum is received by the small -elliptical one, and reflected through the aperture in the former upon a -lens which magnifies it.’ - -In Padua his work took a more purely mathematical turn, and resulted in -a book ‘pursuing a hint suggested by his own thoughts,’ of which he had -only a few copies printed. It was entitled _Vera Circuli et Hyperboles -Quadratura_, and Montucla in writing of it says that the title is -misleading, and that the author does not claim, except approximately, -through his infinite converging series to find the square of a circle or -hyperbola. Collins, to whom a copy was sent, read part of it before the -Royal Society. Lord Brouncker and Dr Wallis were enthusiastic in its -praise, and under such encouragement Gregorie published it along with -some fresh matter under the title of _Geometriae Pars Universalis -inservieus Quantitatum Curvarum Transmutationi et Mensurae_. The book -came out in Padua with the permission of the State of Venice, and was a -great success. Before its publication the Royal Society showed their -appreciation of it by making Gregorie a Fellow. - -This was in January 1668; in March he was still in Padua, but in all the -confusion of departure, and not long after he returned to Scotland, and -back to his much loved Aberdeenshire, where happiness was awaiting him -on all sides. There was Kinairdy to visit with its many charms, and -there was Aberdeen, and at Elrick there was a cousin who was after all, -it is easy to guess, the end of his journey. This was Mary Burnet, the -widow of John Burnet, who to his great joy consented to become his wife, -and was married to him in 1669. - -The astronomer found love-making dreadfully time-consuming, and vaguely -regretted it. You see, it was apt to interrupt his correspondence with -Huygens and Halley, with Newton and Collins, with Dr Wallis and Lord -Brouncker. Here is a pathetic letter from him written in the early part -of the year to one of his mathematical correspondents—‘I have several -things in my head as yet only committed to memory, neither can I dispose -of myself to write them in order and method till I have my mind free -from other cares.’ - -His wife was only twenty-three, although this was her second marriage, -and even when after Mr Gregorie’s death she married Mr Ædis, she was -still young and very beautiful. A rare piece of her work remains in the -tapestries which adorn the Magistrates’ Gallery in St Nicholas Church in -Aberdeen. Susannah and Jephtha’s daughter were her subjects, and there -they are still, looking out of their panels, from the midst of their -beautiful blue and green landscapes, with the rigid uncertainty of -tapestry portraits. Bailie Burnet would have been proud if he could have -foreseen what a combination of ecclesiastical and civic honour was to -fall to his wife’s needlework. - -Mrs Gregorie’s father, George Jameson the artist, drew the pictures for -her. Walpole called him the ‘Van Dyck of Scotland,’ though it is -difficult to know why, as there is really no resemblance in their work, -but at least Jameson and Van Dyck were friends in Rubens’ studio, and -the kindly appreciation of his fellow-citizens has remembered and -repeated the phrase. - -In 1670, James Gregorie was appointed to the Chair of Mathematics in St -Andrews, where he had a successful if sometimes vexed life. His duties -were to deliver two lectures a week, and to answer any mathematical -questions that might be set before him. ‘I am now much taken up,’ he -writes in May, 1671, ‘and have been so all this winter by-past, both -with my public lectures, which I have twice a week, and resolving -doubts, which some gentlemen and scholars propose to me. This I must -comply with, nevertheless that I am often troubled with great -impertinences, all persons here being ignorant of these things to -admiration. These things do so hinder me, that I have but little time to -spend on these studies my genius leads me to.’ - -He lived near the beautiful cathedral and almost under the shadow of St -Regulus, and there his name is still remembered in Gregorie’s Lane and -Gregorie’s Place. He worked in the long, many-windowed library, where -the clock which he used is still at work, and where it has been keeping -time these two hundred years, since Huygens, who invented the use of the -pendulum in clocks, and Gregorie himself were laid at rest. - -Huygens and Gregorie had a long feud about his Paduan book. Its faults -as the Dutchman thought were lack of ‘distinguished perspicuity’ and -intricacy in its invention. But Huygens must have lived to regret his -criticisms, however well founded they were, for with a sudden burst of -the M’Gregor spirit, Professor James sent forth a volley of answers, his -official statements through the medium of the Philosophical -Transactions, and his unofficial through his many letters. Neither his -great opponent, nor his great opponent’s allies were spared. ‘I am not -yet so much a Christian as to help those who hurt me. I do not know -(neither do I desire to know) who calleth in that preface, Hugenius his -animadversions of November 12th 1668, judicious, but I would earnestly -desire that he would particularize (if he be not an ignorant) in what my -answer, which is contradictory to Hugenius his animadversions is faulty; -for in geometrical matters, if anything be judicious its contradictory -must be nonsense. I do not know what need there was for an apology for -inserting my answer, but to compliment Hugenius, and violently (if it be -possible) to bear down the truth. I imagined such actions below the -meanest member of the Royal Society, however, I hope I may have -permission to call to an account in print the penners of that Preface.’ -The account was never called for, because Newton in the meantime, gave -the simpler solution, which Gregorie had been declaring an -impossibility, but it must be remembered that Gregorie’s method although -almost impossible to any but the most clear mathematical mind, was easy -to him and was correct as far as it went. Can anyone help loving -Huygens, even though they know no more of him than what is seen in his -intercourse with Gregorie? What graciousness and kindness was returned -in exchange for the thunderous treatment he received! Sick, as he -thought he was unto death, he suggested Gregorie as a fit successor to -him in the favour of Louis XIV., and we find his father, who was -secretary to the Prince of Orange and a poet—the poet of the -garden—similarly occupied, trying to influence the great folk with whom -he came in contact to further Gregorie’s interests. But in spite of the -recommendation of the Académie des Sciences, the Royal Society, and such -friends as he had at court, Gregorie never received any Royal patronage; -the want of which he took very calmly and with a great deal of broad -good sense, never having expected any other result. ‘I have had -sufficient experience in the uncertainty of things of that nature before -now, which maketh me since I came to Scotland, how mean and despicable -so ever my condition be, to rest contented and satisfy myself with that, -that I am at home in a settled condition by which I can live. I have -known many learned men far above me upon every account with whom I would -not change my condition.’ - -In 1669 Gregorie’s books were suppressed in Italy, which came as a shock -to him, and was all the more grievous because it deprived him of many of -his most interested readers—and controversialists! Scotland, however, -supplied the deficiency wonderfully well. There was a professor in -Glasgow called George Sinclair, a mathematician, and a demonologist of -great repute, who wrote a book on Hydrostatics. It was quite clever, and -may have been more interesting to the general reader than books on -Hydrostatics usually are, because of an appendix in which some strange -things were included, amongst others, A Short History of Coal and the -Story of the Devil of Glenluce. The humour of the combination was too -much for Gregorie, and under the name of Patrick Mathers, Arch-Bedal to -the University of St. Andrews, he wrote an answer to the scientific part -of the Hydrostatics, which he called ‘The Great and New Art of Weighing -Vanity.’ Witty, scurrilous, easily written and easily read, the book was -a great source of merriment both to Gregorie and his colleagues at St. -Andrews, and it raised a perfect hurricane in Glasgow. The very name was -an impertinent play on the title of his antagonist’s former book _Ars -nova et Magna_ and the fact that Professor Sinclair was no mean -adversary added zest to the battle, which continued many days. But -Professor Sinclair had prepared an ill reception for his work by the -edict which he had had printed and sent abroad to persuade people to -order copies of it:— - -‘Forasmuch as there is a Book of Natural and Experimental Philosophy in -English, to be printed within these four months, or thereabouts; wherein -are contained many excellent and new purposes: As first, Thirty -Theorems, the most part whereof were never so much as heard of before:’ -(Alas! poor professor what a beginning! And is the ending any better!) -‘and an excellent way for knowing, by the eye, the Sun or Moon’s motion -in a second of time, which is the 3600 part of an hour, and many others -of different kinds, useful and pleasant. These are therefore to give -notice to all ingenious persons, who are lovers of Learning, that if -they shall be pleased to advance Gedeon Shaw, Stationer at the foot of -the Ladies Steps, three pounds Scots, for defraying the present charges -of the said Book, they shall have from him, betwixt the date hereof and -April next to come, one of the Copies: And for their further security in -the interim the Author’s obligation for performing the same.’ - -‘Which so exposed to my masters the vanity of that confident man, that -they were forced plainly to let him know their mind,’ wrote the -Arch-Bedal, and some of his own sentiments were expressed in a letter -which he afterwards quoted in the Preface to his book _The Great and New -Art_ ‘Sir,—I admire exceedingly the forwardness of your humor (I will -call it no worse) in your last to ——: he is a person not concerned in -you or in your books, neither will he ignorantly commend anything, as it -seems ye expected he should have done, when ye sent him these papers. Ye -might have known long ago that he had no veneration for what ye had -formerly published, for he made no secret of his mind, when he was put -to it. Ye may mistake him, if ye think that any by-end will cause him -speak what he thinks not: nevertheless he delivered your commission, and -was willing to be unconcerned, expecting their answer. They pressed him -to know his judgment of your last piece: he told ingenuously the truth, -that there was none of them had less esteem for it than himself. He -hopes you are so much a Christian, that ye will not be offended with him -for speaking what he thought when he had a call to it; and yet albeit ye -seem to favour him more than others, he hath ground to look upon himself -as one of the sophistical rabble, for they only are such who condemn -anything ye do, the rest of the University continuing always learned -persons. It is to no purpose to apologize for themselves, ye take all -for granted, which ye have heard: I shall not put you to the pains of -proving it; yet it seems ye would hardly have believed it so easily, had -not your conscience told you, that they had some reason for their -judgement, which really was this following: That they see nothing in -your last piece, new and great (albeit it be _Ars nova et Magna_) save -errors and nonsense; as your demonstrations of the pendulum, your _Nihil -spatiale_, your _Gravitas circularis_, and _horizontalis_, your question -“Whether or no a body may be condensed in a point?” etc., too many to -fill several letters: for ye must not call experiments new inventions, -otherwise ye are making new inventions every day, neither must ye call -different explications new inventions, else the same thing might be -invented by almost every Writer. I admire how ye question the R. -Society; for I desire to know one point of doctrine, which ye or they -either pretend to, concerning the weight of the air, the spring of it, -or anything else in your book, save mistakes, which was not received by -all mathematicians, and the most learned of Philosophers many years -before any of you put pen to paper. Ye have been at much pains to prove -that by experiment, which all the learned already grant, and some have -demonstrat _à priori_ from the principles of Geometry and Staticks, and -many _à posteriori_ from experience if sense may be called a -demonstration: yet ye are the only man who produceth the _Ars Nova et -Magna_ when all others are out of fashion. But more to your -commendation, it seems ye do all these wonders by Magick; for ye have -the ordinair principles of none of these Sciences: Euclid is as much a -stranger as reason in all your Books: and for this _Perque Mathematicos -semper celebrabere fastus_! At last ye come to prove a new doctrine, -which before now was near 2000 years old, with thirty new Theorems which -must not be named because they are of such a tender and delicat -complexion that the very naming of them will make them old. There are -also many other excellent things, which will be all new when they were -but printed yesterday. It is like some of these dayes, we may have an -_Ars Nova et Magna_, to prove that a piece of lead is heavier than so -much cork. I know not wherefore ye undervalue any man, because he hath -not as great esteem for your notions as yourself: Have not we as much -freedom to speak our mind of you, as ye have to write yours of the R. -Society and the University of Glasgow? The greatest hurt ye can do us, -is to make Dromo famulus one of our Principals. I think it not strange -that ye using only demonstrations of sense, should admire the force of -our imagination, in affirming no method of Dyving so good as that of -Melgin. I am sure that the man Dyving for a continual time, if he be not -also of your invention, must breath of the air; and this air must either -be kept close by itself, as in Melgin’s way, or communicat with the air -above. If the latter be your invention, I doubt ye must also have some -Chirurgical invention to apply to your Dyver at his return, if he go to -any great deepness: If the former, it is the same with Melgin’s; and you -cannot neither any man else help it, but in circumstances (which alters -not the method) and perchance to little purpose. As for Archimedes, I am -sure he wanted no necessary requisit to prove the weight of water in its -own Element. I know not what else ye intend to prove: Always I am as -sure that he had two great requisits, which ye want; to wit, Geometry -and a sound head. As to what ye write concerning the imperfection of -Sciences; the scientifical part of Geography is so perfected, that there -is nothing required for the projection, description and situation of a -place, which cannot be done and demonstrat. The scientifical part of -opticks is so perfected, that nothing can be required for the perfection -of sight, which is not demonstrat, albeit men’s hands cannot reach it; -and these being the objects of the fore-said Sciences, your authority -shall not persuade me that it is altogether improper to call them -perfect. In the Hydrostaticks, it were no hard matter to branch out all -the experiments that can be made into several Classes, of which the -event and reason might perfectly be deduced, as consectaries (I speak -not here of long deductions, as ye seem to rant) to something already -published: if it be noticed but rudely (as ye, not understanding what -niceties of proportion means, must do) only considering Motion and Rest: -And I believe there is none ignorant of this who understands what is -written in this Science. Upon this account writing to you, I might call -it perfect, albeit I know there are many things relating to the -proportion and acceleration of the motions of fluids, which are yet -unknown, and may perchance still be. Ye shal not think that I speak of -you without ground; (for in your _Ars Magna et Nova_, ye bring in your -great attempts for a perpetual motion; all which a novice of eight days -standing in Hydrostaticks would laugh at). I do not question that this -age hath many advantages beyond former ages; but I know not any of them, -it is beholden to you for: only I admire your simplicity in this. -Astronomers seek always to have the greatest intervals betwixt -Observations, and ye talk that ye will give an excellent way for -observing the Sun or Moon’s motion for a second of time; that is to say, -as if it were a great matter that there is but a second of time betwixt -your Observations. I wonder ye tell me the eye should be added; for the -invention had been much greater had that been away. I do confess that a -good History of Nature is absolutely the most requisite thing for -learning; but it is not like that you are fit for that purpose, who so -surely believe the miracles of the West, as to put them in print; and -record the simple meridian altitudes of Comets, and that only to halfs -of degrees or little more as worth noticing. However, if ye do this last -part concerning Coal-sinks well, and all the rest be but an _Ars Magna -et Nova_, ye may come to have the repute of being more fit to be a -Collier than a Scholar. Ye might have let alone the precarious -principles and imaginary worldes of Des Cartes, until your new -inventions had made them so: For I must tell you Des Cartes valued the -History of Nature, as much as any experimental Philosopher ever did, and -perfected it more with judicious experiments, than ye will by all -appearance do in ten ages. Ye are exceedingly misinformed, if ye have -heard that any here have prejudice or envy against you; for there is -none here speaks of you but with pity and commiseration: neither heard I -ever of any man who commended you for what he understood. As for your -Latin Sentences, if they be not applied to yourself, I understand them -not; for here we are printing no books, we are not sending tickets -throughout the country to tell the wonders we can do: We are going about -the imployments we are called to, and strive to give a reason for what -we say. Where then are our _Doli et fallaciae, tabulae et testes, -sapientia ad quam putamus nos pervenisse_? etc. In these things ye -publish, ye know there is no Sophistry but clear evidence: If ye had -done such great matters in _Universale et ens rationis_, ye might have -had a shift; but here ye must either particularize your inventions, or -otherwise demonstrat yourself derogatory to the credit of the Nation: -For what else is it to confound R. Societies and Universities with _Ars -Magna et Nova_; and yet when ye were put to it in print, to show your -inventions, all ye could say was, that the publisher should have -reflected upon the wisdom of the Creator, etc., so that the Poet said -well of Democritus, etc., of which I understand not the sense, except ye -make yourself the summus vir, and us all the Verveces. I suppose this -may be the great credit that ye say ye have labored to gain to your -nation; to wit to get us all the honrable title of Wedders. No more at -present, but hoping this free and ingenuous Letter shal have a good -effect upon you (for I am half perswaded, that the flattery of scorners -and ignorants, hath brought you to this height of imaginary learning) -and that when ye come to yourself ye will thank me for my pains. - - I rest your humble servant.’ - - * * * * * - -To this letter Professor Sinclair in his turn very pertinently remarked, -that they should not criticise his book till they had seen it, and the -St Andrews’ teachers were convinced. But unfortunately in the address to -the reader with which Professor Sinclair’s _Hydrostaticks_ commences, he -gave expression to his wounded feelings. - -‘When this Book was first committed to the press, I sent an intimation -thereof to some of my friends, for their encouragement to it, a practice -now common, and commendable which hath not wanted a considerable -success, as witness the respect of many worthy persons, to whom I am -oblidged. But there is a generation, that rather than they will -encourage any new invention, set themselves by all means to detract from -it and the authors of it; so grieved are they, that ought of this kind -should fall into the hands of any, but their own. And therefore if the -Author shall give but the title of New to his invention, though never so -deservedly, they fly presently in his throat, like so many Wild-Catts, -studying either to ridicule his work altogether—a trade that usually, -the person of weakest abilities, and most empty heads, are better at, -than learned men; like those schollars, who being nimble in putting -tricks, and impostures upon their Condisciples, were dolts, as to their -lesson, or else fall upon it with such snarling and carping as discover -neither ingenuity, nor ingeniousness, but a sore sickness called, -_Envy_.’ - - * * * * * - -Now, indeed, now was the Arch-Bedal justified, and so in hot haste he -wrote that stinging book, which purported to be by Patrick Mathers (the -Arch-Bedal to the University of St Andrews), but was really by Gregorie, -a fact which its erudition must have made clear to Sinclair, even before -that kind person, the mutual friend, had confided the fact to him. - -The curious thing was that with all his desire to heap ridicule upon his -adversary, Gregorie only touched upon what would naturally now appear -the most vulnerable point, the passage about the Devil of Glenluce. - -In the meantime the clear air of St Andrews was daily suggesting to him -how desirable a place it was in which to teach Astronomy. At night, when -he walked over the links, the stars were so clear above him, and the -hills so inconsiderable on the horizon, that he felt that nowhere in -Scotland was there a site more suitable for an observatory. His idea was -cordially agreed to by the University, and sufficient money had been -collected by 1673 to admit of the authorities commencing their -arrangements. Accordingly Gregorie was commissioned to proceed to the -selection of the instruments needed for the carrying out of his plan. - - * * * * * - -‘Commission, University of St Andrews, to Mr James Gregorie, Professor -of Mathematics. - - ‘_10th June 1673._ - -‘Be it knowen to all men be these presents, Us, Rector, Principals, -Doctors, and Professors of the University of St Andrews, under -subscribing: For as much as we have formerly taken to our serious -consideration the great detriment and losse this ancient seminary hath -been at in times past, and doeth yet sustain by the want of such proper -and necessary instruments and utensils as may serve and conduce for the -better, more solemn and famous profession, teaching and improving of -Naturall Philosophy and the mathematical sciences, and especially for -making such observation on the Heavens and other bodys of this Universe -(as easily may be by such helps, with the great advantage of the pure -air and other accommodation of this place) whereby we may be enabled to -keep correspondence with learned and inquisitive persones in solide -philosophy everywhere, for the forsaid effect: And having purposed (to -be forthcoming to our duty and the encouragement of others) to set as -effectually as may be about this laudable and necessary work, for -providing the forsaids instruments of all kynds, ane observatory, and -all other accoutrements requisite for the improvement of the forsaid -sciences, the benefite, advantage and delight of youth to be trained up -here, the honour of the Kingdom, the reputation of our benefactors, and -the lustre and splendour of the University: Did therefore commissionat -some of our number to make application unto all persons, whom they knew -to be encouragers of learning, and patrons to the professors thereof, -representing unto them that we were instantly upon the effectuating of -the forsaid designe, And to that end to crave their affections and such -other encouragements for the said work as they please to bestow; And to -report to us their diligence therein, with the names of our benefactors, -to the effect this University may record them, and endeavour to make -such respectfull resentments to them and their posterity, as becomes: -giving them power to do every other thing proper and requisit in the -said affair; They being always answerable and accountable to us anent -the premises. And whereas this our laudable designe hath already met -with such considerable encouragement from persons of all ranks, that we -have ordered Mr James Gregorie, professor of the Mathematical Sciences -here to goe to London, and there to provide so far as the money already -received from our Benefactors will reach, such instruments and utensils -as he with advice of other skilful persons shall judge most necessary -and usefull for the above mentioned design: Like as be these presents we -the under subscribers all with one consent constitute the said Mr James -our factor for the effect forsaid, Giving and granting him our full -power and ample commission for transacting and buying the forsaid -instruments in so far as the money forsaid will extend, or as he shall -be further furnished by us upon what is to come upon our letters and -precepts for that effect: Obliging ourselves to ratifye and approve what -the said Mr James should doe in this our commission directed to him by -us during his residence there, and to acquit and relieve him of all -prejudice he may incur and sustain in execution of this our commission, -or any other commission sent by us to him during his residence there: -And to take notice of the fabric and form of the most competent -observatorye that ours here intended may be builded with all its -advantages: And also considering the intended work to be of such moment -and expenss, that we ar not able to accomplish it with the contributions -of these only who have already listed themselves encouragers of it; -Therefore we also by these presents do nominat and constitute the said -Mr James Gregorie our factor and special mandator for making application -unto all whom he knows to be favourers of learning for their concurrence -unto the advancement of the forsd work with full power to do everything -proper and requisit in this affair, as others formerly employed therein -have been impowered by us to do, He being in like manner accountable to -us anent the premisses. As witness these presents, written by William -Sanders, one of our number, clerk for the time, and subscrived with our -hands in the University Hall, on the 10th day of June J. m. vjc. seventy -three years. - - D. Will Comrie, _Provost of St Marie’s Colledge_ - Ja. Rymer - Edw. Thomson - Ja. Strachane - Jo. Comrie - And. Bruce, _Rector_. - D. Geo. Weemss, _Provost of the Old Colledge_. - D. James Weemss, _Principal of St Leonard’s Colledge_. - Jo. Hay. - Alex^r. Grant. - Alex^r. Skene. - W. Sanders.’ - - * * * * * - -Professor James Gregorie in his search for funds went to Aberdeen, and -there he achieved what was quite the most wonderful success of his -life—he got a church-door collection in all the churches in Aberdeen to -provide for astronomical instruments at St Andrews. Rob Roy need never -have taken to the high hand, if he had a tongue at all as persuasive as -his great cousin! - -Here are the Burgh Records for 15th October 1673.[1] - -Footnote 1: - - Ane collection to be at the Kirk Dores for the Observatorie at Saint - Andrews. - - * * * * * - - ‘_15th Oct. 1673._ - -‘The said day, Master Alexander Skene, ane of the regents of Saint -Andrewes signifying to the councell that Master James Gregorie, -professor of Mathematics ther, that ther was ane considerable work -intendit in that airt, which before being brought to ane perfectione -woulde stand considerable moneyes and that severall incorporations and -Universities hade contribuit therto, and seeing the said professor was -ane town’s man heir, it was expectit by all concernit, and humblie -desyrit be him, that this burgh wold contribute to the furtherance of -the said work: All which the councell considering, finds it incumbent -upon them not to be wanting for advancement of the said effair in so far -as they are lyable, and therfor appoynts ane collectione to be at the -Kirk dores ... the nixt or subsequent Lord’s day for the forsaid -effect....’ - - * * * * * - -Things were going very smoothly—success was absolutely fawning upon -Gregorie—he was getting money as he wanted it, and the instruments he -had bought were entirely to his mind; but on his return from London, -where he had gone to fulfil his commission, he found everything changed, -and his colleagues, who had once been so kindly to him, had ceased to -regard him as their friend. He was in the curious situation of being -paid by all three colleges, and that in itself would make his position -somewhat difficult, but this difficulty had always existed. The real -cause of dissension was that in his absence the students had been making -popular demonstrations against some of the other teachers, and citing -his lectures as opposed to the theories propounded by them. It was most -uncomfortable for everybody, and everyone in authority determined to -make it most uncomfortable of all for Gregorie. His salary was -suspended, the university servants were told to take no notice of his -orders, and the students were commanded not to attend his lectures, for -certainly the mathematics as taught by him had turned their heads, they -had shown distinct signs of madness. The attitude of the professors was -not unlike that taken up by the country doctor, who when asked to fill -in a form, certifying one of his patients to be insane, put as evidence -observed by himself, ‘he called me a fool!’ - -In the midst of all the turmoil came a flattering invitation to James -Gregorie to become Professor of Mathematics in Edinburgh University. -After the treatment he had received this was a most blessed chance and -with great joy he left St Andrews, and came to Edinburgh. - -The whole story was written to James Fraser, then at Paris:— - - * * * * * - -‘MUCH HONOURED SIR,—I received some days ago your very obliging letter, -and not long after your arrival at Paris I had another from you, to -which the truth is I was ashamed to answer, the affairs of the St -Andrews Observatory were in such a bad condition, the reason of which -was the prejudice the masters of the University did take at the -mathematics, because some of their scholars finding their courses and -dictates opposed by what they had studied in the mathematics, did mock -at their masters, and deride some of them publicly. After this the -servants of the college got orders not to wait on me or my observations, -my salary was also kept back from me, and scholars of most eminent rank -were violently kept from me, contrary to their own and their parents’ -wills, the masters persuading them that their brains were not able to -endure it. These and many other discouragements oblige me to accept of a -call here to the College of Edinburgh, where my salary is here double, -and my encouragements much greater.’ - - * * * * * - -Gregorie left St Andrews somewhat under a cloud, because, as we have -good reason to suppose, he had been teaching Newton’s Philosophy before -the Kingdom of Fife was quite ready for it, and because, too, his -students had more ardour than wisdom in their minds. But in Edinburgh he -had a great reception. The hall where he gave his inaugural address, in -November 1674, was crowded, and he was given perfect freedom in what he -taught. In his observatory he passed many happy hours, and often at -nights he would take his students to look through the telescope at the -stars, to find out belted Saturn and Jupiter with his satellites, which -was not such a nursery affair then as it is now. These phenomena had -only been discovered fifty years before, for let us remember James -Gregorie lived in the days of Charles the Second, and just missed by a -few years being Samuel Rutherfurd’s fellow-citizen in St Andrews. - -The last scene in his life comes all too soon, and before he had been a -year in Edinburgh his place was vacant. On an October evening while he -was showing his students the satellites of Jupiter, a sudden blindness -came on, and within a few days everything was over. He probably died of -Bright’s disease. - -It seems to us on looking back, as if the active mind had worked too -quickly. Gregorie was only thirty-six, but he had already done a full -life’s work in science. Mengoli, Newton, Huygens, and even Leibnitz (who -for some time claimed Gregorie’s series for his own) have borne witness -to his power. In truth there was something in him that inclined great -men to love him, and his mathematics are so deep that it is only the -master minds who appreciate him. He was a mathematician for -mathematicians. - -There are many of Gregorie’s letters still extant, and for the pure -pleasure of reading one just as he wrote it, this letter written to the -Rev. Coline Campbell is inserted. - - * * * * * - - ‘ST ANDREWS, _1. Jan. 1673_. - -‘SIR,—I received your of the 23rd of December last, and am glad to have -the occasion to keep a correspondence with such a knowing person as ye -ar. I have not had leasur at this time to satisfie you in your probleme, -being drawn away all this afternoon with necessarie affairs: but with -the nixt I shall doe my endeavour for I expect not to mak the -calculation considerablie short, seing the nature of the question doeth -not suffice it. Our bedal his book against Mr Sinclair is come out -several weeks ago. No more at present, but being in hast and hoping that -ye will be pleased to continue this new correspondence, I rest, - - ‘Your humble servant, - ‘JAMES GREGORIE. - ‘for Mr COLINE CAMPBELL.’ - - * * * * * - -His widow and orphans were granted a pension by Charles II. of £40 a -year Scots in recognition of what Gregorie had done in Scotland. No one -could be found suitable to succeed him in the Chair of Mathematics at -Edinburgh. The authorities waited eight years before they made another -appointment; and when the new professor came, he was also a Gregorie, a -nephew of the late professor. His own son, too, held a chair, but that -was in Aberdeen, and he was a professor of medicine. - - - - - CHAPTER IV - - DAVID GREGORY, 1661–1708 - - ‘Tycho Brahe was also one who used the sword, not to cut into - flesh and bone, but to build up a plainer way among all the stars - of heaven.’—HANS ANDERSEN. - - -David Gregorie was the third son of his father and name-father, the -Laird of Kinairdy. He was born in a house without the port in the Upper -Kirkgate of Aberdeen, where the tradition of his birth lingered, and was -indeed cherished many a year after the boy had grown to manhood, and had -left his grey birthplace for the richer lands of the South. - -The boy’s mother was, it may be remembered, Jean Walker, one of the -Orchiston family, and the child was taught from his babyhood loyalty to -the Stuarts and a passionate adherence to the episcopal form of church -government and teaching, which he carried with him to the grave. - -His education he began at the Grammar School, of which Robert Skene was -the rector, and afterwards he studied either at Marischal College or -King’s College. It was at the University of Edinburgh, however, where -his uncle had had such a brilliant if short career, that he took his -degree as Master of Arts in 1683. He was even as a student a man whose -life was commented upon. People talked of his studiousness, of his -joyful temper, and still more of his friendship with Dr Archibald -Pitcairne, whose time was coming to make the tongues of Edinburgh wag. -They really were wonderful friends. Pitcairne studied everything from -sheer love of learning. He was educated in turn for the church, the law, -and for medicine, and besides this he made a great excursion into the -higher mathematics at the instigation of his friend. David Gregorie, on -the other hand, was a pure mathematician, all else in his studies giving -way to his love for his dear ‘Celestial Physicks.’ From his uncle, -James, he had inherited a great number of mathematical manuscripts, and -this inheritance was regarded by him with the deepest veneration. Some -day he would edit all these papers, but meantime many happy hours were -spent by these two friends going over the manuscripts. For David -Gregorie there was moreover much to delight in, in every fresh discovery -that came from the hands of Sir Isaac Newton. Soon he was as ardent an -admirer of the philosopher as ever his uncle had been. If he were made a -professor, Gregorie thought, he would admit none of the Cartesian -fallacies, and already his appointment to the Chair of Mathematics was -being discussed. At the age of twenty-two, then, and actually before -David Gregorie had got his A.M. degree, he was appointed to this Chair -in the Edinburgh University, an office which had not been filled up -since his uncle’s death. Lectures had been given by a student called -John Young, but he was only acting as mathematical tutor, filling the -place temporarily, whereas when Gregory was appointed it was as -professor, with a salary of £1000 (Scots). - -In December he gave his inaugural address in Latin, on an Analysis of -Geometrical Progress. The lecture has been lost, but a volume of notes -of his usual course of teaching is preserved in the University Library, -and its range is very large. As has already been said, what chiefly -distinguished David Gregorie was his appreciation of Newton’s ideas. It -was his object to bring down the _Principia_ to the average level of -mathematical minds, and both he and his brother James, who held the -corresponding chair at St Andrews, were teaching Newton’s philosophy -before it was taught at Cambridge. ‘It was not long,’ says Whiston, -‘before I with immense pains, but no assistance, set myself with the -utmost zeal to the study of Sir Isaac Newton’s wonderful discoveries in -his _Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica_, one or two of which -lectures I had heard him read in the publick schools, though I -understood them not at all at that time, being indeed greatly excited -thereto by a paper of Dr Gregory’s when he was professor in Scotland; -wherein he had given the most prodigious commendations to that work, as -not only right in all things, but in a manner the effect of a plainly -divine genius, and had already caused several of his scholars to keep -acts, as we call them, upon several branches of the Newtonian -Philosophy, while we at Cambridge, poor wretches, were ignominiously -studying the fictitious hypothesis of the Cartesian.’ - -Voltaire wrote of Sir Isaac Newton, that when he died he had not more -than twenty followers in his own country; and, even making allowance for -the unfriendly eyes with which the Frenchman regarded his -contemporaries, there was probably some truth in the statement. Whiston -was professor of mathematics at Cambridge, and writing from that -University, where of all places in the world Newton’s doctrines should -have been earliest taught, it is curious that he should have to -acknowledge that he got his inspiration from Scotland. - -In 1684 Professor Gregorie produced his first work, which was entitled -_Exercitatio Geometrica de Dimensione Figurarum, sive Specimen Methodi -Generalis [dimetiendi] Quasvis Figuras_. In it he makes much reference -to the speculations of his uncle, to whom he was at least partially -indebted for his materials, and there is little, if any, original work. -The book was not widely read, but it was said to have given ‘a public -proof of his competency to discharge the duties of the important office -to which he had been appointed.’ - -David Gregorie was appointed in 1683 in the reign of Charles II., but -during his six years in the professoriate many changes had come about. -William and Mary were on the throne, and not unnaturally it was -considered necessary by the new Government that steps should be taken to -ascertain the political opinion of those men to whom was entrusted the -instruction of the youth of the land. - - * * * * * - - At Edinburgh, - - July iv., MDCXC. - -‘The Rolls of Parliament called Act for Visitation of Universities, -Colledges & Schoolls. - -‘Our Soveraigne Lord and Lady, the King and Queen’s Majesties and the -three Estates of Parliament considering how necessarie it is for the -advancement of Religion and Learning and for the good of the Church and -peace of the Kingdom that the universities, colledges, and schoolls be -provided and served with pious, able and qualified professors, -principalls, regents, masters, and others bearing office therein well -affected to their Majesties and the established government of Church and -State. Therefore their Majesties with advyce of the said three Estates -of Parliament, doe statute, ordaine, and enact, that from this time -forth, no Professors, Principalls, Regents, Masters, or others bearing -office in any university, colledge, or schooll within this Kingdome be -either admitted or allowed to continue in the exercise of their saids -functions but such as doe acknowledge and profess, and shall subscryve -to the confession of faith ratified and approven by this present -Parliament, and alsoe sweare and subscryve the oath of allegiance to -their Majesties; And withall shall be found to bee of a pious, loyal and -peaceable conversation, and of good and sufficient literature and -abilities for their rexive Imployments, and submitting to the government -of the Church now settled by Law, and albeit it be their Majesties -undoubted right and prerogative to name visitors and cause visite the -forsaid universities, colledges and schoolls, yet at this tyme their -Majesties are pleased to nominate and appoint with advyce and consent -forsaid the persons under named, viz., The Duke of Hamilton, Earle of -Argyle et alii To meet and visite all universities, colledges and -schoolls within this Kingdom, and to take tryall of the present -Professors, Principalls, Regents, Masters and others bearing office -therein according to the qualifications and rules above mentioned, and -such as shall be found to be erroneous, scandalous, negligent, -insufficient, or disaffected to their Majestie’s Government, or who -shall not subscryve the Confession of faith, sweare and subscryve the -oath of allegiance and submitt to the government of the Church now -settled by Law to purge out and remove. As alsoe to consider the -foundations of the saids Universities colledges and schoolls, with the -rents and revenues thereof, and how the same have been administred and -manadged and to sett down such rules and methods for the good -manadgement thereof for hereafter. As likewise for ordering the saids -universities, colledges and schoolls, and the professions and manner of -teaching therein and all things else relateng thereto as they shall -thinke most meet and convenient according to the foundations thereof, -and consistent with the present established government of Church and -State. And to the effect that these presents may be more surely execute. -Their Majesties with advyce forsaid, doe farther Impower the forsaids -persons visitors or their quorum to appoint Committees of such numbers -of their own members as they shall thinke fitt to visite the severall -Universities and Colledges within this Kingdom, with the Schoolls within -the bounds to be designed to them, and that according to such -instructions and injunctions as they shall thinke fitt to give them; And -to the effect that upon report made be the said Committee to the -aforsaid visitors or their quorum they may proceede and conclude -thereupon as they shall see cause; And their Majesties appoints the -forsaids visitors to meet at Edinburgh upon the twenty third day of July -instant for the first dyet of their meeting with power to them to -adjourne and appoint their own meetings to such dayes and places as for -thereafter they shall judge convenient; And this Commission to endure ay -and while their Majesties recall and discharge the same.’ - - * * * * * - -This large commission therefore which was appointed to deal with the -universities and schools in Scotland, met in Edinburgh in the Common -Hall under the presidency of the Lord Provost in July 1690. - -The Principal, Alexander Monro, was tried first, and a sentence of -deprivation was passed upon him, as also upon Dr Strachan, Professor of -Divinity. When Gregorie’s turn came, he like those who had gone before -was accused by men of whose names he was kept in ignorance, whose -statements he could but feel were libellous, malicious and false. The -lay portion of the commission were inclined to favour him, and when they -enquired into his conduct as a teacher, he was able to present an -admirable report of his public lessons for three years. At the same time -he would not subscribe to the Confession of Faith, and so it came about -that when he recommenced his lectures in the ensuing month of December, -he did not know whether he was to continue in the possession of his -chair, neither were Dr Archibald Pitcairne nor Lord Tarbat, his constant -supporters in all this time of trial, able absolutely to reassure him on -the point. John Hill Burton, in his chapter on the ecclesiastical -settlements says that ‘Dr Gregorie, the only truly great man among the -Episcopalian professors, was wisely spared.’ But for him the suspense -and anxiety were very tedious, and he was glad when a prospect opened -out before him of quitting the university in which he had been subjected -to so much annoyance. - -The opening occurred through the resignation of Dr Bernard, Savilian -Professor of Astronomy in the University of Oxford, to whose chair Dr -Gregorie thought he might aspire. It was of the first importance that he -should receive the support of Sir Isaac Newton in his application, so he -went at once to London to be introduced to him. Sir Isaac was much -pleased with him, and wrote him a testimonial, dated London, July 1691. - - * * * * * - -‘Being desired by Mr David Gregorie, Mathematics Professor of the -Colledge in Edinburgh to testifie my knowledge of him, and having known -him by his printed Mathematical performances, and by discoursing with -travellers from Scotland, and of late by conversing with him, I do -account him one of the most able and judicious Mathematicians of his age -now living. He is very well skilled in analysis and geometry, both new -and old. He has been conversant in the best writers about astronomy, and -understands that science very well. He is not only acquainted with -books, but his invention in Mathematical things is also good. He has -performed his duty at Edinburgh with credit, as I hear, and advanced the -Mathematicks. He is reputed the greatest Mathematician in Scotland, and -that deservedly, so far as my knowledge reaches, for I esteem him an -ornament to his country, and upon these accounts do recommend him to the -duties of the Astronomy Professor into the place in Oxford now -vacant.—_sic subscribitur_. - - IS. NEWTON, _Math. Prof., Cantab._’ - - * * * * * - -Nor did Sir Isaac’s kindness end here, for he wrote a letter to -Flamsteed, the Astronomer Royal, asking for his influence in the -appointment. Flamsteed responded with great kindness, only mentioning -the fact that if his old friend Mr Caswell insisted on standing for the -vacant chair, he would be obliged to support him. In the end of his -letter, Sir Isaac, while mentioning his anxiety to have Flamsteed’s -observations on Jupiter and Saturn for the next twelve or fifteen years, -adds: ‘If you and I live not long enough, Mr Gregorie and Mr Halley are -young men,’ thus indicating that he thought them fit to carry on his -work. - -Edmund Halley, who was the other candidate for the professorship of -astronomy, had from a scientific point of view stronger claims to the -appointment. To him the world is indebted for the publication of -Newton’s _Principia_, which Halley undertook at his own expense, seeing -that the Royal Society made difficulties about the money, and that -Newton himself was too poor, and possibly too much engrossed in his -study, to take the burden of it on his own shoulders. But Halley was an -infidel, and this disqualified him in the eyes of the patrons of the -chair. Sir Henry Savile had left his professorships open to candidates -of any Christian Nation ‘if they were of good report and correct -demeanour, eminently skilled in mathematics, possessed of at least a -moderate knowledge of the Greek language, and if they had attained the -age of twenty-six years.’ He had left the election in the hands of the -Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lord Chancellor, the Chancellor of the -University, the Bishop of London, the Principal Secretary of State, the -two Chief Justices, the Chief Baron of the Exchequer and the Dean of -Arches. With an electorate composed of such men, Edmund Halley, holding -the views which he acknowledged at that time, had no chance of election. - -Whiston in his _Memoir_ says that ‘Bishop Stillingfleet was desired to -recommend him at court, but hearing that he was a sceptick, and a -banterer of religion, he scrupled to be concerned, till his chaplain Mr -Bentley should talk with him about it, which he did. But Mr Halley was -so sincere in his infidelity, that he would not so much as pretend to -believe the Christian religion, though he thereby was likely to lose a -professorship.’ - -David Gregorie then (or Gregory, as he now began to call himself), with -the support of Sir Isaac Newton, and because of Halley’s religious -views, was appointed professor. - -He had entered at Balliol, was incorporated A.M. on the 6th of February -1692, took the degree of M.D., and was subsequently admitted to the -chair. - -In the previous year he had been made a Fellow of the Royal Society, and -it was not long before he began to contribute to their volumes. He sent -in a beautiful solution of the Florentine problem, which Viviani had -sent as a challenge to British Mathematicians. His work was masterly, -and delighted geometers, and in Oxford he found time to write much more -than he had in Scotland, where teaching had always had to come first. He -next wrote a defence of his uncle against the Abbé Gallois, who accused -him of plagiarising from Roberval, and then followed his work on the -properties of the Catenaria or the curve made by a chain fixed at both -ends. In the course of this he was the first to observe that, by -inverting this curve, the legitimate form of an arch is arrived at. - -In 1695 David Gregory married Elizabeth, a daughter of Mr Oliphant of -Langton. His marriage is commemorated in a Latin ode written by his -friend Anthony Alsop, a student of Christ Church, and published in his -works. - -Shortly after his marriage he brought out his great book, _Catoptricae -et Dioptricae Sphericae Elementa_, which turns out for the comfort of -the ignorant to be a great work on looking-glasses and lenses. - -The book came as a revelation to many men in that day, for in it Gregory -tried to simplify his subject, and to make it clear to the many instead -of to the few. He was rewarded with praise, and his book was promised -immortality. How changed are things in the present day, when to none of -our writers will criticism promise celebrity exceeding at the outside -two generations. _Keill_ blossomed out into poetry: ‘It will last as -long as the sun and moon endure,’ and it is just possible that it may—in -the Bodleian Library!—only that was not what Keill meant.[2] - -Footnote 2: - - John Keill, 1671–1721, was born in Edinburgh. Was Professor of - Astronomy at Oxford and an active member of the Royal Society. He died - of a ‘violent fever’ at Oxford on Thursday, August 31st 1721, a few - days after entertaining ‘the Vice Chancellor and other academic - dignitaries at his house in Holywell Street with wine and punch.’ He - is buried in St Mary’s Church. - -Comparatively unnoticed at the time was a suggestion made in this book -about mirrors and lenses with regard to following Nature in the -construction of a telescope. It was almost certainly Pitcairne who had -explained to Gregory the strange mechanism of the human eye, and how in -Nature objects before they fall on the retina pass through both the -vitreous humour and the crystalline lens. Gregory pointed out that -Nature does nothing in vain, and suggested that, in imitation of Nature, -the object glasses of telescopes might be composed of media of different -density, and that an instrument made on this principle would probably -produce much clearer vision than any then in use. After Dollond had -brought out his beautiful achromatic glasses the meaning of Gregory’s -suggestion became clear, but it is a curious fact that neither James -Gregorie, who invented the reflecting telescope, nor David Gregory, who -suggested the achromatic telescope, should ever have seen the practical -result of their imaginations. - -Life in Oxford for Gregory turned out, as is often the case, to be -rather different from his anticipations. He had looked forward to years -of studious peace; but the reality, while it answered his expectation in -giving him much time for study, had surrounded him with men prepared to -be unfriendly towards him. ‘The Scotchman’ received much contumely in -Oxford, possibly more than would otherwise have been the case, because -he was so well known to the outside world. Some of Hearne’s Collections -have the full flavour of the sort of annoyance to which he must have -been subjected, an annoyance none the less irritating to Gregory because -the facts so generally disagreed with the views expressed about him. -Compare the two following passages, which are evidently meant to -describe the same circumstance. - -‘In 1702, David Gregory produced at Oxford his most important treatise, -_Astronomiae Physicae et Geometricae Elementa_. In this were included -several propositions communicated by Newton, being results which their -author had not obtained at the time of the publication of the first -edition of the _Principia_, but was anxious to bring before the public -at once without waiting for the second edition of his own work.’ * * * - -‘It may here likewise be observed that men well skilled in Mathematics -scruple not to say that David Gregory has stole most of his astronomy -from Isaac Newton, whom he has mentioned with some little acknowledgment -but not so often as he should have done, which, as ‘tis said, has put -Sir Isaac on a new edition of his _Principia_.’ - -How different these two stories are it is easy to see, and although Sir -Isaac never expressed the sentiments assigned to him by Hearne, nor, it -is likely enough, would Gregory ever have this charge made directly to -him, yet it is impossible but that the Savilian professor occasionally -felt the sting of such mischief-making. - -Gregory’s great ally was Dr Charlett, the Master of University College, -but besides him, he numbered amongst his friends, Halley, who obtained -the Savilian Chair of Geometry, Dr Hudson, Dr Smalridge, Dr Wallis and -Dr Aldrich, between each of whom and Gregory, Hearne seemed determined -to make bad feeling. As was quite natural, these men, working along the -same lines, had often to use each other’s materials, but Hearne always -represented Gregory as pirating the results of their labour without -acknowledgment. The statement of his indebtedness, only given once, was -petulantly regarded as insufficient, and even inverted commas did not -mollify his wrath. In fact, Gregory committed the only sin which Dickens -says is unpardonable—he was successful—and the commoner men in Oxford, -who could not regard anything Scottish without disapprobation, would not -forgive him. When Hearne took exception to ‘the Scotchman’s Greek’ he -was on safe ground and no one regretted this more than did Professor -Gregory himself, who was held up for ridicule by Hearne because ‘men -took him for an oracle.’ When he commenced the publication of his -edition of the ancient mathematicians, he arranged with Dr Hudson that, -while he himself would be responsible for the mathematics, Hudson should -see to the correctness of the Greek. In this series too, Gregory and -Halley undertook an edition of the Conics of Apollonius, but it was not -completed till after Gregory’s death. - -If Gregory was not universally appreciated at Oxford, at the court he -was in great favour, probably through the influence of Bishop Burnet, -who had been at college with his uncle. He was appointed mathematical -preceptor to the Princess Anne’s son, the young Duke of Gloucester, and -here again, if we are to believe Hearne, the choice of the court was -received with universal disapprobation. - -His honours, however, were only enjoyed in anticipation, for the boy -died before his duties as tutor had commenced. - -Gregory was now busy trying to compass some reformations in the Oxford -curriculum. He drew up a new scheme for an under-graduate’s course of -study, which was sent by Dr Charlett for Mr Pepys’ approval. ‘I send you -enclosed a scheme of David Gregory’s not yet in any other hand, with a -desire that you would, with the freedom of a man of honour and a -scholar, examine, correct, alter and improve it, as may make the design -most beneficial to youth (especially of the Nobility and Gentry) and -redound most to the honour of the University and our Professors and the -promotion of learning.’ - -Gregory’s plan was that the teaching should be given in English, which -was certainly a sensible proposal, that the undergraduates should study -some Euclid, trigonometry, algebra, mechanics, catoptrics, and -dioptrics, astronomy, the theory of the planets and navigation. ‘The -teacher,’ he said, ‘should be always ready to gratify the request of -those who desire his instruction. If possible, the students should have -a printed book on the subject; if not, the lecturer will take care -timeously to give those of the class proper notes to be written by them. -And lastly, if any students were found hungering and thirsting, they -were to be given regular demonstrations of the operations of integers, -or fractions, vulgar or decimal—when they pleased.’ As to the proper -numbers for a class, Gregory said they should be not less than ten and -not more than twenty. The course here touched on was described very -fully in the paper sent to Mr Pepys, and Mr Pepys’ answer is rather -refreshing. - -‘REVEREND SIR, ... As little qualified as I truly am, for offering aught -upon a scheme digested with the thoughtfulness and skill of its learned -author, legible in every line of it, the terms nevertheless wherein you -require my opinion and advice concerning it, joined with the dignity of -its subject and quality of the persons for whom it is calculated, are so -forcible, that I cannot omit observing to you my missing two things.... -First—_Music_—a science peculiarly productive of a pleasure that no -state of life, public or private, secular or sacred, no difference of -age or season, no temper of mind, or condition of health exempt from -present anguish, nor, lastly, distinction of quality, render either -improper, untimely, or unentertaining.[3] My other want is what possibly -may be thought of less weight; but what nevertheless holds no lower a -place with me on this occasion (whether for ornament, delight, solid -use, or ease of carriage both at home and abroad), than any other -quality a gentleman can bear about him, though none less thought on, or -(which is more) of less difficulty in the attaining ... I mean -Perspective: not barely as falling within the explication of vision, or -serving only to the laying down of objects of sight, but with the -improvement of it, to the enabling our honourable student gracefully to -finish and embellish the same, with its just heightenings and -shadowings, as far as expressible in black and white; thereby when in -foreign travels to know how by his own skill to entertain himself in -taking the appearances of all he meets with, as remarkable, whether of -palaces or of other fabrics, ruins, fortifications, ports, moles, or -other public views.’ - -Footnote 3: - - Mr Pepys, who, as we know from his Diary as well as from Evelyn, was - skilled in music, had thus an opportunity of expressing his views on - that subject. - -Mr Pepys was slightly distressed at the suggestion that English should -take the place of Latin as the language in which teaching was given, not -because he did not think it necessary, but he was afraid lest the honour -of the university should be affected by such a change. Whether these -proposals were carried into effect then is uncertain, but the Savilian -professor came into closer connection with Mr Pepys during the few years -that elapsed before his death, being especially upon one occasion, made -the bearer of tender thanks from the university to Mr Pepys, who had -commissioned Sir Godfrey Kneller to paint Dr Wallis’ portrait for the -university. The drawing was done in Dr Gregory’s house, where the -reverend old man was happy and at his ease, and the picture of him is -pleasant. In the list of the persons to whom rings and mourning were -presented on the occasion of Mr Pepys’ death and funeral, Dr Gregory, Dr -Wallis and Dr Charlett, are all inserted as recipients of the most -expensive rings. Others who received tokens of regard, though not such -costly ones, were Sir Cloudesly Shovel, and Sir George Rooke; Mr William -Penn was honoured with a 20s. ring. - -In 1704 Sir Isaac Newton became President of the Royal Society, amidst -general content. Prince George of Denmark was interested in astronomy, -and only wanted to be shewn how he could most wisely help this science -forward; and now thought Sir Isaac, if the prince gave the money, there -was no reason why Flamsteed’s laborious and accurate observations of the -heavens should not be published, for the help of him and all like him, -who were studying what Gregory calls ‘the Celestial Physicks.’ He -approached the Astronomer Royal, and after considerable difficulty, -persuaded him to draw up an estimate of his observations, which was -shewn to the prince. Prince George’s decision was made very rapidly, for -though he was far from brilliant, (as Charles the Second wittily said, -‘I have tried Prince George sober and I have tried him drunk; and drunk -or sober there is nothing in him’), he had at least one great merit, -that he recognised his own limitations. Feeling that the papers before -him conveyed absolutely nothing to his uninstructed mind, he appointed -some members of the Royal Society to act as referees and see that the -publication of Flamsteed’s _Catalogue of the Constellations_ was carried -out correctly. As referees he nominated Sir Isaac, Dr Gregory, Sir -Christopher Wren, Dr Arbuthnot, and the Hon. F. Robarts. Their work -proved very laborious: Flamsteed was a delicate, irritable man, and -Greenwich in these old coach days was a long way from London; but the -referees had made up their minds to carry the business through, and, as -the dispensers of the prince’s bounty, and protectors of public -interest, they drew up articles binding themselves as well as Flamsteed -and the printer to perform their relative obligations. So slow and -fretful however was the course of this joint effort, that neither the -princely benefactor nor Gregory, whom he had appointed a referee, lived -to see the work completed. - -Gregory had, in 1702, dedicated his _Book on the Elements of Astronomy_, -to the prince, drawing a comparison while he did it between Prince -George of Denmark, the patron of science, and that King of Denmark who -had so wisely given to the great Danish astronomer, Tycho Brahe, the -wonderful observatory of Uraniborg—the city of the heavens. - -The Preface of this book begins quaintly with a delicious run of mixed -metaphors—‘My Design in publishing this Book, was, that the Celestial -Physicks, which the most sagacious Kepler had got the scent of, but the -Prince of Geometers, Sir Isaac Newton, brought to such a pitch as -surprises all the World, might by my Care and Pains in illustrating -them, become easier to such as are desirous of being acquainted with -Philosophy and Astronomy.’ In this book there is a most curious mixture -of history, imagination, ideas of Newton’s, which the philosopher had -communicated to him, and observations. It was of course, as was usual at -that time, written in Latin, but Edmund Stone translated it into English -in 1726, and this was the book which Samuel Johnson read with so much -acceptance in some of his dull days in the Island of Coll. Gregory -imagined the stars as they would appear to the inhabitants of the -satellites of Jupiter and Saturn, and gave to his book that -inexpressible charm of individuality, so often present in the Gregories’ -writings, which makes them draw portraits of themselves as they write -their books. In this treatise he elucidated the principles of astronomy -with all the wonderful improvements made in his day, and Newton himself -considered it a masterly explanation in defence of his philosophy. - -Every now and then Gregory would go to spend some weeks with his friend -at Cambridge. On one of these visits it was that Sir Isaac had occasion -to express his views upon the superstitions of the day. He passed a -house opposite St John’s College, which was supposed to be haunted, and -round the doors was collected a crowd not only of undergraduates but of -Fellows, and some of them Fellows of Trinity. Noticing that some of the -rabble were carrying arms, his anger burst out. ‘Oh, ye fools,’ he said, -‘will ye never have any wit? Know ye not that all such things are mere -cheats and impostures? Fie! fie! Go home, for shame.’ - -When Gregory arrived at Cambridge he was always full of messages for Sir -Isaac, and when he left, equally so with messages from him. In this way -he saw a good deal of all the important mathematicians and astronomers -then living in Great Britain, and very likely it added to his already -considerable reputation. In 1705 he was elected an Honorary Fellow of -the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, and on the 4th of October -he took his seat at the Board. This was no doubt an honour obtained for -him by his friend Pitcairne, who was then examiner, but Gregory could -not spend much time away from England. - -When the negotiations for the Union between Scotland and England began, -Gregory was appointed along with Paterson, the founder of the Bank of -England, to decide what equivalent was to be paid to Scotland for -bearing her share of the debt of England, which was of course afterwards -to be considered as the debt of Great Britain. Amongst the many thorny -questions which emerged in the course of the deliberations about the -Union, there was none about which so many difficulties arose. Sir John -Clerk of Penicuik, who had so much to do with the affairs of Scotland at -that time, wrote his views upon the criticisms of the general public on -this matter. - -‘Amongst all the articles of the Treaty of Union,’ he says, ‘there has -been none more talked of and less understood than the 15th, concerning -the Rise, Nature and Management of the Equivalents. - -‘Upon this subject those who desired to be thought very wise, of deep -understanding, and Great reach of Thought, did vent themselves with a -certain Air, as if they pitied the Credulity and Ignorance of the -Contrivors, and so had Recourse to the ordinary Refuge of dull People, -who think they show their wit by laughing at what they do not -understand.’ - -Of such commentators Gregory no doubt had his share, and the question -was one which was of necessity unintelligible to the ordinary mind, but -those who were in authority were absolutely satisfied with the manner in -which the work was done. It was a long task, and involved many journeys, -including one to Scotland, to set things on a proper working basis. Of -this prospect he writes to Dr Charlett, the Master of University -College. - - * * * * * - - ‘LONDON, _20 June, 1707_. - -REVEREND SIR,—The occasion of giving you this present trouble is to -recommend to your civility My Lord Deskford and his Governour. He is son -to the Earle of Seafield, Lord Chancellor of Scotland. He is to stay two -or three months at Oxford. He has been regularly educated at the -University, and has past some time beyond sea. You will find him a sober -and grave young Nobleman. You may depend upon it, that he is what you -and I wish all such as him in Church affairs and all thereunto -belonging. I know I need say no more. - -‘Though Dr Arbuthnot gott a promise of the N.T. from the Queen, He has -not yet gott the book it self. It was forgotten to be laid out before -the Queen went to Windsore. - -‘Before I see you again, I am like to be sent by My Lord Treasurer into -Scotland, to see that the Mint there be regulated upon the same foot -with that of the Tower, as to the Standart of the Silver and Gold, the -Pieces of Moneys, the Weights, the Rateing and Standarding, and the -formes and manner of keeping the Books of the Mint, and I have been -somewhat taken up with seeing and informing myself of everything of this -nature in the Tower. I shall, I hope return before Michaelmass; but if I -should be 2 or 3 weeks after the beginning of the Term, I hope you will -excuse it, and every body concern’d. - -‘As for what you propose to be done with the Mulctes, I am very clear -for it, Sir Henry Savile’s and Dr Wallis’s Armes will be very proper. - -‘I hope to have an occasion to write to you again before I part. I am -with all respect and esteem, - - ‘Reverend Sir, - - ‘Your most oblidged and most humble servant, - - ‘D. GREGORY.’ - - * * * * * - -When the Union really came, it was very unpopular in Scotland and rather -unpopular in England. Dr Arbuthnot published in Edinburgh a pamphlet -with the title _A sermon preached to the people at the Mercat Cross of -Edinburgh; on the subject of the Union_. In it he forcibly argued -against the foolish prejudice of his own country. He pointed out the -intimate conjunction between Pride, Poverty and Idleness (’this is a -worse union a great deal than that which we are to discourse of at -present’). ‘Better is he that laboureth,’ he said in concluding, ‘and -aboundeth in all things than he that boasteth himself, and wanteth -bread.’ The populace, however, was by no means in the humour to be -cajoled by any man’s wit, and even Dr Arbuthnot, who, according to -Samuel Johnson, was the greatest writer of Queen Anne’s reign, found -himself unable to create anything but ungraciousness. - -Dr Arbuthnot was a very constant friend towards Gregory, and the day was -fast drawing near when the professor should truly require his help. -Symptoms of serious illness appeared in 1708, and Dr Gregory was advised -to try the effect of the waters at Bath. He felt himself that his -journey would be in vain, and often tried to prepare his wife for his -being taken from her very suddenly. There was much to disturb the -quietness of his mind, his children were ill in London, and he was full -of anxiety for them and yet unable to go to them. After a wretched time -at Bath, it was decided that he should return to London, but at -Maidenhead he became so ill, that he could not be moved. Dr Arbuthnot, -who was sent for from Windsor, found him sinking, and on the 10th of -October 1708 he died. - -The news was sent to Oxford by this kind physician in a letter to Dr -Charlett, Gregory’s best friend. - - * * * * * - - ‘MAIDENHEAD, GREYHOUND INN, - Tues. 3½ afternoon, - _Oct. 10, 1708_. - -‘DEAR SIR,—This gives you the bad news of the death of our dear friend, -Dr Gregory, who dy’d about one a clock this afternoon, in this Inn on -his way to London from Bath. He sent to me last night to Windsor; I -found him in a resolution to go forward to London this morning, from -which I happily disswaded [him] finding him in a dying condition. He has -a child his only daughter dead at London of the small pox, of which -neither he nor his wife knew anything off, for I would not tell them; -the rest of his family lye sick of the same disease, so you may easily -guess what a disconsolate condition his poor widow must find herself in. -She would be glad to see you to advyce about his burying. My present -thought and advyce is to bury him at Oxford, where he is known, amongst -those who will shew a great deal of respect to his memory, and it is -allmost the same distance from this place as London. Mrs Gregory begs -the favour to see you here if possible, being one of his most intimate -friends, whom he allwayes confided in. I am in great grief and shall -stay here as long as I can in hopes of seeing you. If I am not here you -will find his brother-in-law, Dr Oliphant. - - ‘I am, Dear Sir, - ‘Your most humble servant, - ‘JO. ARBUTHNOTT.’ - - * * * * * - -Dr Smalridge also wrote to him. - - * * * * * - - ‘_Oct. 16th 1708._ - -‘REVEREND SIR,—You had sooner heard from me, but that my thoughts of -late have been very much discompos’d by Severall Melancholy Objects. On -Friday y^e last week I lost a dear child, of whom I was extremely fond, -and all that knew Him excused me for being so. I find all y^e Philosophy -I have, little enough to make me easie on this sad Occasion. The Images -do at present return thick upon Me, but I hope in a little time to find -y^m less afflictive. My wound would have been sooner heal’d had it not -been kept open by the Occasions I have had to give Others y^t comfort -which I have wanted myself. On Tuesday I went with Mrs Arbuthnot towards -Brentford to meet Dr Gregory and his Wife who were expected that day -from Maidenhead. My errand was to inform y^m of the death of their Girl, -of whom they were extremely fond, they left Her well when they went to -y^e Bath, and she died on Friday was sennight. We met not y^e coach We -expected, and when We returned, We found a letter was sent from Mrs -Gregory to her brother Dr Oliphant begging y^t he would come down to -Maidenhead to y^e Dr, who was very ill. She came to Town on Thursday -Night a very disconsolate Widow. The Doctor died on Tuesday-morning and -was buried on Wednesday-Night at Maidenhead. A messenger was despatched -to Hambledon to fetch you to Him, if you had been there. Mr Lesley came -from y^e Bath with Him and assisted Him in his sickness, and in -extremis. Dr Arbuthnot from Windsor came to Him. It seems He always told -his Wife that He should be but short-lived, and of late has often -desir’d Her to be prepared for his being taken from Her very quickly. -When his last Suit of Cloaths was made, He said He should not live to -wear them out. When He went out of Town, He did not expect to come home -again alive; and when He left y^e Bath to return He thought He should -not be able to reach y^e town. I am told that He has left his Family in -very good Circumstances. I am afraid his tender con[cern] for y^m was -prejudicial to his Health. He was an affectionate Husband, a tender -Father, an excellent Scholar, a man of great Experience and Prudence, of -good temper, of sober and religious principles, and One whom those who -had the happiness to be acquainted with Him will much miss. I visited -y^e Widow Yesterday, who bears her Affliction with as much patience and -resignation as can be expected. I hope her Husband’s Friends will do -what they can to make her loss less insupportable. - - ‘I am, Sir - ‘Your H. Servant - ‘G. S.’ - - * * * * * - -On her return to Oxford Mrs Gregory put up a monument to her husband’s -memory in the nave of St Mary’s Church. After Professor Gregory’s death, -Colin Maclaurin published of Gregory’s work _A Treatise on Practical -Geometry_. The first edition was sold out within a few years, and a -second was called for, as this book was in its day used as a text-book -in all the Scottish Universities. - -Professor Gregory has been accused of spending too little of his time in -the observatory, and he was undoubtedly greater as a mathematician than -as an astronomer. It was as a pure mathematician that he held the high -place which was his in the eighteenth century. - - - - - CHAPTER V - - DAVID GREGORY, 1696–1767 - - ‘The picture of the ... Dean seems a true one.’ - - —W. M. THACKERAY. - - -Of the four children who survived Professor David Gregory, there was -only one who inherited his taste for learning. This was his name son -David, the eldest of his children. The son’s gifts were not those of his -father; he was poetical, artistic, a student of history, who never wrote -upon the subject, a man in fact who had more of a woman’s cleverness -than a man’s; and looking back on him, his greatest power seems to have -been that faculty, which is not to be gained in any school—the -monarchial gift of leading. Everything which his hand touched was -blessed in his very touch, and through his life, as he passed along his -way, adorning different offices and positions of growing importance, -there was always some token left behind him that David Gregory’s -order-loving eye had rested there—the gardens had fresh flowers, halls -were beautified by statues, libraries became more spacious, and -hospitals were renewed in the same spirit of devotion which had long -before inspired the gracious givers. - -David Gregory was born in Oxford on the 14th of July 1696. He was -educated at Westminster School, of which he was a scholar, and there -among the grey shadows of London this æsthetic little boy first learned -the fascination of history. There too he may have learned another thing, -his admiration for kings and queens, for he knew that the school owed -its foundation to the most picturesque queen that has ever reigned over -England, in whose day by the mercy of providence, more even than by the -queen’s wisdom, England became the mistress of the seas. - -From Westminster he was elected to a studentship at Christ Church, and -in due course he took holy orders, and became the Rector of Semly in -Wiltshire. It was not long, however, before he was back again in Oxford, -for George I. upon his foundation in 1723 of the professorship of Modern -History (with which at that time the modern languages were associated) -appointed David Gregory to the chair. He was thus the first Professor of -Modern History at Oxford. Of his work as a lecturer there is no record, -but that he was thorough and painstaking no one can doubt; for realising -that the amount of work was too large for one man to accomplish, he -introduced several foreigners as teachers of their own language, and -until such time as they were self-supporting he provided for them out of -his own salary. Fortunately his chair was a lucrative one. - -He took the degree of B.D. on March 13, 1731, and that of D.D. on the -7th of July of the following year, and four years later he was appointed -Canon of Christ Church. On undertaking this office he resigned his -professorship. - -While he was canon, it was one of his most congenial tasks to -superintend the restoration of the Great Hall, and before it was -completed, he presented busts of his early patron George I. and of -George II., who was then on the throne. The new library was also -finished under his care, and the interior, with its graceful pillars, -its delicately moulded roof and wide windows, was executed entirely -according to his taste, and under his personal supervision. Little did -he think as he guided the placing of the volumes, how one day his own -beautiful collection of books would take its place there out of the -reach of his son’s creditors. If Dean Gregory had been alive in 1775, -the old library, which had been the monastic refectory, would never have -been mutilated, as it was, for the accommodation of the Westminster -students. - -On the 18th of May, 1756, Dr Gregory succeeded Dr Conybeare as Dean of -Christ Church. He was in appearance, as in charm and dignity of manner, -well suited for such an office. Kind, courtly and genial, it was his -pleasure as well as his duty to attend the functions of the university, -and in his day he was unsurpassed in Oxford society. He was not very -learned, but he was a man of the world, and the Earl of Shelburne, who -thought it worth while to write some memories of the sleepy Oxford, in -which Dean Gregory took so important a part, describes the dean as the -kind soul that he was. ‘Dr Gregory succeeded Dr Conybeare and was very -kind to me, conversed familiarly and frequently with me, had kept good -company, was a gentleman though not a scholar, and gave me notions of -people and things, which were afterwards useful to me.’ Such a -characterisation might have astonished the dean himself, who would have -regretted with mild wrath his kindness to this young malapert, and would -no doubt also have gone for the assurance of his learning to those Latin -hexameters, which he as a self-made laureate had written at moments of -public interest. One set was upon the death of George I. and the -accession of George II., while another poem touched on the death of -George II. and the accession of his grandson; they were both considered -very scholarly, but, at the best, Oxford in Dean Gregory’s days was not -so very learned. Of all the heads of colleges, who are put into the -guide book to Oxford, used by the tourists of 1760, there is not one, -whose name is familiar, unless we count that of Dean Gregory, who also -might have passed into oblivion had it not been for his greater father. - -The next honour that came to Gregory was his appointment as Prolocutor -of the Lower House of Convocation, and later, he became the Master of -Sherborne Hospital near Durham. ‘Christ’s Hospital in Sherburn,’ which -had originally been founded by Bishop Pudsey between 1181 and 1184, for -the benefit of lepers, and had by degrees, as leprosy died out, been -turned into an asylum for the aged poor. It had seen many changes, and -had from time to time been reformed as abuses came to light. In the -reign of Elizabeth, it was appointed that there should be thirty -brethren always living there, ‘except some there be sometimes absent, by -lack of chamber, the lodgings being few.’ When therefore Dr Gregory, who -was Master from 1760 to 1767, came into power and built a beautiful -stone edifice, in which these almsfolk lived, it was a cause of great -discontent that he only built rooms for twenty instead of thirty -brethren. The Chronicler, however, speaks of Master Gregory in high -terms as ‘the best of Masters,’ even if the conclusion be somewhat -equivocal. ‘His benevolence,’ says he, ‘was diffusive and general: -Whilst Master of this Hospital, he did not confine the poor old men, as -heretofore to the literal allowance, which, good as it might have been -when anciently settled on them by their founder, was now become a sad -and scanty pittance; but so far as it was in his power, made them enjoy -the sense and spirit of the benefaction. He demolished all the little -wretched huts in which they were huddled together before, and erected a -handsome commodious stone edifice, making it to consist of twenty -different apartments, that each of the old men might have one entirely -to himself, and also constructed a large room, in the centre of the -building, for their common reception, and comfortably provided it with -every necessary accommodation; but it must be remembered that all this -was not at his own cost or charge, for he cut down and sold a large wood -at Ebchester, belonging to the hospital, more than adequate to the -expense, and thereby put something into his own pocket.’ What a curious -conclusion to the praise of Master Gregory, who, it must be remembered, -is at the beginning of the narration called ‘the best of Masters!’—to -accuse him of putting public charity money into his pocket at the end! -If we had to believe it, there would once more be nothing for his -character except the extenuating circumstances of his connection with -that Highland worthy Rob Roy; but fortunately for the memory of Dean -Gregory, there is another biography of him, published not so long after -his death, in which it is explicitly said that the dean erected the new -buildings at Christ’s Hospital at his own expense, and not out of public -money, so— - - ‘Let us never, never doubt, - What nobody is sure about.’ - -Dean Gregory married Lady Mary Grey, the youngest daughter of Henry -Grey, Duke of Kent (whose title died with him). She had much sorrow in -her married life, as all her sons turned out badly, and if the people of -her own day were as frank in their views about the dean and his wife, as -one writer was in the beginning of this century, she must have felt her -responsibility. ‘He had three sons,’ says this nameless chronicler, ‘who -being by their mother connected with the English aristocracy, took to -horses and dogs, and soon died out.’ Probably it was in his very -gentleness that the kind old dean failed towards his sons, for he had -such a horror of distress, that he could not bring it upon his children, -however much they deserved it. They were a great scandal, and were, too, -if one comes to think of it, the only failure in their father’s life. As -a parent he is highly extolled by an anonymous writer, and, this in -itself is touching enough, showing that his love was of the sort that -disappointment cannot kill, and that in their very weakness he did not -give them up. Possibly life did teach him to mistrust his sons, for he -left his valuable library, in the event of none of his children -following a learned calling, to his nephew, Dr James Gregory of -Edinburgh. The will was badly worded, so that Professor James Gregory’s -claim had to be disregarded, but the books were at all events not seized -by his sons’ creditors, and they remained in the custody of Christ -Church, and may now be found in the uppermost chamber of the closely -locked Wake archives. - -David Gregory’s character was one which was much considered and -criticised. Some of his contemporaries would allow him no good point, -while others pronounced eulogies on his every action. One such eulogy, -written with no great literary skill, was perhaps the work of an -intimate acquaintance, stung into reply by the many attacks upon the -memory of his friend. Of his social character this unknown biographer -writes, ‘That cheerful, easy affability for which he was so remarkably -distinguished, gained him the love and affection of all around him, -which contributed very considerably to his institutions taking root so -readily, and in so short a time flourishing so successfully: abroad he -conducted himself with that dignity which his situation as governor of a -great college necessarily required; though, under his own roof, he -stripped himself of it all, and became, to everyone indiscriminately, -the easy and familiar companion: he conducted himself in short, -throughout, in such an admirable manner, that he was not only loved and -esteemed, but honoured and respected; and as he was in his life most -sincerely valued, so was he in his death truly and universally -lamented.’ - -There is no doubt that Gregory was a popular dean. He was, like so many -of the Deans of Christ Church, a Westminster student, and his -appointment, moreover, was all the more acceptable because he came -immediately after Dr Conybeare, the only non-Christ-Church man that has -ever held that office. - -In his days the whole university was rather unillumined, and Christ -Church was no exception. Lord Shelburne, referring only to his own -college, says it was very low, and as a proof of his statement adds that -‘no one who was there in my time has made much figure either as a public -man or man of letters.’ But Gregory did his work well as far as in him -lay; he died in 1767 at a ripe old age, in much honour, in much -affection, and now lies buried beside his wife in Christ Church -Cathedral. - - - - - CHAPTER VI - -JAMES GREGORIE, 1666–1742; CHARLES GREGORIE, 1681–1754; DAVID GREGORIE, - 1712–1765 - - ‘The City of the Scarlet Gown’—ANDREW LANG. - - -At Kinairdy on the 29th of April 1666 a fifth son was born to David -Gregorie. This was James, of whom probably because he was only one among -many, there is no individual record till his name occurs in the list of -the graduates in Arts in the Edinburgh University in May 1685. The -likelihood is that his early education was given him by his father, who, -notwithstanding his work as an amateur physician, found time to -superintend the studies of his children. Little is known of their -college friends, but Archibald Pitcairne, who afterwards became the -Professor of Medicine, first in Edinburgh and then in Leyden, was -constantly with them, and many happy vacations spent at Kinairdy were -made merrier by his society. - -Shortly after James Gregorie graduated, and when he was certainly not -more than twenty, he was appointed to the Chair of Philosophy in St -Andrews. In his teaching he was able and thorough, if not brilliant. -Like his elder brother, he was much in advance of his age, and like him -too was giving expression to the Newtonian Philosophy before it had been -‘as much as heard of’ in Cambridge. There is extant a thesis by this -Professor James Gregorie dedicated to Viscount Tarbat, in which after a -list of scholars, candidates for the degree of A.M., there follow -twenty-five propositions, most of which are a compendium of Newton’s -_Principia_. The other three relate to Logic, and the abuse of it in the -Aristotelian and Cartesian Philosophy. His definition of logic is ‘the -art of making a proper use of things granted in order to find what is -sought,’ This was published in 1690. - -Professor Gregorie occupied the Chair of Philosophy at St Andrews until -the Revolution, but then his love for the discrowned king compelled him -to resign. He could not bring himself to take the oath of allegiance to -William and Mary, and thus for a few years he was without any settled -work. Happily for him, however, David his elder brother was in 1692, by -the influence of Sir Isaac Newton, made Savilian Professor of Astronomy -at Oxford, thus leaving a vacancy in the Chair of Mathematics at -Edinburgh. He, too, had been somewhat under a cloud because of his love -for the Stuarts, and although his greatness had prevented the party -which was in power from ejecting him from his post, yet his life had -been made sufficiently uncomfortable for him. - -But now things were changed. Feeling was no longer hot and bitter, and -James succeeded to his chair in 1692, with a prospect of a long and -quiet tenure of it. At the time of his election the College revenues -were low, and he had to accept the chair on a diminished salary of nine -hundred merks, or £50 sterling, in addition to the students’ fees. In -the end Gregorie certainly got his money’s worth out of the university, -for he retired at fifty-nine, owing to age and infirmity, and then lived -for seventeen years, during which time Colin Maclaurin, who had been -made joint-professor with him, got no salary. His case was indeed a -piteous one, and Sir Isaac Newton made him a yearly allowance of £20, -towards providing for him, ‘till Mr Gregorie’s place became void.’ The -entries in the Records of Marischal College, Aberdeen, concerning -Maclaurin’s conduct there, or rather not there, are quaint. - -‘_December 23, 1724._—On consideration that M’Laurine has been abroad -and not attended to his charge for near thir three years the Council -appoint Mr Daniel Gordon, one of the regents “who had formerly taught -Mathematicks at the University of St Andrews” to teach the class during -the current session.’ - -‘_January 20, 1725._—M’Laurine having returned a Committee is appointed -to confer with him anent: 1st, his going away without Liberty from the -Counsell. 2nd, His being so long absent from his charge.’ - -‘_April 27, 1725._—M’Laurine appears before the Council, expresses -regret, and is reponed.’ - -‘_January 12, 1726._—The Council, learning “by the Publict News Prints” -that M’Laurine has been admitted conjunct professor with Mr James -Gregorie in the University of Edinburgh, declare his office vacant.’ - -It is a question whether there were not times when Colin Maclaurin -thought that the safe salary which he would have enjoyed at Marischal -College might have been preferable to his Edinburgh post, -notwithstanding the greater intercourse which he now had with the world -of science, but if so, there was no turning back. - -Professor Gregorie married on the 4th September 1698, Barbara, a -daughter of Charles Oliphant of Langton, and a sister of his brother -David’s wife. A great gloom was cast upon their home life by the early -death of one of his daughters. She had an unhappy love affair, and is -said to have died of a broken heart. Whether this was so or not, her -story furnished the subject of Mallet’s ballad, ‘William and Margaret.’ - - ‘Twas at the silent solemn hour, - When night and morning meet; - In glided Margaret’s grimly ghost, - And stood at William’s feet. - - Her face was like an April morn, - Clad in a wintry cloud: - And clay cold was her lily hand - That held her sable shroud. - - So shall the fairest face appear - When youth and years are flown, - Such is the robe that kings must wear - When death has reft their crown. - - Her bloom was like the springing flower - That sips the silver dew, - The rose was budded in her cheek, - Just opening to the view. - - But love had, like the canker worm, - Consumed her early prime: - The rose grew pale, and left her cheek; - She died before her time. - - Awake, she cried, thy true love calls, - Come from her midnight grave; - Now let thy pity hear the maid - Thy love refused to save. - - This is the dumb and dreary hour - When injured ghosts complain; - Now yawning graves give up their dead - To haunt the faithless swain. - - Bethink thee, William, of thy fault, - Thy pledge and broken oath; - And give me back my maiden vow, - And give me back my troth. - - Why did you promise love to me - And not that promise keep? - Why did you swear mine eyes were bright - Yet leave those eyes to weep? - - How could you say my face was fair - And yet that face forsake? - How could you win my virgin heart - Yet leave that heart to break? - - Why did you say my lip was sweet - And made the scarlet pale? - And why did I, young witless maid, - Believe the flattering tale? - - That face alas no more is fair, - These lips no longer red; - Dark are my eyes, now closed in death, - And every charm is fled. - - The hungry worm my sister is; - This winding sheet I wear; - And cold and weary lasts our night - Till that last morn appear. - - But hark the cock has warned me hence, - A long and last adieu! - Come see, false man, how low she lies - Who dy’d for love of you. - - The lark sung loud, the morning smiled - With beams of rosy red: - Pale William shook in every limb - And raving left his bed. - - He hyed him to the fatal place, - Where Margaret’s body lay; - And stretched him on the grass green turf - That wrapt her breathless clay. - - And thrice he called on Margaret’s name - And thrice he wept full sore, - Then laid his cheek to her cold grave - And word spake never more.’ - -The author of this poem was not only a M’Gregor, but like the Gregories, -a M’Gregor of Roro, and though he had changed his name, as did so many -members of that unfortunate clan, the tradition was always kept up in -his family. - -Charles Gregorie, a half brother of Professor James, who was for a time -Snell Exhibitioner at Balliol, was created by Queen Anne in 1707 -Professor of Mathematics at St Andrews, which chair he held for -thirty-two years until such time as his son could be appointed in his -stead. He was quiet, studious, and able, but little is known of him. - -David Gregorie, who succeeded him, does not bear quite so gentle a -character, but he was a much abler man and one who could make his -personality felt wherever he went. - -After his own schooldays were over, he became tutor to the sons of the -Duke of Gordon with whom he was connected through his grandmother. In -this way he passed several years of his life before he was appointed to -the Mathematical Chair. As a professor he was very popular, and if he -tried to extend his influence beyond his class-room, he meant nothing -but kindness. This was not always understood. One of his students wrote -an autobiography, in which he described the ardour with which Mr -Gregorie insisted that he should attend the services at the -church—ardour for which Mr. Stockdale was not grateful and to requite -which he put the professor’s name into his ‘immortal’ autobiography as -that of a bigot, who had compelled him to attend the kirk. Thomas Reid, -when studying his cousin’s character and especially his whiggery and -Presbyterianism, so curiously unlike the rest of his family, remembered -that he, like himself, was descended from the second wife of David -Gregorie of Kinairdy, and had inherited her principles both in religion -and politics. - -There is another incident in his life more likely to recall those of his -connections who bore the name of M’Gregor, and the record of it seems -odd enough and old-world enough in our eyes. The report is that of a -lawsuit which the professor had against Mr Wemyss of Lathockar. -Gregorie, it seems, who loved sport, was ‘hunting for partridges’ over -the broad meadowlands of Leuchars. He was accompanied by a man called -Baird, who carried a second gun for Professor Gregorie. Suddenly Mr -Wemyss sprang upon this man and seizing his gun refused to return it. -The professor was furious—Baird was carrying a second gun for him, he -was no common fowler, no higgler from whom a gun could rightly be taken; -but Mr Wemyss was obdurate and went away with the gun, and nine-tenths -of the law in his favour. And now there was no possible remedy but the -courts, and in due course, the matter came up before the Sheriff. -Gregorie claimed the restitution of his gun, and damages for the way in -which he had been treated. As regards his first request, his claim was -granted, but on the second point the judgment was not so favourable -for—is it possible?—there was a doubt in the Sheriffs mind as to whether -Gregorie himself had a right to be shooting over the grounds of -Leuchars. It had ceased to be a question only concerning Baird, and in -the end, the Professor of Mathematics in St Andrew’s University was -refused damages on the ground that he himself was poaching![4] The owner -of Leuchars was a minor, and as one of his tutors Professor Gregorie had -never doubted his right to shoot over the estate, but he went back to St -Andrew’s with new ideas on the limitations of his privilege. - -Footnote 4: - - Robert Fergusson the poet, wrote a poem in the Scots dialect, on the - death of this Professor David Gregorie. - -His life ended in 1765, when he was only fifty-three. He published one -book, which was a Compendium of Algebra—an excellent text-book, said -Thomas Reid his cousin, and then added a description of the professor -which if not very interesting is still a portrait, drawn from life: ‘a -well-bred, sensible gentleman, and much esteemed as a laborious and -excellent teacher.’ - - - - - CHAPTER VII - - JAMES GREGORIE, 1674–1733 - JAMES GREGORIE, 1707–1755 - - ‘There’s an old University town - Between the Don and the Dee, - Looking over the grey sand dunes, - Looking out on the cold North Sea.’ - - —DR W. C. SMITH. - - -After her husband’s sudden death[5] Mrs James Gregorie returned to -Aberdeen. She did not wish to live in Edinburgh, which was now so full -of sad memories for her, and in the streets of which she had not had -time to become more than a wayfarer. She had shared Professor Gregorie’s -brilliant popularity, but the round of gaiety had brought them intimate -acquaintances rather than friends, and in her desolation her heart -turned to the home of her childhood, and back to the more kindly north -she took her three children, her two little girls and James about whom -this chapter is written. Thus it came that this boy was brought up, like -the generation before him, at the Grammar School of Aberdeen. - -Footnote 5: - - Professor James Gregorie. _Cf._ Chapter III. - -It was a good school, and did much for its boys, beating education into -them if they would not have it otherwise, and of such discipline little -Gregorie, who was no exception to the fiery family temper, no doubt had -his share. He passed from school to Aberdeen University and later to -Edinburgh, but when he inclined to become a doctor, it was decided that -he should go abroad and get a French degree, an arrangement to which he -acceded with joy, and in 1696 at the age of twenty-two he set out for a -time on the continent. Once away from home, with no one to consider but -himself, he turned to what was really the centre of greatest interest in -Flanders—the camp of William III. Merry were the days he passed there -and full of excitement, so that perhaps there was one person who was -only half glad when the Peace of Ryswick brought the war in Flanders to -an end. - -But it was better for his work that he should go further afield. On -therefore he went, lingering first at Utrecht, then at Paris before he -reached Rheims, where he secured his degree in September 1698. How much -study Gregorie put into these years it is impossible to ascertain. -Medicine, and more especially surgery, were pretty barbaric arts in -those days, but this student, it should be remembered, was always a -Gregorie, and could not but learn. - -Just before he came back to England he spent a few weeks in the French -camp, and after this he accepted an invitation to take a practice at -Chelmsford, Essex. But alas! James Gregorie found that he could not -settle down to a country life, and so to the regret of his patients he -took a hurried farewell of them, and went back to that town from which -his forbears had come—to the grey city ‘looking out on the cold North -Sea.’ - -There is no place in the world to be compared with the old mother city -of Aberdeen for the love in which her children hold her. Wherever they -go she is still their home, and from between her guardian rivers she -watches her sons as they go forth and is glad over their success. So it -was in the past, so is it now, and so may it be while the world lasts. - -In the beginning of the eighteenth century Aberdeen was by no means a -dull place, and indeed Dr Gregorie, one suspects, may sometimes have -wished it to be duller, as for example when Rob Roy during the brief -time of his success was raising recruits for the Jacobite cause amongst -his clansmen there. The Earl of Mar, into whose hands the perfidy of -Montrose had thrown Rob Roy, had requested him to bring as many of his -clansmen into the Stuart camp as he could muster. While he was occupied -with this task, he lived with Dr Gregorie, for, however much the -physician may have deplored his connection with that too notorious -person, he could never afford to neglect him; and the charm of the -Gregorie household so fell upon the big, warm-hearted outlaw, that in a -burst of kindness and enthusiasm he offered to take Dr Gregorie’s little -son and ‘mak a man o’ him.’[6] Rob Roy thought him far too good to waste -upon doctoring, and if the sunny child had got his way, he would have -followed the cateran in that delicious life of adventure which he -painted—a life of hunting and fighting and success. - -Footnote 6: - - Scene imitated by Scott, in Bailie Nicol Jarvie’s offer to take Rob’s - sons James and Robert to apprentice.—_Rob Roy_, Ch. xxxiv. - -But Dr Gregorie was much alarmed; he must not offend his cousin, not -only because he loved him, but because they were all alike quick in -anger, and a cold answer might have been answered by yet colder steel. -He could not trouble him with the youth’s education, and he had only -been trained in the Lowlands, and was not at all what a Highland boy of -his years would be, said the doctor, but all this depreciation only made -Rob Roy the keener to be friendly; and at last when every other excuse -had failed, the doctor shook his head and confessed that the child was -too delicate and would not live through a Highland winter. So, full of -compassion one for another the cousins parted, their roads ran far -apart; Rob Roy came to his end claymore in hand listening to the dirge -‘Cha till mi tuillidh’ (we return no more), while for the doctor there -was a career of steady success and a peaceful ending in the sweet house -in the middle of the herb garden. - -Rob Roy had said he would come back and fetch the child when he was -older and stronger, but likely enough when the cousins met again the -chieftain could not advise any man to become his follower. Once again we -see them, Rob Roy walking arm in arm with his kinsman the Professor of -Medicine, down the Castle Street in Aberdeen, when suddenly the drums -beat to arms, and the soldiers begin to issue from the barracks. ‘If -these lads are turning out, it is time for me to look after my safety,’ -said Rob Roy, as he slowly shook hands, and turning down one of the -neighbouring closes was seen no more. After telling this story, Sir -Walter Scott added: ‘The first of these anecdotes which brings the -highest pitch of civilization so closely in contact with the half savage -state of society, I have heard told by the late distinguished Dr Gregory -(James Gregory, Professor of Practice of Physic in Edinburgh), and the -members of his family have had the kindness to collate the story with -recollections and family documents, and furnish the authentic -particulars. The second rests on the recollection of an old man, who was -present when Rob Roy took French leave of his literary cousin on hearing -the drums beat, and communicated the circumstance to Mr Alexander -Forbes, a connection of Dr Gregory by marriage.’ - -There is also a gossiping paragraph about this Dr Gregorie, or rather -about his house, in Orem’s description of Old Aberdeen, written after he -was made Mediciner in King’s College, a post to which he was appointed -in 1725. - -‘Dr Gregorie hath repaired his lodging belonging to the college anno -1727; and hath built to it a toofall, for giving it a better entry to -the rooms than it had formerly, in which toofall he hath a little room -for a study, and a little room below it beside the staircase. He hath -also repaired the garden dyke and hath begun to enclose his glebe, a -part wherof he hath enclosed with a stone dyke, and planted it within -the aforsaid year, and hath enclosed the rest of his forsaid glebe this -year 1728.’ - -The scene rises before us of the physician taking his interested friend, -the town clerk, over his house and grounds. It sounds most attractive, -both the front-hall and the study, and certainly the visitor appreciated -everything when he took the trouble to write it down in his book. -Gregorie also improved the salmon-fishing in the Don by building a stone -rampart across the river which was called ‘Gregorie’s Dyke’ and can -still be seen from the Bridge of Don. In return for this, ‘a half-net’s -fishing’ was granted to him and his heirs for ever, and this has now -devolved upon a descendant of Dr James Gregorie. - -When Gregorie was made mediciner he was no longer young, but there was -little in his new position to call for energy; for, although the -University of King’s College of Aberdeen, had been the first to -institute a Chair of Medicine, the teaching of the subject was somewhat -fitful. His predecessor Professor Urquhart had given some ‘Publick -Lessons’ on this subject, but no where is it mentioned that either Dr -James Gregorie or his son followed his example. Their work consisted -chiefly in deciding which candidates were to be granted the M.D. degree, -and in taking a share in the university life. The mediciner was not a -regent and was thus saved the continuous worry and supervision which -fell to the lot of most of the professors. - -As for the giving of degrees it was almost entirely a personal affair, -and a doctor of medicine did not by any means need to know much of his -subject. If he were desirable and willing to pay the fees, the mediciner -had the right to grant him a diploma; in some cases even the fee was -dispensed with. For example, there is the following entry in the Records -of the University and King’s College. - - * * * * * - - ‘8th September, 1701. - -‘Mr George Cheyne allowed to be graduat doctor in medicine _gratis_, -because he’s not onely our owne country-man, and at present not rich, -but is recommended by the ablest and most learned physitians in -Edinburgh as one of the best mathematicians in Europe; and for his skill -in medicine he hath given a sufficient indication of that by his learned -tractat de Febribus, which hath made him famous abroad as well as at -home; and he being just now goeing to England upon invitation of some of -the members of the Royal Society.’ - - * * * * * - -The affairs of King’s College left much to be desired at this time. As -early as 1709, there had been friction between the professors and -students, the latter of whom described their professors as ‘the useless, -needless, headless, defective, elective Masters of the K. Colledge of -Abd,’ and matters did not improve much in the intervening years; for, -when Professor James Gregorie’s son was mediciner, things had come to -such a pass that the university had to make special and almost pathetic -efforts to secure students. - - * * * * * - - ‘23rd October, 1738. - -‘It being represented to the university, that the want of an -accomplished gentlewoman for teaching white and coloured seam, was an -occasion of several gentlemen’s sons being kept from this college, their -parents inclining to send them, where they might have suitable education -for their daughters also; and that one Mrs Cuthbert, now residing in -this town, had given sufficient proof of her capacity and diligence ... -the university judged it reasonable ... to advance her twelve pounds -Scots, out of the revenue belonging to the college for the ensuing -year.’ After this mention, Mrs Cuthbert passes quite out of the -University Records, so we do not know whether the housewifely efforts of -the authorities of the university were successful. - -James Gregorie as mediciner received a salary of 180 pounds Scots, 26 -bolls bear, 18 bolls meal; and on his resigning his chair on the 20th -December 1732, his son James was _eo die_ appointed to fill the vacancy, -to receive in his turn this munificent salary, and to live in the -fascinating manse. - -Dr Gregorie married first, Catherine, second daughter of Sir John Forbes -of Monymusk, but she died young; his second wife was a daughter of -Principal Chalmers (one of the family who founded the _Aberdeen -Journal_), and we can imagine a little joint influence on the part of -the Dean of Faculty and the Principal of King’s College bringing about -this desired election, for we never hear that the third Professor James -ever did anything to make his name live. It was to be left to his -stepbrother to carry on the tradition of the family, but John Gregorie -was only a child when his father died. - -Dr James Gregorie, the mediciner, died in January 1733. - -In many ways he was among the least distinguished of his family. He -stands there in a misty crowd of the educational magnates of a very far -past time, surrounded by the canonist, the civilist and other obsolete -dignitaries, and all he leaves is an impression of content and of -diplomatic gifts, which show themselves whenever he rises out of -obscurity. This diplomacy, which when it is used in domestic affairs is -called by the Scotch ‘canniness,’ was passed on in the family along with -the gout which came from the Chalmerses, and the combination was -curious. Later on James Gregorie, the cousin of Rob Roy, was recognised -as the founder of the Aberdeen School of Medicine. - -His son, Professor James Gregorie, was professor from 1732 to 1755. He -was delicate and irritable, and his friends had a standing joke whenever -he was cross, which probably palled upon him after a certain time. ‘Ah,’ -they would say, ‘this comes of not being educated by Rob Roy.’ They, at -least, thought this extremely witty. - -Dr Gregorie married Helen Burnet, who was a connection of his own, one -of the Burnets of Elrick. They had no children. He died on the 18th of -November 1755. - - - - - CHAPTER VIII - - JOHN GREGORY, 1724–1773 - - ‘The good-natured size of his person and set of his face, seem to - show that Philosophy is not the thing of toil and anguish it once - was to men.’—ROBERT W. BARBOUR. - - -From an Aberdeen education at the Grammar School to begin with, and -afterwards at King’s College, where he learned his Latinity, John -Gregory came to Edinburgh in 1742. He came with his mother to look after -him, who, poor soul, was haunted by the remembrance of his brother -George’s early death, and would hardly let John out of her sight. Both -of the boy’s guardians had agreed that for a medical education he must -attend Edinburgh University. His brother, the mediciner in Aberdeen, -never seems to have suggested that he should stay there, where there was -really no systematic teaching of medicine, nor did his grandfather, -Principal Chalmers, the Principal of King’s College. - -To begin his study at Edinburgh, to continue it at Leyden, was the best -suggestion that they could offer him, and it turned out excellently. - -His professors in Edinburgh were Professor Monro, (the first), who daily -strove to make dry bones live, and succeeded; Professor Sinclair, who -expressed Boerhaave’s teaching in his own very beautiful Latin; Dr -Rutherford, the grandfather of Sir Walter Scott, who taught the Practice -of Physic, and Dr Alston, the strangeness of whose prescriptions makes -it possible for us to grasp what an advance Cullen and Gregory -accomplished in medicine. These were very nearly the same professors as -lectured when Goldsmith attended the university some ten years -afterwards, and he did not think much of any of them, except Professor -Monro, to whom he gave his heart’s admiration. ‘This man,’ he wrote, -‘has brought the science he teaches to as much perfection as it is -capable of; ‘tis he, I may venture to say, that draws hither such a -number of students from most parts of the world, even from Russia.’ - -As for Professor Alston, he has left behind him the notes of his -lectures, and they are very curious, though not laughable, for after all -it was what everyone believed in those days. ‘Earthworms, large and fat -ones especially, were dried and used in cases of jaundice and gout: the -juice of slaters passed through a muslin bag was recommended for cancer, -convulsions and headache.’ But, all the same, think of John Gregory -taking notes of such teaching, sitting up late at night to write down -how vipers must be used for ague and small-pox, and picture his watching -the cure of the lady with a headache who could be induced to drink the -wood-lice-juice. No wonder she was cured when you think what faith she -must have brought to her physician. - -Though these notes from Alston’s lectures seem only worthy of a -medicine-man, there was yet throughout the university an awakening -spirit of life and of enquiry. The Royal Medical Society, which Cullen -had founded in 1735, and which John Gregory attended in 1742, was the -scene of the most lively debates upon every subject in medicine and -philosophy. Little was taken for granted, and everything was questioned. -In Gregory’s year its charm was greatly enhanced by the presence of Mark -Akenside, who was a member, and the best company possible. Amusing, -poetical, his oratory drew many persons to the Society. Robertson, the -historian, came every night when Akenside was going to speak, and the -racy talk was enjoyed by him almost as much as it was by the speakers. - -Gregory spent three years in Edinburgh at this time, and then went to -Leyden to study under Albinus, Gaubius, and Van Royen. Albinus was an -anatomist. His engravings were much clearer than those procured by -anyone else at that time, but he was not a great lecturer, only -painstaking and observant. In Gaubius, however, the university had a -strong man, a vivid teacher, and an original thinker, and if Gregory had -needed inspiration, he would have found it in his teaching. - -To John Gregory Holland was delightful country when contrasted with the -cold east of Scotland, where even the roads were almost impassable in -bad weather. In Holland he made his way along sunlit canals, through -villages gay with gardens, and when he reached Leyden his enjoyment was -complete. - -Full of delight he went about the quiet squares of the university town, -along the banks of the old Rhine, and round the path on the top of the -wall. Everything was new, and everything was foreign. He chose rooms for -himself at a well-known lodging on the Long Bridge. Mademoiselle van der -Tasse arranged her house especially for English-men. It paid her better, -and besides, the fat little French-woman could talk English, and knew -how to please, and her coffee was famous in the town. Gregory’s -companions in Leyden were Alexander Carlyle, afterwards minister of -Inveresk, Dr Nicholas Monckly, Charles Townshend, John Wilkes, and a few -Scotsmen. Some of them were studying law, some divinity, and the others -medicine. But alas for the great fame of Albinus and Van Royen. ‘I asked -Gregory,’ wrote Alexander Carlyle, ‘why he did not attend the lectures,’ -which he answered by asking in his turn why I did not attend the -divinity professors. ‘Having heard all they could say in a much better -form at home, we went but rarely, and for form’s sake only to hear the -Dutchmen.’ So after all it was not the Professors of Leyden that taught -John Gregory so much. Albinus was no doubt worthy, but in his portrait -he looks a little dead, a little like a mummy. He looks as if he had -forgotten that men were anything more than bones. - -The students who most enlivened the university were Charles Townshend -and Wilkes, both of whom became notorious in after life, Townshend as a -statesman, and Wilkes as Wilkes. On the first Sunday after Carlyle -joined the party at Leyden, Gregory took him out for a walk along the -Cingle, and introduced him to the English colony. As Wilkes drew near -the newcomer asked eagerly about him. His face was so remarkable, not -only for its ugliness, but for its self-assurance and interest, that no -one could pass him without notice. Gregory’s answer was that ‘he was the -son of a London distiller or brewer, who wanted to be a fine gentleman -and man of taste, which he could never be, for God and Nature had been -against him.’ And famous and popular as he afterwards became, this -estimate of him remained true, for he never succeeded in becoming either -a gentleman or a man of taste. What a clear insight Gregory had, and -what a sharp tongue! He carried things all his own way in Holland, but -in Edinburgh it was different; there his rapid way of expressing his -thoughts even about the things for which he cared most deeply, was often -put down to shallowness and hypocrisy. - -The conversation among these men was often brilliant, but most of all at -their students’ supper parties—these Leyden suppers of red herring, eggs -and salad. Gregory’s great subjects were religion, and the equal, if not -superior, talents of women as compared with men. Everybody made fun of -him, for ‘he could hardly be persuaded to go to church, and there were -no women near whom he could have wished to flatter;’ but he would not -change his mind. Nicholas Monckly was a great friend of Gregory’s, but -more because it brought him into notice than because of any love. He saw -that Gregory could be witty, so he used to talk to him in private about -subjects of interest, and then bringing the same matter up for -discussion at their evening entertainments, would give out his friend’s -opinions as if they had been his own. Gregory was much amused with this, -and after a few evenings took Carlyle into his confidence, whereupon -these two played many pranks upon poor Monckly, leading him out of his -depth, or contradicting him. The sport was given up, because the victim -was too unconscious of their satire, and when they made their chaff -plain, he would come into Gregory’s bedroom, and complain even with -tears. Wilkes, who tried too, but with greater success, to be a leader -among the students, used to leave Leyden when he felt tired of it, and -spend a few days in Utrecht with ‘Immateriality Baxter.’ These two men -were really attached to one another, and what an ideal retreat it was to -go to the house of that quaint Scotsman, even though he was in exile. -King’s College in Aberdeen honoured John Gregory in his absence by -sending him the degree of M.D., and thus distinguished, he turned his -face again towards home. He, along with Carlyle and Monckly, travelled -_via_ Helvoet, Harwich, and London. In the boat they found a charming -companion in Violetti, who was on her way to fulfil an engagement at the -Haymarket Theatre, and to fame. She became Mrs Garrick, and lived -happily in her villa, near London, till 1822, but except on the stage, -Gregory never saw her again. - -Now there happened to John Gregory, what so seldom befalls anyone, that -he was put into the right place for him without any effort on his part. -When he returned to Aberdeen he was offered the Chair of Philosophy, -which meant in those days that he should teach mathematics, natural -philosophy and moral philosophy, and be a regent. His former study did -not exactly lead to this, and people must sometimes have asked of what -use had his apprenticeship to his doctor brother been to him if he were -to turn into a philosopher. But there was plenty of time to be several -things in the leisurely eighteenth century. That was what John Gregory -thought, so from 1747 to 1749 he was a Regent of Philosophy. - -Although regents had been abolished both in Edinburgh and Glasgow -Universities before 1746, in Aberdeen they were still retained, and from -the statement quoted in Mr Rait’s book on the Universities of Aberdeen, -I take the following paragraph, descriptive of the attitude of King’s -College in regard to this subject. ‘Every Professor of Philosophy in -this University is also tutor to those who study under him, has the -whole direction of their studies, the training of their minds, and the -oversight of their manners; and it seems to be generally agreed that it -must be detrimental to a student to change his tutor every session ... -and though it be allowed that a professor who has only one branch of -philosophy for his province, may have more leisure to make improvements -in it for the benefit of the learned world, yet it does not seem at all -extravagant to suppose that a professor ought to be sufficiently -qualified to teach all that his pupils can learn in philosophy in the -course of three sessions.’ So it was not only to teach, but to train the -minds, and ‘overlook’ the manners of his students, that John Gregory was -called. He was the only Gregory who ever was a regent, and he came to -his work with a clear insight into students’ ways, being indeed hardly -more than a student himself. But the life must have been unattractive. -To quote from a letter dated September 4th, 1765, from Thomas Reid, who -held the Chair of Philosophy shortly after his cousin, which is full of -much interesting information as to what the work of a regent was -like:—‘The students here,’ he says, ‘have lately been compelled to live -within the College. We need but look out at our windows to see when they -rise and when they go to bed. They are seen nine or ten times throughout -the day statedly, by one or other of the masters—at public prayers, -school hours, meals, in their rooms, besides occasional visits which we -can make with little trouble to ourselves.’ - -‘They are shut up within walls at 9 at night. This discipline hath -indeed taken some pains and resolution, as well as some expense, to -establish it.’ - -Along with this work in King’s College, John Gregory engaged in general -practice as a physician. He found it very engrossing, much more so than -the philosophical teaching which he had to give, and he determined to -resign his regentship, and to go abroad for a few months. - -On his return he fell in love with the Hon. Elizabeth Forbes, a daughter -of William, Lord Forbes. She was a beautiful girl, very clever, and she -was besides an heiress, and there is a story that her father did not at -all approve of the marriage. ‘What do you propose to keep her on?’ said -he, and Gregory, getting angry, took his lancet out of his pocket, and -said, ‘on this.’ They were married in 1752. Their life was a singularly -happy one, to use the expression of their own day, ‘they mutually -enjoyed a high degree of felicity.’ For two years they were in Aberdeen, -and then Gregory got impatient of his small practice, for there was only -room there for one Dr Gregory, and he made up his mind to seek his -fortune in London. This was a step which he was glad of all his days, -for it brought him into contact with so many interesting people. ‘In -London,’ says Lord Woodhouselee, he was ‘already known by reputation as -a man of genius.’ How this could be, seeing that he had done little to -show his talents, it is difficult to understand. Perhaps some one who -knew him in the old Leyden days had spread a report of his brilliancy, -or some Aberdonian may have named him as a coming power. However it -happened, the effect was most fortunate, for not only was he recognised -by the scientific world, and made a Fellow of the Royal Society, but Sir -George Lyttelton and Mrs Montague, ‘that fascinating humbug,’ made -friends with him, and whatever Mrs Montague was to other people, she was -most sincerely kind to the Gregories. - -These were the days of Samuel Johnson, of Sir Joshua Reynolds and his -sister, of Miss Burney, of Garrick and of Lyttelton, and it was to this -society that Mrs Montague introduced her new Scottish friends. It is -true that there were days when ‘Mrs Montague kept aloof from Johnson -like the west from the east,’ and when the sage said bitter things about -‘Mrs Montague for a penny’; but there were also the other days when they -smiled upon one another, when Johnson forgot that she had called -_Rasselas_ a narcotic, and listened while Mrs Thrale compared her -conversation with that of Burke. Reynolds thought her beauty classical. -Miss Burney once called her the glory of her sex, and all the world -reading her essay on Shakespeare believed that she had saved his fame -from the calumnies of Voltaire. Into this admiring circle Gregory was -admitted and was himself enjoyed and appreciated, and it is possible -that he might also in the end have secured a practice if he had -continued to live in the south. But in 1756 his brother James died -leaving a vacancy in the Chair of Medicine in Aberdeen. To this chair -Gregory was appointed and half reluctantly he turned his back upon -London, and took up his new duties at King’s College, He returned -unchanged except for his broader ideas and wider culture; and, although -the rest of his life was passed within the somewhat narrow limits of -university towns, he never became provincial. - -Teaching was not one of his duties as mediciner. A few years -apprenticeship to any doctor sufficed for training, and gave the -students all the preparation they desired for a degree. John Gregory and -Dr Skene fretted against this, and in the hope of founding a Medical -School opened Lectures on Medicine. But the students did not attend. It -was an indignity to the university, keenly felt by these professors, -that an Aberdeen degree should be the laughing stock of all the other -universities; but without an Infirmary it was impossible to teach the -Practice of Physic, and the attempt had to be given up for the time. - -Then it was that Thomas Reid and Gregory planned the Philosophical -Society, which was nicknamed by the people who did not belong to it ‘the -Wise Club.’ It met after five o’clock dinner at a queer little tavern -called the Red Lion Inn. A paper was read and its subject discussed. -There was wine on a side table, but no healths were allowed to be drunk, -and at an early hour the discussions ended. Among the members were -Gregory, Reid, David Skene, Gerard, and Beattie the poet, who became a -great friend of Gregory’s. The evenings were merry and the little -parlour of the inn echoed to many a peal of laughter. The commonest -entry about Gregory is ‘discourse not readie,’ which his cousin the -philosopher, who kept the minutes never failed to insert, and also for -the benefit of the Society the fine was always claimed by the members -present, and laughingly paid by the unready professor. On these nights -when no essay was read the Society had to content itself with -philosophic discussion, the nature of which was arranged at the previous -meeting. There was for them always, however, one never failing subject -in David Hume’s Sceptical Speculation. ‘Your company, although we are -all good Christians, would be more acceptable than that of Athanasius,’ -wrote Reid in 1763 to his great opponent, and it was true. To Gregory -there were moreover fields for speculation on education, on what -medicine had done for men, on the distinction between Wit and Humour, on -agriculture, and in his two books which attained such popularity there -are chapters which do nothing more than follow out the ideas which he -uttered at the Philosophical Society. Many books had their origin in -this club. Gerard’s on _Taste_, Beattie’s _Essay on Truth_, Campbell’s -_Treatise on Miracles_, and _Philosophy of Rhetoric_, and John Gregory’s -_Comparative View of Man and the Animal World_, all books with a great -name in their day, but Gregory’s for one sadly uninteresting now, when -his startling views upon education have been universally accepted, and -there remains of what is unusual only pedantic comparison and prosy -sentiment. It is forgotten that John Gregory was an innovator when he -advocated keeping children warm and when he refused to recognise the -necessity of the icy morning bath, which before his day was _de rigueur_ -in every nursery. Long after his teaching days were over there were -still found homes where his broad sensible views had not penetrated, and -in the _Memoirs of a Highland Lady_ Miss Grant gives a terrible -description of her own early days (1806). - -‘A large long tub stood in the kitchen-court, the ice on the top of -which had often to be broken before our horrid plunge into it; we were -brought down from the very top of the house, four pair of stairs, with -only a cotton cloak over our night gowns, just to chill us completely -before the dreadful shock. How I screamed, begged, prayed, entreated to -be saved, half the tender-hearted maids in tears beside me, all no use, -Millar had her orders. Nearly senseless, I have been taken to the -house-keeper’s room, which was always warm, to be dried, then we -dressed, without any flannel, and in cotton frocks with short sleeves -and low necks. Revived by the fire, we were enabled to endure the next -bit of martyrdom, an hour upon the low sofa, so many yards from the -nursery hearth, our books in our hands, while our cold breakfast was -preparing.’ What a changed life have the little folks of to-day! But, ah -me! this name of Gregory to childhood. ‘The evil that men do lives after -them; the good is oft interred with their bones ...’ the son’s mixture -made the name of Gregory abhorred in every nursery, and all the father’s -good deeds are forgotten. - -On the 29th of September 1763 Dr Gregory’s wife died. It was the -greatest sorrow of his life, and afterwards when high honours came to -him in his profession, and when the world praised him, he never ceased -to think with longing of the early joyous days of his love. Elizabeth -Gregory was very happy, and even in her memory there is something tender -and simple, something to make one smile, and feel the better of it. -Picture this peer’s daughter, as she stood one afternoon, making -impotent appeals to her little boy (who was dressed in white for a -party,) to leave the herd of small ragamuffins whom he was leading to a -glorious mud-damming of the gutter. Little James paid no attention to -his mother—I doubt whether he heard her—for the dam was breaking, hope -was almost gone, when with a shout of joy he remembered that he himself -was a solid body, and sitting down in the breach, cried out in broad -Scots to his admiring followers, ‘Mair dubs, laddies, mair dubs.’ - -Some years after his wife’s death Dr Gregory was invited to go to -Edinburgh. Professor Rutherford, who held the chair of the Practice of -Physic, wished to retire, but he would not resign his place to Cullen, -whom he held a heretic in medicine. So the old professor arranged that -John Gregory should be asked to come from Aberdeen, and set up practice -in Edinburgh. At another time Professor Gregory would have hesitated, -but in his distress and despondency he thought of what a benefit it -would be to himself to leave the sad associations of Aberdeen and allay -his sorrows in the fulness of work which he knew would await him. His -university did not ask him to resign his chair at King’s College, but in -1765 Sir Alexander Gordon of Lesmore was appointed as joint-professor. - -John Gregory settled in 15 St John’s Street, Edinburgh, in 1764. His -house was pleasantly situated on a hill, and was almost next door to -Lord Monboddo’s, between whom and Gregory there presently sprang up a -great intimacy. Practice came fast to Gregory, but celebrity greater -than that which comes to a practitioner, however successful, made his -first year in Edinburgh a year of triumph. Only a few months before, he -had sent his manuscript of _A Comparative View of the State and -Faculties of Man with those of the Animal World_ to Lord Lyttelton, and -now the book had been published in London and received with such an -enthusiasm that even Gregory and his patron were greatly astonished. -London read the book, Aberdeen read the book, and so did Edinburgh, and -Gregory was made at once a member of that literary Edinburgh as he had -in his youth been received by Mrs Montague and her friends in London. - -The matter was good and fresh at the time, but what was most praised was -the style. ‘If you wish to see the natural style in the highest -perfection, read the works of the late Dr John Gregory.... But in -particular his _Comparative View_, which in respect to natural ease and -unaffected elegant simplicity of style is not to be exceeded in any -language, and in as far as my reading has extended has not been equalled -by any other composition in English.... Gregory’s style may be compared -to the acting of Garrick; it is only by a retrospective view that its -superior excellence can be discovered.’ - -This is only one of the many laudatory reviews of the book, and by no -means the most flattering, and it says a great deal for John Gregory’s -sense that, in spite of this lionising, he came so successfully through -the difficulties which crowded round him for the next few years. - -Professor Rutherford watched with growing satisfaction the success of -the Aberdeen doctor, whom he regarded as a protegé of his own. It was -unfortunate for Gregory that he stood as it were as a rival of Cullen, -for whom he had throughout life the profoundest regard. But nevertheless -this was the case. - -In 1766 matters came to a climax in the appointment of Gregory to the -Chair of the Practice of Physic, made vacant by the retirement of -Professor Rutherford. There was an immediate and furious outcry against -this election, which was known to be mostly due to family influence. -Gregory was a great man, and proved himself a brilliant teacher, but at -this time he was absolutely untried, whereas Cullen had already made -himself a name as one of the greatest teachers of the day. - -The gift of the chair was in the hands of the Town Council, and to that -body an address from the students of medicine was sent after the death -of Dr Whytt, Professor of the Theory of Medicine, suggesting the -advisability of asking Professor Gregory to resign the Chair of the -Practice of Physic, which he then held, and accept the less important -one of the Theory of Medicine, in order to make room for Cullen in the -Practical Chair. - -‘We who make this application are students of medicine in your -University.... We are humbly of opinion that the reputation of the -University and Magistrates, the good of the city, and our improvement -will all in an eminent manner, be consulted by engaging Dr Gregory to -relinquish the Professorship of the Practice for that of the Theory of -Medicine, by appointing Dr Cullen, present Professor of Chemistry, to -the practical chair, and by electing Dr Black Professor of Chemistry.’ -After a dissertation on the qualifications of Dr Cullen, they proceed. -‘Nor is this our opinion of Dr Cullen meant in the least to detract from -the merits of Dr Gregory. On the contrary, a principal motive to our -expressing the sentiments we do on this occasion is the high opinion we -entertain of that gentleman’s capacity. By a late very elegant and -ingenious performance, by everybody attributed to him, we imagine it is -evident what advantages the University must reap from lectures on the -Theory of Medicine, delivered by a thinker so just and original, and so -universally acquainted with human nature. With pleasure too, we reflect, -that his character is not less respectable as a man, than as a -Philosopher. We therefore cannot suppose, that were the public emolument -to be obtained even at the expense of his private interest, he would not -rejoice to make the honourable sacrifice, far less that he would, in the -least hesitate to favour a scheme for promoting the public utility, when -his private advantage is consistent with it.’ - -This can hardly have been pleasant reading for Gregory, and the whole -proceeding was so entirely out of order that the Town Council took no -action in the matter. Meanwhile Gregory was made First Physician to the -King for Scotland in the place of Dr Whytt. He lectured for three years -on the Practice of Physic, and then he and Cullen agreed to give -alternate lectures on the Theory and Practice of Medicine. The -university possessing three such able teachers as Gregory, Cullen and -Black, grew more and more prosperous. It is impossible to go over the -records of these years without admiration for John Gregory, who, amidst -all the strife that waged around him and around Cullen, has not left a -record of any bitterness. That he must have felt these annoyances is -obvious, but his worries were only Edinburgh worries, and outside he -knew that both he and Cullen were appreciated and valued for their -individual work. On his appointment to the Edinburgh chair he had -resigned his King’s College professorship. - -When Dr Gregory came to Edinburgh, he came with his six children. -Elizabeth, his youngest little girl, died in 1771. His eldest son James -was studying medicine, the other boys were at work, and Dorothea and -Anna Margaretta, his elder daughters, were growing into more charming -companions for him with every day that passed. They were tall, willowy -girls, promising great beauty, and full of sweetness. Dorothea, or Dolly -as she was called, was a god-daughter of Mrs Montague’s, and when that -lady came to stay with Dr Gregory, she was absolutely fascinated by her -godchild. Her visit was a great pleasure to the Gregorys, to whom she -was ever her most charming self. - -Edinburgh society did not take kindly to her, if we are to believe Dr -Carlyle, and in fact he is rather bitter upon the subject, calls her ‘a -faded beauty,’ ‘a candidate for glory,’ and says she might have been -admired by the first order of minds had she not been ‘greedy of more -praise than she was entitled to.’ Even he, however, acknowledged her a -wit, a critic, an author of some fame, possessing some parts and -knowledge, which is praise to a certain point, though not to the point -which Mrs Montague would have desired! ‘Old Edinburgh was not a climate -for the success of impostures,’ writes the minister of Inveresk, and -then to support his judgment with a little legal weight, he added, ‘Lord -Kames, who was at first catched with her Parnassian coquetry, said at -last that he thought she had as much learning as a well-educated college -lad here of sixteen.’ Alas, poor Mrs Montague! and then, too, Dr Carlyle -has unwittingly pointed out the rock on which she struck—‘she despised -the women’—and by such obvious silliness did she not evoke her fate? -Gray the poet was also a visitor at the Gregorys’ and Gregory was asked -to meet anyone of interest who came to the town. With Smollett, indeed, -who lived in St John Street for a winter, he could have little real -friendship, for the novelist had put Lord Lyttleton into _Roderick -Random_ in anything but a kindly spirit, and the Gregories were -notoriously ‘Love me, love my dog’ people. He lived on terms of close -intimacy with Dr Robertson, Dr Blair, David Hume, John Home, Lord Kames, -Lord Monboddo, and Lord Woodhouselee. He was a member of the Poker Club, -though he went there very seldom, because of the way he was laughed at -when he uttered his favourite doctrine of the superiority of women over -men. This at least was the gossip of the time, but there is just a -possibility that he thought his own company more entertaining than the -constant attendance at the Poker from three in the afternoon till eight -at night, and though no one knew it, he was busy drawing up a book of -advices for his daughters against the time, which he felt could not be -very far off, when he would no longer be with them. - -‘MY DEAR GIRLS—You had the misfortune to be deprived of your Mother at a -time of life when you were insensible of your loss, and could receive -little benefit either from her instruction or her example. Before this -comes to your hands, you will likewise have lost your Father. I have had -many melancholy reflections on the forlorn and helpless situation you -must be in if it should please God to remove me from you before you -arrive at that period of life, when you will be able to think and act -for yourselves.... I have been supported under the gloom ... by a -reliance on the Goodness of that Providence which has hitherto preserved -you, and given me the most pleasing prospect of the goodness of your -dispositions, and by the secret hope that your Mother’s virtues will -entail a blessing on her children.’ - -This was the spirit in which the book was written, and though it is a -type of book which has entirely passed out of fashion, it is interesting -to read it and remember that in the days of our great-grandmothers it -had its place on every girl’s table. - -Dr Gregory had a very observant way of watching girls, he knew life, and -his advice was shrewd and tender. In the chapter on Conduct and -Behaviour there are many quaint observations as to what gifts are -attractive in a girl. - -‘Wit,’ he says, ‘is the most dangerous talent you can possess, it must -be guarded with great discretion and good nature, otherwise it will -create you many enemies’.... ‘Be even cautious in displaying your good -sense. It will be thought you assume a superiority over the rest of the -company—But if you happen to have any learning, keep it a profound -secret, especially from the men’.... ‘Beware of detraction, especially -when your own sex are concerned. You are generally accused of being -particularly addicted to this vice—I think unjustly—Men are fully as -guilty of it when their interests interfere. As your interests more -frequently clash, and as your feelings are quicker than ours, your -temptations to it are more frequent. For this reason, be particularly -tender of the reputation of your own sex, especially when they happen to -rival you in our regards.’ Later on, there is a pathetic feeling of how -little he can foretell his daughters’ tastes. ‘I do not want to _make_ -you anything, I want to know what Nature has made you, and to perfect -you on her plan.’ - -_A Father’s Legacy to his Daughter_ was intended only for his own girls, -and was not published till after Dr Gregory’s death. During his time in -Edinburgh he brought out besides his _Comparative View_, _Lectures on -the Duties and Qualifications of a Physician_, which were his -introductory lectures, and _Elements of the Practice of Physic_, a first -volume of a text-book for his students which he did not live to -complete. He thought medicine required a more comprehensive mind than -any other profession, and often brought much besides mere technical -knowledge into his lectures. As a speaker he was simple, natural and -vigorous. He lectured only from notes, ‘in a style happily attempered,’ -said one of his contemporaries, ‘between the formality of studied -composition, and the ease of conversation.’ On one thing he insisted, -that every student should appreciate the limitations of medicine, for -only so could they learn to extend its borders. - -During these years, too, he carried on a constant correspondence with -James Beattie, Professor of Moral Philosophy in Aberdeen, and a poet. -Both Beattie and Thomas Reid, who held the corresponding chair in -Glasgow, were engaged in combating the teaching of David Hume, which had -become very fashionable, and Gregory, though much attached to David Hume -as a man, feared him as a teacher, and dreaded the growth of that -scepticism which marked the time—a tendency quite as bitterly lamented -in England by Samuel Johnson. - -‘I am well convinced,’ Gregory wrote to Beattie in a letter dated -Edinburgh, 16th June 1767, ‘that the great deference paid to our modern -heathens has been productive of the worst effects. Young people are -impressed with an idea of their being men of superior abilities, whose -genius has raised them above the vulgar prejudices, and who have spirit -enough to avow openly their contempt of them. Atheism and Materialism -are the present fashion. If one speak with warmth of an infinitely wise -and good Being, who sustains and directs the frame of nature, or -expresses his steady belief of a future state of existence, he gets -hints of his having either a very weak understanding, or of his being a -very great hypocrite.... You are the best man I know to chastise these -people as they deserve, you have more Philosophy and more wit than will -be necessary for the purpose, though you can never employ any of them in -so good a cause.’ - -When Beattie’s answer to Hume was in manuscript, he sent it to Dr -Gregory, who read it, and cordially approved of it, but one result of -this was that Gregory had to become a partaker in the acrimony of Hume’s -friends. His advices as to an attractive style were somewhat curious, -‘You are well aware of the antipathy, which the present race of readers -have against all abstract reasoning, except what is employed in defence -of the fashionable principles; but though they pretend to admire their -metaphysical champions, yet they never read them, nor if they did, could -they understand them. Among Mr Hume’s numerous disciples, I do not know -one who ever read his _Treatise on Human Nature_. In order, therefore, -to be read, you must not be satisfied with reasoning with justness and -perspicuity; you must write with pathos, with elegance, with spirit, and -endeavour to warm the imagination and touch the heart of those who are -deaf to the voice of reason. Whatever you write in the way of criticism -will be read, and, if my partiality to you does not deceive me, be -admired. Everything relating to the ‘Belles Lettres’ is read, or -pretended to be read. What has made Lord Kames’ _Elements of Criticism_ -so popular in England, is his numerous illustrations and quotations from -Shakespeare.... This is a good political hint to you in your capacity of -an author.’ - -Gregory was also consulted about the sketch design of Beattie’s Poem, -_The Minstrel_, which he admired, and the closing stanza written by his -friend the poet, when he heard of Gregory’s death, was supposed to be -very beautiful poetry. Cowper wrote in one of his letters to the Rev. -William Unwin, ‘If you have not his poem called _The Minstrel_, and -cannot borrow it, I must beg you to buy it for me, for though I cannot -afford to deal largely in so expensive a commodity as books, I must -afford to purchase at least the poetical works of Beattie.’ - -Gregory’s views of his friend’s high gifts then were shared by Cowper. -Gray also held him in high estimation, and Mrs Siddons spent an -afternoon with Beattie, crying because they were so happy over poetry -and music, and some of the poetry must have been his own. As for -Beattie’s lines on Gregory, they are as much calculated to draw smiles -as tears from our eyes. - - ‘Adieu, ye lays that fancy’s flowers adorn, - The soft amusement of the vacant mind! - He sleeps in dust and all the Muses mourn, - He whom each virtue fired, each grace refined, - Friend, teacher, pattern, darling of mankind! - He sleeps in dust: and how should I pursue - My theme? To heart-consuming grief resigned, - Here on his recent grave I fix my view, - And pour my bitter tears. Ye flowery lays, adieu! - - Art thou, my Gregory, for ever fled? - And am I left to unavailing woe? - When fortune’s storms assail this weary head, - Where cares long since have shed untimely snow, - Ah, now, for comfort whither shall I go? - No more thy soothing voice my anguish cheers, - Thy placid eyes with smiles no longer glow, - My hopes to cherish and allay my fears. - ‘Tis meet that I should mourn, flow forth afresh my tears.’ - -Gregory wrote little upon religious subjects, except some chapters in -the _Comparative View_ and in the _Father’s Legacy_, but he spoke often -of the things which pertain to the Life Eternal. To him they were as -really present as the circumstances of every day. - -His mind was deeply religious, but it was of that sort that lives more -by meditation than church-going. Though he was a Presbyterian himself, -he had his younger children brought up as Episcopalians, wishing them in -everything to be likened as much as possible to their mother. - -One day in the beginning of February 1773, John Gregory was talking to -his son James about his health. His son told him that he feared it was -likely he would soon have a bad attack of gout, a disease from which he -had been entirely free for three years. Professor Gregory, who felt -himself in full vigour, and who was in the height of his work, was much -vexed with this prognosis. Gout was a dread enemy in his mother’s -family, and he always feared its visitations. He had suffered from it -more or less since he was eighteen, and the preface to the _Father’s -Legacy_ indicates his anticipation of an early death. - -On the morning of the 10th he was found dead in bed. His face was -peaceful, everything was smooth and still, showing that death had come -gently. But the familiar presence had passed away for ever from his -home. It is said that Gregory had a great fear of darkness, and that -after his wife’s death he used to have an old woman come and sit by him -to hold his hand till he fell asleep, and if this is true, it is most -strange. He was forty-nine when he died. - -John Gregory was succeeded in the chair by William Cullen, who, when his -time came, made room for James Gregory, the fourth incumbent of the -chair: a son of Dorothea Gregory, William Pulteney Alison was the sixth. - -In appearance John Gregory was tall and strongly built. His face in -repose was kind, although too full and heavy to look clever; even his -eyes were dull. When he was talking there was a complete change. -Interest, life and expression transformed his features, until one could -hardly suppose him to be the same man. The charm of his manner has never -been gainsaid, and like the beauty of his wife, it is mentioned in every -biography. - -After her father died, Dorothea went to live with her godmother, Mrs -Montague, under whose care she spent the rest of her unmarried life. She -was made very happy, and gave great pleasure wherever she went. She had -inherited, if not all her mother’s beauty, a great share of it, and her -nature was as sweet and strong as her father’s and mother’s in one. When -Sir William Pulteney, who had been a friend of her father’s, heard of -Dorothea’s engagement to the Rev. Archibald Alison, he wanted to satisfy -himself that she was making a suitable marriage, and with this object in -view went himself to see if all the good things that were said about the -bridegroom were true. He gives a pleasant description of the expedition. - -‘Andrew Stuart and I accompanied Mr Alison to Thrapston, and the -marriage took place on the 19th, by a license from the Archbishop of -Canterbury. I conducted them afterwards to their residence, and we left -them next morning after breakfast, as happy as it is possible for people -to be. Mr Alison was obliged to come round by London, in order to take -an oath at granting the license, and I was glad of the opportunity which -the journey afforded me of making an acquaintance with him; for tho’ I -had little doubt that Miss Gregory had made a proper choice, yet I -wished to be perfectly satisfied, and the result is, that I think -neither you nor Mr Nairne have said a word too much in his favour.’ - -Dorothea Gregory’s two sons were William Pulteney Alison, Professor of -the Practice of Physic, and Sir Archibald Alison, the historian. Her -daughter Montague, before her marriage with Colonel Gerard, was loved by -Thomas Campbell, the poet, and by Francis Jeffrey. - -Anna, John Gregory’s second daughter, married John Forbes, Esq. of -Blackford, in Aberdeenshire. William the second son went into the -Church, and was appointed one of the ‘six preachers’ in Canterbury -Cathedral. Of his sons one was a successful doctor in London, and -another, John, Governor of the Bahammas, was the father of Mr Philip -Spencer Gregory, who has already been referred to in this book. - -Dr Gregory changed the spelling of his name from Gregorie to Gregory -during his stay in London. Curiously enough, the only other branch of -the Gregories who had up to that time emigrated to the south had made -the same alteration. - -Professor John Gregory’s fame, while it may not have extended as widely -as that of his son, was yet far-reaching. When Beattie had an interview -with the king in 1773, His Majesty made special enquiries about his -First Physician for Scotland. This was probably shortly after the -professor’s death. - -His life published in 1800 along with sketches of Lord Kames, David -Hume, and Adam Smith, ends with these words— - -‘Upon the whole, whether he is considered as a man of genius and of the -world, or with regard to his conduct in the line of his profession, few -human characters will be found to equal that of the late Dr John -Gregory.’ - - - - - CHAPTER IX - - JAMES GREGORY, 1753–1821 - - ‘If in doubt, “lead with trumps,” is counsel so old - As never to fail with the game in a fixture; - And medical men, in their doubt, I am told, - Are safe when they lead with—_Gregory’s Mixture_!’ - - —OLD PLAY. - - -It was in the middle of the session, 1772–73, that John Gregory died, -leaving as we know his work in full swing. The university authorities -were told, not of his illness, but of his death, and they were greatly -at a loss as to who should continue the course of lectures which -Professor Gregory had commenced with so much vigour. In this difficulty -it was that James Gregory his son stepped forward; although he was only -a medical student, he offered to deliver lectures on the Practice of -Physic till the end of the term, and this proposal was most gratefully -accepted by the university. - -There is something which is perhaps not wholly unattractive in the idea -of being the professor as well as the student; but at nineteen to -lecture, and to lecture so well as to receive in consequence the offer -of a chair at twenty-three, is a triumph which is rare indeed. - -James Gregory was born in Aberdeen in 1753, and even as a child his mind -always seems to have been keenly awake. He left the Grammar School of -Aberdeen when he was eleven, having learned all that was to be learned -there, and entered King’s College at an age at which clever boys now -leave a preparatory school. - -In the same year when his father removed to Edinburgh James Gregory -entered that university, and there he spent the next years of his life. -Later he went up to Christ Church, Oxford, of which his cousin was then -dean. Oxford did not inspire him much, for indeed learning was then at a -very low level there, but he continued his work at classics, and came to -write Latin with fluency, Greek when there was occasion, and both ‘with -classical elegance,’ if we are to believe his admiring contemporaries. - -It is probable that it was at Oxford that James Gregory resolved to -follow in his father’s footsteps, and become a doctor. There were of -course many inducements, and all the influence of his family would be -brought to bear on that side; but beyond this may we not believe that -visions were given him of the golden fame that a hitherto unimagined -mixture would bring to the name of Gregory unto all time? Whether the -vision was vouchsafed to him or not, he returned to Scotland and began -his medical studies in 1767. - -It was a brilliant time in Edinburgh University. The medical -professoriate contained a number of remarkable men. Cullen was there who -had revolutionised medicine, Alexander Monro ‘Secundus,’ the greatest of -a great family, Black who was acknowledged by Lavoisier as the pioneer -of modern chemistry, John Hope the botanist and John Gregory. Under such -teachers as these James made rapid progress, and although there are no -tales of medals or prizes we cannot forget the instance of his medical -foresight when he predicted an attack of gout for his father, which -attack came, to his sorrow, so soon and so fatally after the prediction. - -The Chair of the Practice of Physic was given to Cullen, and young -Gregory went to St George’s Hospital, London, to gain a wider -experience. He took his M.D. degree in Edinburgh in 1774: his thesis -entitled _De morbis Coeli Mutatione Medendis_ treats in detail Phthisis -Pulmonalis, Hypochondriasis, and Gout, and concludes by noticing the -advantage of change of air in the prolonging of human life. Startlingly -wide in subject as this thesis appears to us, it was greatly admired for -its style and minuteness, and thus Gregory, quitting Edinburgh for a -time of study on the continent, left behind him a very favourable -impression both of his talent and hard-working research. - -Leyden, Paris, and Italy formed matter for enchanting letters which were -the delight of his friends. Where are those letters gone to? How -pleasant would it be to live through them a student’s life in these -years. Whatever James Gregory could be, he was never dull, and besides -in them we might have found the early tokens of that fierce temper which -is the only pity of his professional career in Edinburgh. - -There are two portraits of Gregory, or rather a portrait[7] and a bust, -which were said to be very like. A tall man, large, ungainly, of a rare -presence. A man having authority impressed on every feature, radiant -with affection for his friends, intolerant of enemies, asking his own -way and getting his own way, loving, hating, thinking, speaking, -feeling, always with intensest ardour. Here was a man whom none of his -associates could regard dispassionately; they either loved him as a -friend or hated him as an enemy. - -Footnote 7: - - The portrait is by Raeburn, and there is also a miniature of the - professor by the same artist, which is in the possession of Mr Philip - Spencer Gregory. - -Even in Edinburgh which was full of personalities, real individuals, men -who were above all things themselves, Gregory stands out a great -original. Lord Cockburn and Sir Robert Christison were not inclined to -agree with each other on most subjects, yet about Gregory’s power there -is a refreshing unanimity in their opinions. - -In June 1773 he was elected to the Chair of the Institutes of Medicine. -This chair had been practically vacant for three years, during which -time it was offered over and over again to Alexander Monro Drummond, -whose chief merit seems to have been that he united the names of the -great teaching Monroes with that of Drummond, perhaps the noblest -citizen Edinburgh has ever had. It has been suggested, however, that -this was only done to keep the appointment open for Gregory, when he -should have completed his studies, and certainly when he returned, his -election was unanimous. He entered upon his duties with happy vigour. -Teaching was, as with every Gregory, his greatest gift, and the classes -grew steadily all the time he was professor. The university never made -greater progress than it did about this time, the medical graduates -rising in number from about twenty in 1776 to one hundred and sixty in -1827. - -In the teaching of his class Professor Gregory daily felt the need for -his students of a new book on the Theory of Medicine, so he wrote the -_Conspectus Medicinae Theoreticae_ which proved such a valuable handbook -on the subject. This book was most successful, it passed through many -editions, was translated into English and several other languages, was -used sometimes as a medical book and sometimes as a Latin text, for the -Latin was as much admired as the information which it imparted. -Considering the success of this volume, it is surprising that this was -James Gregory’s only medical publication: he alas wrote many books -afterwards, but with the exception of some chapters on philology and -some literary essays, he wrote nothing but controversial works, -prodigiously long, violent, personal, and acrid; their only excuse that -they were never written for selfish ends and their only merit that they -were a source of infinite amusement to the general public. - -Gregory lived in his father’s old house, No. 15 Canongate, and to this -home he brought his first wife, the gentle Galloway girl, called Mary -Ross, whose companionship was his, for such a short time in life’s -journey. She died in 1784. In the years following her death he resumed -his early classical studies, and it is a rather curious fact that he -wrote nearly all the Latin epitaphs or dedications which were wanted for -any purpose in Edinburgh from this time till his death. Principal -Shairp, referring to Burns’ meeting with Gregory at Ochtertyre, -describes how the poet ‘was charmed with the conversation of that last -of the Scottish line of Latinists, which began with Buchanan and ended -with Gregory.’ - -In 1787, he published his essay on the _Theory of Moods and Verbs_, and -in 1792, _Philosophical_ and _Literary Essays_. He was a great student -of words, loved epigram, and spent much of his leisure in translating -poetry. He was also interested in metaphysics, but as his great maxim -was that in metaphysics there could be no discovery, his writings on -this subject do not appear to have added much to his fame. Throughout -these years, too, he kept up a constant correspondence with his cousin -Thomas Reid, and proved himself just the appreciative critic that Reid -required in the writing of his books. Dugald Stewart and Gregory -together revised the proofs of Reid’s _Essays on the Intellectual -Powers_, and to them this book was dedicated. - -‘I send you,’ writes Reid, ‘what I propose as the title of my Essays, -with an epistle which I hope you and Mr Stewart will allow me to prefix -to them. Whether your name should go first on account of your doctor’s -degree, or Mr Stewart’s, I leave you to adjust between yourselves. I -know not how to express my obligations to you both for the aid you have -given me.’ - -Towards the end of 1790 it became apparent that Cullen, the greatest -doctor of his time was failing in strength, and on his resigning the -Chair of the Practice of Physic the Town Council reappointed him in -kindly recognition of his great services to the university, but -appointed James Gregory to be joint-professor during his lifetime with -the sole right of survivorship. This comradeship did not last long, for -in the same year Cullen died. To no less strong man could the task of -succeeding this veteran teacher, who had raised the reputation of the -Edinburgh School to such a height, have been wisely entrusted. - -As Professor of the Theory of Physic, Gregory had shown remarkable -gifts, but in his new subject his teaching was superb. Sir Robert -Christison in his autobiography, says of him, ‘Equal in fluency as in -choice of language, he surpassed all lecturers I have ever heard. His -doctrines were set forth with great clearness and simplicity in the form -of a commentary on Cullen’s _First Lines of the Practice of Physic_. His -measures for the cure of disease were sharp and incisive. In acute -diseases there was no ‘médecine expectante’ for Gregory, he somehow left -us with the impression that we were to be masters over nature in all -such diseases, that they must of necessity give way before the physician -who is early enough and bold enough in encountering them.’ He had a -memory so clear that he was never known to forget a case, and in his -lectures he made his students see not only the general features of a -disease, but an actual case of it which had come under his care. He used -stories and history, and his own experience to vivify his lectures, and -no doubt he succeeded for he had seen many sides of life. He never had -time for more than two-thirds of his subject in one course, but whatever -he missed out he always discussed fevers and inflammations. In much that -he taught he was in advance of his age. In observing how frequently -rheumatic fever tends to heart disease; in limiting the use of -blood-letting[8] at a time when it was becoming almost a universal -panacea with doctors, in urging a liberal dietary in certain stages of -consumption, and in the invention and use of his mixture he showed that -his views were in advance of those held by most of his brother -physicians. Professor Gregory had an odd habit of wearing his cocked hat -while he lectured. - -Footnote 8: - - In whole classes of cases, however, Gregory was a decided advocate of - blood-letting. - -It was in the summer of 1796 that dear old Thomas Reid, who was becoming -very frail, was induced to pay a visit to St Andrew’s Square, to which -Gregory had migrated. His daughter, Mrs Carmichael, was anxious to have -the opinion of Dr Gregory, as to whether there was anything she could do -to retard the bodily decay which increased daily in her father. It was a -happy time to them all. Gregory delighted in the keenness of the old -man’s mind. As he was not fit for much exercise, he passed his time in -solving algebraical problems, and discussing abstruse subjects with -Dugald Stewart. Gregory was no doubt busy. His practice increased daily, -and besides this, he probably spent a good deal of his time in the house -of Mr M’Leod of Geanies, the Sheriff of Ross-shire; to whose daughter, -Isabella, he was married on the 19th of October, just ten days after -Thomas Reid’s death. - -Miss M’Leod was a very beautiful girl, both winning and attractive, if -Raeburn’s portrait of her is true to life, and she made both a good wife -and good mother. Among Raeburn’s other portraits, and interesting to us -because they were the friends of the Gregories, are such men as Dugald -Stewart, Principal Robertson, Blair, Home, Ferguson, Mackenzie, Francis -Horner, and Jeffrey. How much is it Raeburn, one wonders, who makes -these men and women so charming, for it is their looks and what we know -of their lives, far more than their writings, that attract us. Principal -Robertson, with all his sweetness and dignity, has only written -histories which are now superseded. Jeffrey railed at Wordsworth. -Blair’s sermons are but a lingering tradition. The eloquence of Dugald -Stewart, which brought Melbourne, Lord John Russell, and Palmerston to -Edinburgh University, is now forgotten. It is not by their books that we -know these men, it is because we love them when we see their portraits; -it is because Cockburn lets us know them in their homes—it is because -John Brown, who lived early enough to be in touch with those who -remembered them, has written about them lovingly and tenderly. They were -delightful men, but more delightful in their lives than in their books. -The witty criticisms of the _Edinburgh Review_ have passed away; they -were for their day—but the remembrance of Jeffrey’s pleasant -after-intercourse with Wordsworth, the kindliness with which Gregory -welcomed all the young Edinburgh reviewers into his house at a time when -no other Tories except the ‘man of feeling’ and Archibald Alison would -receive them, and the occasional permission which Principal Robertson -gave little Henry Cockburn to feast off his cherry tree—these are -memories which will appeal to the kindly hearts of all time. - -Then it is amusing to read Dr Gregory’s critical letter to Burns, who -must have required all his admiration for the great doctor to bear -patiently the numerous suggestions which he showered upon him. - - * * * * * - - ‘EDINBURGH, _2nd June 1789_. - -‘DEAR SIR,—I take the first leisure hour I could command, to thank you -for your letter and the copy of verses enclosed in it. As there is real -poetic merit, I mean both fancy and tenderness, and some happy -expressions, in them, I think they well deserve that you should revise -them carefully and polish them to the utmost. This I am sure you can do -if you please, for you have great command both of expression and of -rhymes; and you may judge, from the two last pieces of Mrs Hunter’s -poetry that I gave you, how much correctness and high polish enhance the -value of such compositions. As you desire it, I shall with great freedom -give you my _most rigorous_ criticisms on your verses. I wish you would -give me another edition of them, much amended, and I will send it to Mrs -Hunter, who, I am sure, will have much pleasure in reading it. Pray give -me likewise for myself, and her too, a copy (as much amended as you -please) of the “Waterfowl on Loch Turit.” - -‘The “Wounded Hare” is a pretty good subject, but the measure or stanza -you have chosen for it is not a good one: it does not _flow_ well; and -the rhyme of the fourth line is almost lost by its distance from the -first, and the two interposed, close rhymes. If I were you I would put -it into a different stanza yet. - -‘Stanza 1.—The execrations in the first two lines are too strong or -coarse, but they may pass. “Murder-aiming” is a bad compound epithet and -not very intelligible. “Blood-stained” in Stanza III. line 4 has the -same fault: _Bleeding_ bosom is infinitely better. You have accustomed -yourself to such epithets and have no notion how stiff and quaint they -appear to others and how incongruous with poetic fancy and tender -sentiments. Suppose Pope had written “Why that bloodstained bosom gored” -how would you have liked it? _Form_ is neither a poetic nor a dignified -nor a plain common word: it is a mere sportsman’s word: unsuitable to -pathetic or serious poetry. - -“Mangled” is a coarse word. “Innocent,” in this sense, is a nursery -word; but both may pass. - -‘Stanza 4. “Who will now provide that life a mother only can bestow” -will not do at all: it is not grammar—it is not intelligible. Do you -mean “provide for that life which the mother had bestowed and used to -provide for?” There was a ridiculous slip of the pen, “Feeling” (I -suppose) for “Fellow,” in the title of your copy of the verses; but even -“fellow” would be wrong: it is but a colloquial and vulgar word, -unsuitable to your sentiments. “Shot” is improper too. On seeing a -_person_ (or a sportsman) wound a hare: it is needless to add with what -weapon; but if you think otherwise, you should say with a -_fowling-piece_. Let me see you when you come to town, and I will shew -you some more of Mrs Hunter’s poems.’ - - * * * * * - -Perhaps when Burns submitted his lines, ‘On seeing a wounded hare limp -by me, which a fellow had just shot at,’ he hoped for as kindly a -criticism as Dr Gregory had given to Clarinda’s verses, which the poet -had shown him in December 1787; but if so, he was much disappointed. ‘Dr -Gregory is a good man, but he crucifies me,’ wrote Burns soon after; and -again, ‘I believe in the iron justice of Dr Gregory; but like the devils -I believe and tremble.’ It was a curious friendship, but friendship it -was. There is an English translation of Cicero, which the physician had -given to Burns in Edinburgh in 1787, and on the fly-leaf of this is -written, ‘This book, a present from the truly worthy and learned Dr -Gregory, I shall preserve to my latest hour as a mark of the gratitude, -esteem and veneration I bear the owner—so help me God.—Robert Burns.’ -Clarinda’s desire to make Gregory’s acquaintance which is surely an -indication of how much her Sylvander admired him, finds utterance in a -letter of 1787, ‘Pray is Dr Gregory pious? I have heard so, I wish I -knew him.’ - -It was at Lord Monboddo’s that Gregory first met Burns. Besides the -queer old judge, who was made a laughing stock for saying that men -originally had tails, there was his charming daughter, the beautiful -Miss Burnet, to whom Gregory is said to have offered his heart and hand. - -One of the stories that Lord Cockburn tells of Gregory is in connection -with Miss Sophia Johnston (generally known in the Edinburgh of that day -as ‘Suphy’) one of the Hilton family; about whom, because of her curious -upbringing, there were many odd stories. ‘When Suphy’s day was visibly -approaching, Dr Gregory prescribed abstinence from animal food, and -recommended “spoon-meat” unless she wished to die. “Dee, doctor, odd, -I’m thinking they’ve forgotten an auld wife like me up yonder!” However, -when he came back next day, the doctor found her at the spoon-meat, -supping a haggis—she was remembered.’ - -Gregory lived now, as we know, in St Andrew Square, having left the old -home in the Canongate, but besides this he bought a house called Canaan -Lodge, which was then at a sufficient distance from Edinburgh to be in -the real country. Walking towards this house he might often be seen of -an evening with his all too warlike stick over his shoulder, possibly -the very stick with which he smote his brother physician Professor -Hamilton within the sacred precincts of the university. The story does -not end here, nor even at the Law Courts, where he was made to pay £100 -damages to the infuriated object of his attack, but with Gregory, who as -usual had the last word, and the last laugh in the matter, and said as -he paid his fine, that he would willingly pay double for another chance. - - ‘A’ the country, far and near, - Hae heard Macgregor’s fame, lady. - - He was a hedge about his friends, - A heckle to his foes, lady; - If any man did him gainsay, - He felt his deadly blows, lady. - -It is really a pity, but no sketch of Professor James Gregory could be -adequate without mentioning some of the more important of his -professional feuds. Take the Infirmary for example, with which he was -connected from so early a date as 1777, and where he made one of the -most sweeping and necessary reforms that have ever taken place in the -management of that institution. He early saw that it was neither for the -good of the patients, nor for the good of the students, that the -physicians and surgeons should attend the wards for only a month at a -time, and against this he set himself with all the zeal of which he was -capable. He disapproved the time-honoured privilege enjoyed by every -member of the Royal College of Physicians, and every member of the Royal -College of Surgeons, to doctor the Infirmary patients; and getting more -and more enraged with the infatuation of his medical brethren, he -presented a memorial to the managers of the Infirmary, expounding his -views, that Infirmary appointments should be made either for life, or at -least for a number of years, but unfortunately doing so in language, of -which the following paragraph is but one specimen:— - -‘Let us suppose that in consequence of this memorial, every individual -member of the College of Surgeons shall to his own share, make forty -times more noise than Orlando Furioso did at full moon when he was -maddest, and shall continue in that unparalleled state of uproar for -twenty years without ceasing. I can see no great harm in all that noise, -and no harm at all to any but those who make it. Ninety-nine parts in -the hundred of all that noise would of course be bestowed on me, whom it -would not deprive of one hour’s natural sleep, and to whom it would -afford infinite amusement and gratification while I am awake,’ etc. - -Such bitter writing was not, however, solely on one side. On another -occasion, by the consent of the Royal College of Physicians, ‘A -narrative of the conduct of Dr James Gregory towards the Royal College -of Physicians of Edinburgh’ was published, which opens with this ominous -paragraph, ‘It is with great pain, that the Royal College of Physicians, -not a numerous, but hitherto, they trust, a very respectable society, -find themselves compelled to come before the public with a narrative of -their internal dissensions. The intemperate and injurious conduct of one -of their members however has now made this a matter of necessity. Like -other collections of individuals, they have had their dissensions and -disagreements, but till very lately they were always conducted with the -temper and the language of gentlemen, and were begun and ended within -the walls of the College. Dr James Gregory has introduced a new style -and a new jurisdiction.’ - -There is not much to choose between in these samples of professional -controversy, but on the whole Gregory was usually more right in his -views, and more wrong in his expression, than the other side. In spite -of these quarrels Gregory’s practice increased steadily. In 1818 his -professional income was £2723, and in the following year £100 more, -while in the same years he derived from his professorship by way of -fees, £1364 and £1200 respectively. These figures represented a much -larger sum in 1818 than they would in 1900, and give a substantial proof -of Gregory’s popularity. - -A story told of Professor Gregory is peculiarly touching. One day when -he was giving out the tickets for his class, he had to go into another -room to fetch something. When he came back he saw a student, who was -waiting for his ticket, take some money off his table and put it into -his pocket. The Professor gave him his pass and said nothing, but just -as the lad was leaving the room, he rose up and laying his hand on his -shoulder said, ‘I saw what you did, and I am so sorry. I know how great -must have been your need before you would take money. Keep it, keep it,’ -he added, seeing that the student meant to give the stolen money back to -him, ‘but for God’s sake, never do it again.’ - -Sir Walter Scott has remembered also how Professor Gregory on one -occasion gave a very ready reply to a learned member of the Scottish -Bar. He was giving evidence about a man, who in his opinion, was insane. -On a cross-examination, the professor was obliged to admit that the -person in question played an admirable game of whist. The eminent -counsel thought he had made a point. ‘And do you seriously say, Doctor,’ -he added, ‘that a person having a superior capacity for a game so -difficult, and which requires in a pre-eminent degree, memory, judgment, -and combination, can be at the same time deranged in his understanding?’ -‘I am no card player,’ replied the doctor, ‘but I have read in history -that cards were invented for the amusement of an insane king.’ Needless -to say, he won his case! - -In 1818 Gregory had a serious carriage accident, in which his arm was -broken, and from this shock he never really recovered, though we still -see him in the midst of work. He was one of a deputation from the -University of Edinburgh to congratulate George IV. on his accession to -the throne, and while in London he received the honour of a private -audience of the king. During that visit his thoughts went back often to -his time of study in London, and to all the prosperity that had come to -him since. He had received almost every honour which his profession -could bring him. He had been President of the College of Physicians. He -was made king’s physician to George III., and his commission had been -most graciously renewed (during this visit) by George IV. Innumerable -societies had bestowed their honorary membership upon him, and many -towns had given him the privilege of their freedom, but he felt that his -days were nearly over. - -During the last year he had attacks of difficulty of breathing, which -made it impossible for him to lecture after Christmas 1820. The end came -in April. He died of hydro-thorax at the age of sixty-eight. - -Of Gregory’s eleven children only five survived him. Two of them were in -their turn to become teachers. William, afterwards Professor of -Chemistry in Aberdeen and Edinburgh, and Duncan Farquharson, the -Cambridge mathematician. - -There was not lacking one token of the love and esteem in which the -great professor was held. The voices of his rivals were hushed. His -friends mourned for him, and the town where he had been such a familiar -figure arranged a public funeral for him. He lies buried in the family -vault in the Canongate Churchyard. - -‘VIR PRISCAE VIRTUTIS, PER OMNES VITAE GRADUS ET IN OMNI VITAE OFFICIO -PROBATISSIMAE.’ - - - - - CHAPTER X - - WILLIAM GREGORY, 1803–1858 - - ‘Were it of hoot, or cold, or moyste, or drye, - And where they engendered and of what humour, - He was a verray parfit praktisour.’ - - —CHAUCER, _Prologue_ 420–422. - - -William Gregory was the last of this great academic family to hold a -chair in a Scottish University. - -He was the fourth son of Professor James Gregory, and having been -brought up among the traditions of medicine, he turned to the study of -it instinctively, though the necessity laid upon him was by no means the -same as that which had made his forefathers physicians in spite of -themselves. He had not gone far in his medical course when he decided to -be a chemist rather than a doctor. The magic of Professor Hope’s -experiments made at least one convert and as he sat in the class-room -observing the strange effects of chemicals, he made up his mind that if -it were possible he would some day take the teacher’s place. With rude -implements he would spend hours at home repeating the processes which he -had watched in the class, his mind all alive to the interest of his -subject, and his poor body much neglected. These happy hours in his -laboratory were dearly paid for by the delicacy, which began to show -itself about this time. The noxious fumes of the chemicals acted as a -slow poison, and from this stage of his life he had to struggle with ill -health, all his occupations being interrupted at times by unconquerable -pain. - -He graduated M.D. in 1828, and then went abroad to study chemistry in -the famous schools of the continent. At Giessen, the most important of -these, he had the good fortune to attract the attention of the great -teacher, whose work had made the university famous, and from this time -forward, Liebig was the friend and correspondent of William Gregory. - -During the years when Gregory was completing his studies abroad, and -teaching successively in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Dublin, King’s College, -Aberdeen, was going through considerable difficulties in connection with -the post of mediciner. In the days of John Gregory’s tenure of that -office, he had as we already know, made efforts to improve the medical -curriculum there, but without success. A step in advance was made in -1801, when it was determined that a candidate for the degree of M.D. -must ‘oblidge himself that he is not, nor will be concerned in the sale -of quack medicines of any description!’ and a further step was taken in -1817 by the authorities insisting on a satisfactory account of the -‘classical, literary and scientifical education of the candidate.’ - -Between 1824 and 1826, an attempt was made by the Chancellor and Senatus -to insist that the mediciner should teach medicine, but Dr Bannerman, -who then held that office, would only consent to consider the matter for -a year, and after that time he let it rest. In 1836, he was advised that -if he would neither teach nor appoint a substitute, a lecturer would be -chosen, and paid out of his salary. This threat, however, was never -carried out, and he died in 1838, and it was to this post of mediciner, -made vacant by his death, that William Gregory was appointed on February -19th, 1839. - -Dr William Pulteney Alison, to whom the electors of King’s College -applied for suggestions as to a suitable candidate, had curiously enough -never mentioned the name of his cousin, and it was only owing to the -intervention of Thomas Clark who held the Chair of Chemistry in -Marischal College that Gregory came to apply. After giving him minute -instructions as to the form which his application must take, he added, -‘Don’t mention me no more than the Devil.’ The name of this friend was -therefore kept out of sight, and Gregory was in due course appointed to -the vacant professorship. It was with great joy that his advent was -announced to the professors of King’s College. Their difficulties in -improving the medical course, when the very mediciner would not teach a -class, had been insuperable, but now they felt a man of influence was -coming amongst them, who would be the means of promoting the interests -of their university, and who would give the benefit of a hereditary -power of teaching to the students, whom they felt sure his great name -would attract to their midst. - -While in Aberdeen William Gregory became intensely interested in the -welfare of King’s College, and busied himself in trying to secure -revenue from the government to found new chairs, but in this he was -unsuccessful. - -He taught Materia Medica in a house fitted up for a Medical School in -Kingsland Place, and he had a good class, but from the witticisms of the -students as to the effect of their professor’s preparation of muriate of -morphia it is evident that William Gregory’s physical weakness was -growing upon him, and that it was only with the most strenuous effort -that he could get to his class at ten o’clock. - -As his power of walking failed him, the professor found much solace in -music, and sweet snatches of melody were carried across his -old-fashioned garden to the ears of passers-by. He played beautifully, -and his wife, who was a niece of Colonel Scott of Gala, added greatly to -the charms of their musical parties. It is said that they were the first -to shock the people of Aberdeen by playing secular music on Sunday. - -To the Aberdonians, however, he gave a more serious cause for -complaint—William Gregory was of a singularly childlike and trustful -disposition, and he was intensely interested in the occult science of -Spiritualism; the result was that he became the patron of a most -undesirable throng of quasi-scientific humbugs, whose presence in their -midst they resented with extreme frankness. There is a continual -atmosphere of table-turning, mesmerism and magnetic flames in the tales -extant about him, and though the narrators are tender about his memory, -they have perforce to take up the attitude of counsel for the defence. - -As a chemist, he undoubtedly came first in Scotland. He invented -processes for the more perfect preparation of hydrochloric acid, muriate -of morphia and oxyde of silver, besides making important observations on -many other chemicals. He had an accurate command of practical chemistry, -a power of condensation and clear expression, and a just perception of -the value of discoveries, which made his writings unsurpassed for the -use of students. - -In 1844 Dr William Gregory realised the dream of his youth. After a -sharp contest with Dr Lyon Playfair, he was appointed to succeed -Professor Hope in his chair in the University of Edinburgh. ‘The chair -was given to him,’ says Sir Alexander Grant, ‘under a new title, for the -Town Council now judiciously omitted “Medicine” from its province, and -elected Dr Gregory to be Professor of Chemistry.’ - -His health was much impaired, so much so, that people even went the -length of saying that he was physically unfit for his new position, and -it is at any rate true that his finest teaching was given to his -students in Aberdeen. He was an able teacher, if at times erratic and -absent-minded. His class was always kept wide awake, for with what -alarms would not the professor bring back the straying imaginations of -his audience! ‘Gentlemen,’ he would say, while with his long awkward -fingers he lifted up the tube of some chemical before them, ‘If this -were to fall, not one of you could reach the door alive;’ and then, -considering the matter over, he would place the tube carelessly upon the -edge of a plate, while the students near the doorway filtered through -it, and the others, hat in hand, awaited the longed-for close of the -lecture, feeling a fresh tremor with every approach of Gregory’s loose -fingers to the fatal vial. - -Good as his teaching was, the books which he wrote while in Edinburgh -were his most valuable contribution to the Science of Chemistry. In the -preface to the _Outlines of Chemistry_, which was published in 1845, he -sketched the divisions which he intended to make in his subject for the -fuller elucidation of the facts, and, had his health permitted him to -carry out his plan, ‘the instruction from his class would probably have -been more complete than from any other scientific chair in Europe.’ At -the request of Liebig, he translated several of his more important books -into English, and in the preface to the _Familiar Letters on Chemistry_, -Liebig writes, ‘From his intimate familiarity with chemical science, and -especially with the physiological subjects here treated, I am confident -that the task could not have been entrusted to better hands than those -of my friend Dr Gregory.’ Their friendship lasted throughout life, and -only a few days before Professor Gregory’s death, he was propped up in -his bed to write a pamphlet supporting some new theories of Liebig, -which the German had just communicated to him. - -Gregory’s appearance was most noticeable. He was of great proportions, -obese, slouching and loosely hung together. In later years his body was -a great burden to him, but the mind kept the mastery. - -He was, like his father, a keen student of language, and would wile away -many of the weary hours of forced inaction by the study of foreign -tongues. French and German were to him as familiar as English. With a -microscope, too, he did beautiful work, and was in his day, the greatest -authority on the Diatomaceae. The slides which he made of these -microscopic water-plants with their sculptured valves, were another -resource of his declining years. He presented valuable memoirs on this -subject to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, of which he was a member. - -Professor William Gregory died in Edinburgh in April 1858, and was -honoured with a public funeral. - -He was succeeded in the university by Dr Lyon Playfair (afterwards Lord -Playfair) who had contested the chair unsuccessfully at the time of -Gregory’s appointment. - -William Gregory was survived by an only son, who was called after his -father’s far-famed friend, James Liebig Gregory. - -Duncan Farquharson Gregory was considerably younger than his brother the -Professor of Chemistry, and was not at all like him in personal -appearance. His face was a beautiful one, fine, pale, bearing on it -already in this life some of the light and joyousness that often mark -out for especial love those who are to pass quickly from this earth. His -hair, which was thick and curling, fell more about his brow than is -usual, and his eyes like dark lamps illuminated his features. - -When he was hardly more than a baby, his father used fondly to predict -distinction for him. ‘He had pleasure in conversing with him as with an -equal on subjects of History and Geography,’ so Mr Ellis wrote, and this -when the boy was not more than six, for his father died before he had -left the nursery. He was a great inventor of games for himself, and made -an orrery with his busy little hands, on which he would send the planets -spinning round in their orbits. - -Till he was nine years old he was taught entirely by his mother, who was -quite as attractive to her children as she had ever been in society, and -for whom Duncan had always a peculiar reverence and affection. He passed -out of her hands into the care of a tutor, and then was sent to the -Edinburgh Academy. From school he went abroad to Geneva, where his -mother and sisters were spending a winter, and on his return he attended -classes at the University of Edinburgh. In mathematics he made -astonishing strides, under Professor Wallace, and those who saw the -master and pupil together in Cambridge in after days, said that the old -man’s pride in his pupil’s success never diminished. - -In 1833 Mr Gregory’s name was entered at Trinity College, Cambridge, and -shortly afterwards he went to reside there. He took with him a most -unusual amount of knowledge on almost all scientific subjects, in fact -many men said that it was the diffuseness of his learning that prevented -him from taking the first place in the mathematical honours in that -university; for when the tripos came he was only fifth wrangler. - -A few months after his arrival in Cambridge he agreed to act as -assistant to the Professor of Chemistry, and he was one of the founders -of the Chemical Society, and occasionally gave very charming lectures in -their rooms. His other pursuits were botany, natural philosophy, and -astronomy, but his most serious study was of course mathematics. - -After taking his degree of B.A. in 1837, he felt himself more at liberty -to follow original speculation, and turned his attention to the general -theory of the combination of symbols. His studies in this subject -appeared from time to time in the _Cambridge Mathematical Journal_, of -which Duncan Farquharson Gregory was editor, with only an interval of a -few months, from its first appearance till shortly before his death. - -Mr Gregory was in 1840 elected a Fellow of Trinity College, and he took -his M.A. degree in the following year. In that year, too, he was -appointed to fill the office of moderator in the Mathematical Tripos. -This position, which is regarded as one of the most honourable of those -to which the younger members of the university may aspire, was filled by -him with great success. - -His most considerable book (though possibly less well known than his -lucid work on solid geometry), appeared about this time. It is entitled -_Collection of Examples of the Processes of the Differential and -Integral Calculus_, and was thoughtful and original. At first his plan -had been to edit a second edition of a work with a similar title, which -twenty-five years before had come from the pens of Herschel, Peacocke, -and Babbage, but as he considered this, he discovered what immense -strides had been made in the general aspect of mathematics. The -mathematical theories of heat, light, electricity, and magnetism were -all new, and they required a fresh treatment. Thus he undertook the book -which brought him so much honour. - -Gregory had an absolute passion for mathematics. ‘All these things seem -to me,’ he said once, while turning over the pages of Fourier’s great -work on heat, ‘to be a kind of mathematical paradise,’ and the enjoyment -comes out all through his book. - -He contested unsuccessfully with Professor Kelland the Chair of -Mathematics in the University of Edinburgh, and in 1841 was offered the -corresponding chair in Toronto, which, however, he declined; and it was -well that he did so, for in the following year he had the first attack -of the illness which was to end fatally for him. In the spring he left -Cambridge never to return again. - -Up to the last he had taken part in his college work, and in spite of -severe suffering had gone through the irksome labour of examinations. -Months of all but constant pain followed, brightened only by short -intervals of ease. Whenever these occurred he turned to his old studies -for refreshment, and only a little while before his death he began a -paper on the analogy between differential equations and those in finite -differences. - -As the weeks passed, the watchful eyes of his sister could see the -gradual failing of his strength, and at five o’clock on the morning of -February 23rd, 1844, he passed away in his sleep. He died at Canaan -Lodge. - -His sister, Miss Georgina Gregory, made a collection of the poems -written by her brothers. Some of Mr Duncan Gregory’s verses would have -made delightful children’s poetry. One time when they had gone to the -English lakes together for change of air, they, as is not an entirely -unknown experience in that part of the world, had to spend most of their -time in the inn, and as a last resource fell to writing doggerel. - - ‘The fields are one extensive bog, - The roads are just as bad; - I wish I were a little frog, - Then rain would make me glad. - - But I am of the human race, - Which ever since the flood - Prefers a firm, dry resting-place - To wading in the mud. - - But yet at last a little gleam - Of sunshine did appear, - And did most treacherously seem - As if the sky would clear. - - And trusting to its specious face - To walk Georgina tried, - But soon returned in piteous case - To have her garments dried.’ - -He was a delightful brother and a delightful friend. What he might have -done as a mathematician had he but lived it is impossible to tell. As it -is, a writer who has discussed the hereditary qualities of the family, -speaks of the mathematical genius, which had lain dormant since the time -of James Gregorie as ‘blazing forth’ again in Duncan Farquharson -Gregory, and if this writer passes over such talents as those of David -Gregory, the Savilian Professor at Oxford, he must have held the Fellow -of Trinity in great honour. Another authority on the family, said that -if Duncan Gregory were alive, which he might quite well be as far as -dates are concerned, he would probably have been the most famous pure -mathematician of the day. And a still greater testimony is that of Lord -Kelvin, given at the Bristol meeting of the British Association in 1898, -where in a paper on ‘Graphic Representations of the two Simplest Cases -of a Single Wave,’ he referred to Gregory’s work on this subject. -‘Gregory,’ he said, ‘died too soon,’ and as he turned from the -black-board on which he had been drawing some diagrams, he added, ‘we -cannot tell what we might have known if Gregory had lived.’ His talent -was appreciated when he lived, but the qualities to which his friends -reverted with most tenderness were his unenvious appreciation of other -men’s work, his sweetness and joyfulness, and the patience with which he -bore his last long illness. - - - - - CHAPTER XI - - RETROSPECT - - ‘Whatever he had in himself, he would fain have made out a - hereditary claim for.’—LOCKHART, _Life of Scott_, ch. lxxxiv. - - -When Pennant on his famous tour through Scotland, came to the dreary -moorland below Craigroyston, he was filled with special interest by the -scene. Here, he was told, was the cradle of the M’Gregors, a clan so -devoid of kindness, that they had been hunted down like wild beasts, -their name suppressed and their remnant dispersed like Jews over the -country. ‘And even now,’ he added, ‘their posterity are still said to be -distinguished among the clans in which they have incorporated -themselves, not only by the redness of their hair, but by their still -retaining the mischievous disposition of their ancestors.’ What then, -would Pennant have said, could he have known that from one descendant of -a MacGregor would arise a family, thirteen of whom would be mentioned in -the Encyclopædias of 1900? After all it should be remembered that even -Rob Roy’s literary tastes have never been sufficiently appreciated, for -his name is found in the original list of the subscribers to Keith’s -_History of the Affairs of Church and State in Scotland_, published in -1734! - -The Gregories, then, were inclined to an academic life. Their portraits -appear oddly and unexpectedly in the public buildings of this country, -their names equally unexpectedly in many books; but their teaching which -was the greatest gift they had to offer to their fellowmen can of course -no longer be adequately appreciated. The very greatness of a teacher, -which leads him to speak directly to the body of men before him with the -needs, the ignorance, the prejudices, and the fancies of their age, -makes his teaching unintelligible to any time but his own, to a -preceding age, if it were possible, darkness, to a succeeding, -platitude. - -Going back to the beginning, how many times should we wish to thank one -or other of the Gregories for their hard hitting at the shams and -insincerities of their day! The Rev. John Gregorie, the founder of the -family, began by withstanding Cant in the body, and overlooking the -upturned sand-glass which that divine had set for him, taught his own -views even though they were not accepted by his self-complacent opponent -as the ‘orthodox doctrein.’ He after all, uninteresting as he perhaps -appeared to be, is still the forerunner of the family greatness, and -that not only as their first father, but because he showed an example of -independence in opinion to his own children and to theirs—when the time -should come that their grandfather’s history would be told them by the -fire of a winter’s night. - -One of his sons, David of Kinairdy, possessed the first barometer in -Scotland, an innovation for which he nearly paid with his life. Another, -Professor James Gregorie (the first), because he too rapidly realised -the greatness of Newton’s philosophy, and taught it, came under the ban -of his fellow-professors at St Andrews, and was glad when the -opportunity presented itself to receive the approbation of a sister -university, more ready for his teaching. He, too, invented the first -reflecting telescope, through which things are seen as they appear to -one’s eyes, and not upside down as had been the case with earlier -telescopes. This also in its way was a parable of what the Gregories -were to do in the world of science in making things as plain as -possible, so that the wayfaring men though fools, might not err therein. -David the son and David the grandson both did most of their work at -Oxford, the first teaching mathematics, and endeavouring to bring -Newton’s _Principia_ down to the level of ordinary mathematicians, while -the second, who was Professor of Modern History and Modern Languages, -having been much abroad, arranged to have the assistance of foreign -teachers, whom he supported, not only with his influence, but with his -purse. There were other mathematicians descended from David of Kinairdy, -who, it may be remembered, had three sons professors of mathematics at -one time, and of this branch of the family also were Alexander Innes and -Thomas Reid, both professors of philosophy. - -Reverting to the descendants of Professor James Gregorie—the son, -grandsons, great-grandson, and great-great-grandsons, were founders or -builders, all of them of medical education in Scotland, each doing his -own part for the cause of medicine. James the son, called the third -professor of that name (for one of his mathematical cousins was the -second), was recognised and honoured as ‘the founder’ of the Medical -School at Aberdeen, though the foundations indeed must lie very deep, -for by no amount of digging can traces of them be discovered. Professor -John the grandson (his half-brother, Professor James the fourth, was -inconsiderable), the fellow-worker with Cullen, accepted and taught that -great doctor’s views, and with his charming good-sense eradicated many -of the more prejudicial items of children’s upbringing. The -great-grandson, Professor James (the fifth), more than took his father’s -place as a teacher, and setting the medical world of Edinburgh at -defiance, made one of the most sweeping reforms that has ever taken -place in the history of clinical teaching in that university. He was -also one of the great leaders in the volunteer movement. The -great-great-grandsons, Professor William Gregory and Professor William -Pulteney Alison, were professors both of them in the Medical Faculty of -the Edinburgh University, and taught their subjects in the lucid and -original way, which was the gift of the whole family. Duncan Farquharson -Gregory was the only one of the descendants of James Gregorie, the great -contemporary of Newton, who followed in his footsteps as a -mathematician. He died in his thirtieth year, but left behind him a -brilliant record of his life’s work, which is only sad because it was so -short. - -These Gregories, though they did not care for popularity, or possibly -because they did not care for popularity, and never went out of their -way to attain it, usually ended by being on the winning side—that is to -say, public opinion often changed from being against them to being with -them. They had such a gift of laughing at the right time, of passing -over the bitterness of their adversaries, and even exposing the -partisanship of their allies. Take the story which Sir Archibald Alison -gives us in his autobiography, of how a mathematical examination was -once rearranged for his benefit in the University of Edinburgh. It was -in the time of Professor Leslie, in the spring of 1808, that this -examination in the class of mathematics took place. Archibald Alison had -three very able competitors. These were Borthwick of Crookston, J. -M’Pherson Macleod, and Mr Edward Irving. Young Alison, nervous and -excitable in face of the examination paper, became suddenly destitute of -ideas, and could only solve two of the six problems which were set. It -was all the more distressing, because he knew that, being by his mother -a member of the great mathematical family of Gregories, he was expected -to come out first. The wretched day came to an end at last, and the boy -went home in the evening literally shedding tears of vexation. -Immediately he was freed from the anxiety of the lecture-room, he solved -the problems rapidly and clearly, in a way that annoyed and pleased him -almost equally. The professor, it seems, when he read the papers, could -not give the first prize to Alison on the strength of his answers. He -therefore decided that the work of that day should not hold, and -appointed a second date for the trial. The next time the result was all -that he and Archibald Alison could have desired! This little episode -entertained Sir Archibald immensely, and is a curious indication of the -lengths to which their friends were prepared to go for them, but while -in many families, influence, however acceptable it may be to themselves, -is anything but a good to the community, the influence exerted for the -Gregories was always rewarded by the sensible, thorough, and often -brilliant way in which they carried on their work. - -The members of the family, who took up the study of medicine were great -healers, but how large was their idea of what that word meant! To cure -the body or to fail in curing it was one thing, but to get at the -reasons of illness in the circumstances and troubles of the patient, to -take away the effect through taking away the cause, was ever the -Gregories’ way. They understood many an unspoken heart history, and from -their own strong natures gave both strength and comfort to the sick. It -is no wonder then to see Burns clinging to the friendship of his great -physician for support and for love, knowing it was to be found in ‘that -man of iron justice, who was made without compassion for a poor poetic -sinner.’ Nor it must in truth be added, was Dr Gregory any less severe -with unpoetic sinners. For there is a case recorded when a great -aldermanic magnate came to consult him from the west country, expecting -his case to be considered as one of grave importance and significance. -What was then his surprise, when he was shortly but critically surveyed -by the doctor, and shown out of the consulting room with directions -equivalent to this: ‘Have nothing richer than roast mutton and rice -pudding for dinner for the next three months, and then if you care to -let me have the pleasure of seeing you again, you will be a different -man’—a transformation which the doctor evidently thought very desirable! - -One can see that life could never be smooth to such a man. But at least -the Gregories in all the struggles of life, in the riots of tongues, -were ever sure of love and quiet by their own fireside. That came to -them because they were such great lovers, just as the difficulties -outside came from the same strong natures seeking their own way too -much. It has to be remembered in connection with this that they were -usually right, but that does not make the contest any less bitter. If -one could only think of them as having had peaceful lives, as Thomas -Reid at least had, but it was always a struggle, if not a battle with -them till the pale conqueror came to still the hubbub for ever. - -They were great men, no mere dreamers. They were workers with busy -minds, to whom life was ever too short for the fulfilment of their -plans, but death never came to them before they had earned their rest. - -All the great universities of this country who received the teaching of -the Gregories, have felt themselves honoured by their service, and have -adorned their annals with their name. - - - THE END. - - - - - INDEX - - - ABERDEEN, University of, 52, 92. - - ABERDEEN, Grammar School of, 27, 52, 92, 100, 125. - - ALISON, Sir Archibald, 155, 156. - - ALISON, William Pulteney, 122, 124, 143, 155. - - ANDERSON, David, of Finzeach, 10. - - ANDERSON, Janet, 10, 26. - - ARBUTHNOT, Dr, 68, 72, 73, 74. - - - BEATTIE, 109, 119–21. - - BURNET, Bishop, 27, 65. - - BURNET, Helen, of Elrick, 99. - - BURNET, Mary, 32. - - BURNS, 129, 133, 134, 135, 157. - - - CANAAN LODGE, 136, 150. - - CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY, 70. - - CANT, Andrew, 12, 13, 153. - - CARLYLE, Alexander, 103, 104, 116. - - CHALMERS, Principal, 98, 100. - - CHARLETT, Dr, 64, 65, 71. - - CRICHTONS, The, 13–18. - - CHRISTCHURCH, 78, 82, 83, 126. - - CHRISTISON, Sir Robert, 128, 130. - - CLERK of Penicuik, quoted, 71. - - COCKBURN, Lord, 128, 132. - - COLLEGE, Royal, of Physicians, 137. - - COLLINS, John, 28, 29, 31. - - CULLEN, 101, 111, 113, 114, 115, 122, 126, 127, 130. - - - DRUMOAK, 10, 11, 14. - - - EDINBURGH ACADEMY, 147. - - EDINBURGH, University of, 49–53, 55–58, 84, 85, 86, 92, 100, 113, 114, - 115, 126, 127, 128, 130, 139, 145, 147, 149. - - - FLAMSTEED, 59, 68, 69. - - FLANDERS, 93. - - FORBES, Catherine of Monymusk, 98. - - FORBES, Hon. Elizabeth, 107, 111, 117. - - FRENDRAUGHT, Viscount, 15, 16, 18. - - - GALILEO, 29, 30. - - GALTON, 10. - - GEORGE, Prince, of Denmark, 68, 69. - - GORDON, Isabel, 23, 25. - - GREGORIE, Alexander, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20. - - GREGORIE, Charles, 89. - - GREGORIE, David, of Kinairdy, 19–25, 153. - - GREGORIE, David, 89–91. - - GREGORY, David, Sav. Prof., 52–76, 77, 154. - - GREGORY, Dean, 77–83, 154. - - GREGORY, Dorothea, 115, 122, 123, 124. - - GREGORY, Duncan Farquharson, 147–151, 155. - - GREGORIE, Prof. James, I., 27–51, 53, 153. - - GREGORIE, Prof. James, II., 84–87. - - GREGORIE, Prof. James, III., 93–99, 154. - - GREGORIE, Prof. James, IV., 98, 99. - - GREGORY, Prof. James, V., 82, 122, 125–140, 155. - - GREGORIE, John, Rev., 11–14, 153. - - GREGORY, Prof. John, 100–124, 125, 154. - - GREGORY, Philip Spencer, 22, 124, 127. - - GREGORY, Prof. William, 141–147, 155. - - GREY, Lady Mary, 81. - - - HALLEY, 60, 64, 65. - - HAMILTON, Professor, 136, 137. - - HEARNE, quoted, 63, 65. - - HOLLAND, 19, 24. - - HUDSON, 64, 65. - - HUME, David, 109, 116, 119, 120. - - HUYGENS, 29, 34, 35, 50. - - - INFIRMARY, Royal, of Edinburgh, 136, 137. - - INNES, Prof., 23. - - - JAMESON, George, 33. - - JOHNSON, Samuel, 69, 108. - - - KEILL, 62. - - KELVIN, Lord, quoted, 151. - - KINAIRDY, 13, 14, 20, 21, 22, 24, 84. - - KING’S COLLEGE, Aberdeen, 20, 24, 96, 97, 98, 100, 105, 108, 109, 112, - 126, 142, 143. - - - LEYDEN, 102, 103, 104, 127. - - LIEBIG, 142, 146. - - LYTTELTON, George, 107. - - LYTTELTON, Lord, 112. - - - MACGREGORS, The, 9, 152. - - MACGREGOR of Roro, 9, 89. - - MACKENZIE, George, 18. - - MACLAURIN, Colin, 76, 86. - - M’LEOD, Isabella, of Geanies, 132. - - MALLET, David, 87, 89. - - MARISCHAL COLLEGE, Aberdeen, 27, 86. - - MONBODDO, 112, 135. - - MONRO, Professor, Primus, 100, 101. - - MONRO, Principal, 58. - - MONTAGUE, Mrs, 107, 108, 115, 116, 123. - - - NEWTON, Sir Isaac, 23, 29, 34, 50, 54, 59, 60, 64, 68, 70, 86. - - - OLIPHANTS of Langton, 61, 87. - - OXFORD, University of, 58, 61, 63–67, 78, 79, 80. - - - PADUA, 30, 32. - - PENNANT, quoted, 152. - - PEPYS, Samuel, 65, 66, 67. - - PITCAIRNE, Dr Archibald, 53, 58, 70, 84. - - - REGENTS, 105, 106. - - REID, Prof. Thomas, 23, 25, 90, 91, 106, 109, 119, 130, 131, 132. - - RHEIMS, 93. - - ROBERTSON, Principal, 102, 116, 132. - - ROB ROY, 94, 95. - - ROYAL SOCIETY, 31, 32, 60, 61, 68, 107. - - RUTHERFORD, Professor, 101, 111, 112, 113. - - - SCOTT, Sir Walter, quoted, 95, 100, 139. - - SHELBURNE, Earl of, quoted, 79, 83. - - SHERBORNE HOSPITAL, 80, 81. - - SINCLAIR, Prof. George, 35, 36, 42. - - SKENE, Alexander, 47. - - SKENE, David, 108, 109. - - SKENE, Robert, 52. - - SMALRIDGE, Dr, 64, 75, 76. - - SOCIETY, Royal Medical, 101. - - SPALDING, quoted, 12. - - ST ANDREWS UNIVERSITY, 33, 44–49, 84, 85, 89. - - STEWART, Dugald, 130, 132. - - - TELESCOPE, Achromatic, 62. - - TELESCOPE, Reflecting, 28, 29, 31. - - TRINITY COLLEGE, Cambridge, 148. - - - UNION NEGOTIATIONS, 70–73. - - - WALKER, Jean, of Orchiston, 19, 23, 52. - - WALLIS, Dr, 31, 64, 67. - - WESTMINSTER SCHOOL, 77, 78, 83. - - WHISTON, quoted, 54, 60. - - WILKES, 103. - - WILLIAM AND MARGARET, 87, 88, 89. - - WISE CLUB, 109, 110. - - WITCHCRAFT, 21. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - FAMOUS SCOTS SERIES - - - THOMAS CARLYLE. By HECTOR C. MACPHERSON. - - ALLAN RAMSAY. By OLIPHANT SMEATON. - - HUGH MILLER. By W. KEITH LEASK. - - JOHN KNOX. By A. TAYLOR INNES. - - ROBERT BURNS. By GABRIEL SETOUN. - - THE BALLADISTS. By JOHN GEDDIE. - - RICHARD CAMERON. By Professor HERKLESS. - - SIR JAMES Y. SIMPSON. By EVE BLANTYRE SIMPSON. - - THOMAS CHALMERS. By Professor W. GARDEN BLAIKIE. - - JAMES BOSWELL. By W. KEITH LEASK. - - TOBIAS SMOLLETT. By OLIPHANT SMEATON. - - FLETCHER OF SALTOUN. By G. W. T. OMOND. - - THE “BLACKWOOD” GROUP. By Sir GEORGE DOUGLAS. - - NORMAN MACLEOD. By JOHN WELLWOOD. - - SIR WALTER SCOTT. By Professor SAINTSBURY. - - KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE. By LOUIS A. BARBÉ. - - ROBERT FERGUSSON. By A. B. GROSART. - - JAMES THOMSON. By WILLIAM BAYNE. - - MUNGO PARK. By T. BANKS MACLACHLAN. - - DAVID HUME. By Professor CALDERWOOD. - - WILLIAM DUNBAR. By OLIPHANT SMEATON. - - SIR WILLIAM WALLACE. By Professor MURISON. - - ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. By MARGARET MOYES BLACK. - - THOMAS REID. By Professor CAMPBELL FRASER. - - POLLOK AND AYTOUN. By ROSALINE MASSON. - - ADAM SMITH. By HECTOR C. MACPHERSON. - - ANDREW MELVILLE. By WILLIAM MORISON. - - JAMES FREDERICK FERRIER. By E. S. HALDANE. - - KING ROBERT THE BRUCE. By A. F. MURISON. - - JAMES HOGG. By Sir GEORGE DOUGLAS. - - THOMAS CAMPBELL. By J. CUTHBERT HADDEN. - - GEORGE BUCHANAN. By ROBERT WALLACE. - - SIR DAVID WILKIE. By EDWARD PINNINGTON. - - THE ERSKINES, EBENEZER AND RALPH. By A. R. MACEWEN. - - THOMAS GUTHRIE. By OLIPHANT SMEATON. - - DAVID LIVINGSTONE. By T. BANKS MACLACHLAN. - - THE ACADEMIC GREGORIES. By AGNES GRAINGER STEWART. - - JOHNSTON OF WARRISTON. By WILLIAM MORISON. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES - - - 1. Letters were inconsistently offset with one or two thought breaks. - Set thought breaks at both ends except where letters began or - ended in a paragraph. - 2. Moved FAMOUS SCOTS SERIES ad from the second page to end. - 3. Silently corrected typographical errors. - 4. Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed. - 5. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_. - 6. 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