Pr es en tedto the

UNIV ERSITY OF TORONTO

LIBRARY

ONTARIO LEGISLATIV E

LIBRARY

F A M OU S S C OT S S E R I E S

T O AS A . E CTOR . ACPH E R H M C RLYLE By H C M SON . C A AN A A PH A T M T LL R MS Y. By OLI N S E A ON . E w Kam a E A HUGH MILL R: By . L S K . . ‘ JOHN . KN O! . By A. TAYLOR INNE s . O R BERT BURNS . By GABR IE L S E T OUN. T A A T H E HE B LL DIS S . By JO N G DD IE . A N f RICH RD CAMERO . By Pr o es s o r H E R KL E SS .

S IR A S S S ON . E V E A T R M J ME Y. IMP By BL N Y E S I PSON.

T O AS A S . r o fe s s or . AR D E BL AI KI H M CH LMER By P W G N E .

A S S . E TH E . J ME BO WELL By W . K I L AS K O PH A E TOBIAS S MOLLETT. By LI NT S M ATON .

T F S A TO N . G . T M / FLE CHER O L U By W . . O ONO . ! ” A OO O . S ir E R BL CKW D GR UP By G O GE DOUGLAS .

- N O AN A H E RM M CLEOD . By JO N W LLWOOD .

S IR A T S OTT. r o fes s or S A TS U W L ER C By P IN B RY. A OF AN OU S A KIRKC LDY GR GE. By L I . BAR BE. O T S S N A R R BER FERGU O . By . B . G OSART .

A S T S N . AM A E J ME HOM O By WILLI B YN . N A T A S A A H MU GO P RK . By . B NK M CL C LAN .

A . r o fes s or A D E R D D VID HUME By P C L WOO .

-W A N BAR O PH A T S ME ATO ILLI M DU . By LI N N .

S I R A A A . r o fe s s o r UR WILLI M W LL CE By P M ISON.

O T O S S T E NS ON . AR GAR E T E S R BER L UI EV By M MOY BLACK.

‘ T AS . r o fe s s o r AMP E R AS E R HOM REID By P C B LL F . P L K AND AYT OS A E ASS f OL O OU N. By R LIN M ON.

A A S T . E CTOR . ACPH E R SO D M MI H By H C M N. N AM OR SO A DREW MELVILLE . By WILLI M I N. A S E S A D J ME FR DERICK FERRIER. By E. . H L ANE .

N T T A. UR S KI G ROBER HE BRUCE . By F . M I ON .

JAM S OGG. Sir GE OR GE OUG AS . ! E H By D L

T O AS A . . UTH E R T ADDE . r H M C MPBELL By J C B H N ANAN O E R T A ACE GEORGE BUCH . By R B W LL . IR A D ARD PINNIN T N S D VID WILKIE. By E W G O . T E RS N S N Z AND A A / HE KI E , EBE E ER R LPH. By . R. A M CEWE N. z T H MAS T O PH A T S ME ATO . O GU HRIE. By LI N N

A N STON . T. A S AC ACH A . I D VID LIVI G E By B NK M L L N T A A E S A E S R A GE R S TE R T HE C D MIC GREGORIE . By GN G IN WA .

’ ‘ NST N OF WAR R IS N AM OR O JOH O I O . By WILLI M IS N.

! Opo

T h e de s ign s o r n am en t s this

Mr o s e B r o n vo lum e ar e by J ph w , an dt h e pr in tin g is fr o m th e pr es s o f

es s r s ur n u S e r s n ur . M T b ll p a , Edi b gh

Apr il I go r P R E F A C E

’ As far back as I can remem ber there hung in my father s

z z m study two prints, the one a me otint of Professor Ja es r an d Grego y, the other, inferior as a picture, but most an Of beautiful in its subject, engraving William Pulteney

Alison . In answer to nursery enquiries as to the stories belong ing 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 childr en was that they had both been professors of the Practice of Physic in University, and s 6 PR EFACE the little boy who had so nearly died now lectured in f the place O 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 OldScottish family

Of i . Gregory, two of them at least were fam liar as friends In the preparation of my book I have received much kindness, and I should especially like to thank Mr Philip ’ -at - Spencer Gregory, of Lincoln s Inn , Barrister Law, late ’ fo r Fellow of King s College, Cambridge, the help which

m he as a representative of the fa ily 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

fo r Fraser personal introduction to sources of information,

S avilian Of to Mr Turner, Professor 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 .

E R A E R AGN S G ING S TE WAR T. C O N T E N T S

PAGE CHAPTER I T H E G R E G OR I E S

CHAPTER II

A D R E G OR E OF K I NAI R DY 1 62 - 1 20 D VI G I , 5 7

CHAPTE R III

AM E S R E GOR E 1 6 8- 1 6 J G I , 3 75

CHAPTE R IV

A D R E GOR 1 66 1 - 1 08 D VI G Y, 7

CH APTER V

A D R E G OR 1 6 6- 1 6 D VI G Y , 9 7 7

CH APTE R VI

1 AM E S R E GOR E 1 666 - 1 2 2 HAR E S R E GOR E ( ) J G I , 74 ( ) C L G I ,

1 1 - 1 A D R E GOR E 1 2 - 68 7 39 ; ( 3) D VI G I , 7 1 1 7 65 CHAPTER VII

AM E S R E GOR E 1 6 - 1 2 AM E S R E GOR E ( I ) J G I , 74 733 ; ( ) J G I , 1 70 1 - 1 75 5 CHAPTER VIII

OH R E GOR Y 1 2 - 1 J N G , 7 4 77 3

CHAPTER I!

M E S R E GOR 1 - 1 82 1 J A G Y, 7 53

CHAPTER !

AM R E GOR 1 80 - 1 8 8 WILLI G Y, 3 5

CHAPTER ! I R E TR OS PE CT

T H E ACAD E MIC G R E GOR I E S

CHAPTER I

T H E G R E G O R I E S

' ’ T h m o on s o n th e e an dth e m s s on th e r e e lak , i t b a , h n h n m e a i n m e An dt e cla as a a th t s a el s s by day . en e e e Gr i alach Th gath r, gath r, gath r g ’ TI M c utli — T n a g r egor s O n in g S COT .

T HE able Scots family Of Gregorie can trace its descent

o f R O1 0 Of from the Macgregors , the younger branch the

— Glenlyon family . The name Gregorie, which is the ‘ M Gr e o r — Saxon form of g had, most fortunately for its

1 6 0 m owners, been assumed before 3 , the darkest ti e in the annals of that clan . The proscription which then ‘ fell upon everyone bearing the name Of M Gr e go r 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 Of exception of the Dean Christ Church , were at heart ‘ M Gr e o r s . g Nothing that civilisation, education , wealth and society could do to modify their disposition was able entirely to obliterate in them the warlike character

er . of their Highland forefath s We remember this , and when in the nineteenth century we see a learned professor 9 1 o FAMOUS SCOTS 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 Gr ego r . 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

u n mber of great and brilliant men belonging to it, who have, in their day, formed and educated generations of the youth of Scotland . From the m iddle of the seven t ee n t h Of th e century to the middle nineteenth century, Of with a gap of only a few years, some the Gregorie con n ectio n 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

’ ’ ‘ H ér eaz z ar Gen ius y , 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

D r um o ak 1 6 2 1 Gregorie, parish minister of in the year . 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 s ability came from the Andersons, who were distingui hed in the foregoing generations . Janet Anderson was the daughter Of David Anderson of

Fin z each e Of , in Aberd enshire a man who was possessed such uni versal talent that he was pop ularly called Davie ’ ’ do a thing. Two o f his deeds come down to posterity the one, the building of St Nicholas steeple in , THE ACADEMIC GR EGOR I ES 1 1 upon which he‘ himself is said to have placed the weather

C ock ; 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 f low tide , and astening 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 kins m an was the Professor o f

Sh e f Mathematics in the University of Paris, and hersel was a great mathematician and is said to have taught her f sons . If that was the case , one at least O her pupils did her great credit, for her younger son, James, lived to take a foremost place among the mathematicians of his day, o f and to be the inventor the Gregorian Telescope .

1 6 2 1 In , when the Rev . John Gregorie married Janet

Dr um o ak Anderson , he was the minister of , a remote

D e c W parish on the , here in peaceful times he might have fulfilled his quiet duties with little to disturb him . To o f f wards the end the first hal of the seventeenth century . f however, Scotland was in a erment, 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 sym pathy 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

1 6 therefore in 3 9 , the government sent an army to coerce refractory Aberdeenshire, he knew that he would receive no

k n toleration and fled , meaning to join the i g at Newcastle . S e was The hip in which he tried to escap boarded , and the fugitives were made to return , and in the following year 1 a FAMOUS SCOTS

’ 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

f D r u the minister O m o ak . Spalding tells us the pitiful story. ‘ U o n e un I p the second day of J J, Mr Johne Gregorie, m D alm oak inister at , wes brocht in to Munro be ane pair tie Of s oldio ur is . He wes takin out of his n aikit bed

u o n e b itifulli lun er i . p the nicht, and his ous p e p d t He wes clois lie keepit in Skipper An de r s o n is hon s h avein g f ve m u s kit er is h im s us t e n it y watching day and nicht, u o n e e x e n s is . w w fe p his awin p None, no nocht his a in y

r ivie s t r aitlie could have p conference of him , so wes he i f i watch t . At last he is yn t to pay generall Major Munro I o o o m er kis for his outstanding agains the covenant and

A m b i syne gat liber tie to go . Bot in the Generall s s e l e b u de r ivit oldin in J ly, he wes nevertheless simpliciter p , be caus he wold not s ubs cr yve the covenant ; and when

we s f s ubs cr ve all done he is orst to yield, cum in and y , as ’ h ie r af r ye have t e .

1 6 1 Of It was not till 4 that, at St Andrews, the Laird ’ 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 h man, w ose qualities have been embalmed in his name, very nearly cost him the favour of the party to which he ’ i now belonged . Here again is Spalding s account, na ve and full of the spirit of the time . ‘ th o n e T u s da 6 Up y y September, Mr Johne Gregorie, minister at D ulm oak at the vis it at io un of the Kirk of New 'h Abir de n e t e ich it most ler n idlie upon e the 4 ver s s of the T H E ACADEMIC GREGORIES 1 3

ch a dour Collo s ian s r e r e h en dit p to the , and p the order n of our Kirk and new brocht in po y t es . Mr Andrew

bes de o ffen dit Cant, sitting y the reidar, as his use was, at

o ct r e in uicklie clo is s it r e idar is this d , q the buke, and laid

befo ir down the glass it wes run, thinking the minister s ould the sooner mak an end 3 bot he beheld and t m pr eich it half ane hour longer nor the y e . Sermon it br eth e r en co n ve n is vis it atio un e n d the to their , qubair im u n it do ct r e in des r in Mr Andrew Cant p g this , y g the said

w r e it an s wer it Mr Johne to put the samen in , who , he

w r e it r e ich in SO wold not only bot print his p g, if neid r uir it t e ich it eq , and baid be all what he had as orthodox br e th er e n wn do ctr ien . The hard all and had their o e o in ioun s but dis olvit p , and ony more censure they , sum

er t ur bit cur io s itie . U o n e T h uir s da what p with Cantis p y, he r aillit out in his sermon agan e s the said Mr Johne ’ do ctr e in likwais Gregorie s , and on Sunday . At last, be ’ iatio un balleis m e d of the toune s at a coup of wyne, they ’ l cr e de t i twa war s at edwith small to Cantis bus s n e s . Though Gregorie was not censured by the whole body

f 1 6 2 o the clergy in 4 , as there seems little doubt Mr Cant had intended, he was not absolutely free from anxiety.

O fo r N doubt life went smoothly enough with him at times, f he amassed quite a large ortune . The estates of Kin air dy and Netherdale were given to h im on the insolvency of the Crichtons in satisfaction of which he had lent to them and his wife on her part had succeeded on ’ f her father s death to a portion o the estates of F in z each . a The land brought its sorrow with it, and p ssed out of the

a t h e f m in wa . h nds of a ily aga , but that s afterwards

1 6 In 4 9 John Gregorie was once more deposed, and for the last time . The Synod recommended that he 1 4 FAMOUS SCOTS

h e should be reinstated, but did not long survive this

1 6 0 recommendation . He died in 5 , and was buried at

Dr um o ak.

Among the Slaty monum ents 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 t h e 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 m o r tificatio n for the education and maintenance of ten ’ poor orphans within the said Burgh of Aberdeen . x John Gregory left three sons, Ale ander, who was ’ ser ved heir to his father s very considerable property

1 6 1 i Kin air d in 5 , David, known as Dav d of y, and

James, the great professor of astronomy . His two daughters, Margaret and Janet, were both married, the i h latter to Thomas Thomson of F a c fie ld.

Loving and generous, as no one who reads about

Alexander Gregorie can doubt that he was, he would l yet barely have been inc uded 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 .

in air N K dy and etherdale, 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 G regorie, and that so frequently, that he was obliged

a 1 6 6 0 . at l st in to seek the shelter of the law James,

V F r e n dr au h t second iscount g , took no notice of the

1 6 FAMOUS SCOTS

h is r an said Frances mounting on horse, he divers times

le r upon the said u m q Mr Alex and wounded him in h is ‘° x' arme, whereupon the said umq Mr Ale yielded himself prisoner to the said Frances and delivered to him his r e u r ed sword being q y be him sua to doe , hoping that his honour would th er r upo n have obliged him to have t r ublin as s altin desisted from all furder g and g him , but upon the contrair the said Frances bais lie and treacher ous lie . with the assistance of the said James Duffus his

er s ewed ea er lie be fo ir f r ed servant p him more g than , y i lls h im p s t o at , gave him several wounds in his breast and head to the effusione of his blood in great quan tit ie and then caused him to mount up behind the said James Duffus and car ye dhim to the bous of George Mo r is o n e

Boi n ie h im th of g , and putt in ane chamber wherein e said James V ico un t of Fr e n dr augh t was lodged and then

Cr ich t on e the said Frances left him and upon the morne, th r i being the last day of March last by past, about e Cr ich t on e ac hours in the morning, the said Frances co m

an ie d air din er F r en dr au h t p with Walter Henry, g at g ,

r . r . r . William Innes y , George Mearns y , Rob Tarres y , T o un s lie an Jam es Howie , sone to Georg Howie in , dthe

' said James Dufius all in armes cam to the said bous ‘° ’ B i n ie of o g , where the said umq Mr Alex Gregorie was lying bleeding in his wounds , they and the said James V iscount Of Fr e n dr augh t and George Forbes his servant efter many baise and o ppr o bio us threat enings uttered be le ’ them against the said um q Mr Alex did most inhumanly an d bar bar o us lie dragg him out of his bed as he was

le idin lying b g in his wounds , and that without cloak, hat,

bo o tt s or shoves, or , and did cast him overthwart ane hors , upon his breast, his head and armes hanging on the T H E ACADE MIC GREGORIES 1 7 an e syd and his leggs on the other syd and so car ye dhim ’ away in ane Cold and stormy m or n e in g to George Yong s h ous in Co an lo ch being ane obscure place and myles distant from the said h ous of Bo ign ie where they keiped him prisoner in his wounds be the space of t h r e i

ta n ua m in r i a te ca m er a days, q p v 5 and then, deserting and

t h r et tein leaving him , he was upon the day of the said month by the help of some friends car yedto the burgh of

Aber de in e u , where he lay lang ishing of the said wounds and the bad usage which he had r ece ave dof the fo ir - named

s am n e persons , and then dyed of the y and sua was cruelly and unnaturally killed and murdered be them ; of which

u on e murder under trust, at least slaughter committed p r eco it at p g malice and forethought felony, as also of the ’ said us ur pat io n e of His Majestie s authority in takeing and

e leide foir s aids appreh nding unwarrantably ane frie g , the persons and ilk ane of them, as also the said James Cr ich t o un e of Kin air die by whose in stigation and hund ing out the foir s aids cr ym e s of slaughter upon fo ir th o ugh t felony and pr eco git at malice and usurpation Of His ’ Majestie s auth or it ie were committed and are actors airt

s am n e s z and pairt, and the y being found be ane a si e they aught to be pun ys h e dth eir fo r in their persons and goods to the t e r our and example of uth e r is to commit the lyk ’ h eir aft er . ’ Surely this was not a case for the King s leniency ; yet

Cr ich t o n e because Francis was a Roman Catholic, and f b avoured y the Duke of York , a warrant came from His Majesty for the suspension of the trial of Francis

Cr ich t o n e .

Co m e ir ed z p Mr George Macken ie advocate, and pro ducedane letter from His Maje s t ie directed to the Justice B 1 8 a s , O ! FAMOUS SC TS

n er alii an iis tice Ge dJ depute whereof the tenor follows,

r cr ibe f Supe s dCharles R . Whereas we are informed that Alexander Gregorie did not die of the wounds alleged to have bee n given him by Frances Cr ich t o n e now prisoner at Edinburgh, these are to require you to suspend that criminal process against Frances Cr ich t o n e 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 t h 1 3 day o f May 1 6 64 and of our reign the year by ’ His Majestie s command .

u itu r Sic s b r L aude daill. ‘ To our right tr us tie and right well- beloved Cousin and coun s ellour e and to our trusty and well- beloved our Justice ’ General or Justice Depute . James Cr ich t o n e of Kin air dy and V iscount F r en dr augh t were acquitted at the trial, the assistants at the murder ’ were put to His Majestie s horn, and all their goods for ’ Cr ich t o n e feit . As for Francis , the principal in this ff a air, having procured the postponement of his trial, he es caped from the Tolbooth Prison ; and after another futile attempt on the part of the Gregories to secure a l tria , he obtained a pardon under the Great Seal in

1 682 . CHAPTER II

D A D GR E GOR E OF KINAI R D Y 1 6 2 - 1 2 0 VI I , 5 7

No t Skill alo n e o f e ar an deye ’ W — r as o u s but s o m e n m or e a e . y r , thi g h a t

— l d r - t/ u lz t E c wes a n Afle w g s .

AV D R E GOR E R D I G I , the second son of the everend John fo r Gregorie, was destined by his father a commercial career . Alexander, his elder brother, as we have seen ,

Kin air d was heir to the estates of y and Netherdale, and to a good deal of money : the young brother Jam es was so remarkable a m athem atician that he was allowed to follow his own bent and devote himself purely to m athe

e mati s . But David, poor David, most unwilling to go, was sent to Holland to learn to be a merchant, probably Cam ver e to p , the happy haven to which so many Scots

— traders turned . Herrings and stockings the great

Aberdeen exports of the day — how we can imagin e David

Gregorie seeing to the unlading of such cargo as this, with his heart and very likely his head far away In Scot land ! Anyhow he did not stay a day longer in Holland ’ n tha was necessary, for after his father s death he returned

1 6 home and settled in Aberdeen in 5 5 . In the same year he married Jean , daughter of Patrick Walker of

Or chis to n , a great Episcopalian, and also a great

Tory. 2 0 FAMOUS SCOTS

David Gregorie was only thirty, and the best of life was still before him . He spent his time in just such a way as m attracted him . He studied medicine, echanics , mathe m atics 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 Edme

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

m brothers and expressed in so any practical ways . In 1 66 0 Alexander settled the property Of O ver As ch alach e

- 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 search ing 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 1 6 64 that which was to alter his whole career. By the tragic death of his brother, who

th e m left no children, all fa ily estates passed to him, and

m an he became suddenly a rich . He left Aberdeen, and

- Kin air d went to live in the man sion house of y, with which his name is now always associated .

Few people pass through the remote parish of Marnoch,

' B n fih ir e which lies on the borders of a s and Aberdeenshire, but those who do are most certainly rewarded . The

u Devoro , not so well known as the Dee, still keeps a charm of loneliness for those who love her, and the TH E ACADEMIC GREGORI ES 2 1

burns are browner than in the southland . By such a

Kin air d m burn was y built, on a little pro ontory where

r the stream joins the D eve o n . When I asked to see ’ Kin air d y, 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 1 6 64 . We get occasional glimpses of him as he passes about the country, at one time laughed at by his neighbours fo r 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

m death were in his hands . Someti es no doubt it was so, an dto rich and poor alike he would go, giving his advice

u a grat itously for the love of doctoring, and bec use 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 wiz ard .

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 Scot ! land ) 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, an d brought in the familiar spirit, which was only a bar o m et er , 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 . f A ter all, who was to doctor them with the skill of David 2 2 FAMOUS SCOTS

Gregorie if he were burned for a wiz ard ? So the kind doctor was left to his home and his work . The ministers c did not understand his defen e, 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 m uch wanted for his work . His patients and his children between them were taking up all his leisure. In these circumstances he deter m ined 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 t h e night.

When that was over, he went to sleep till he felt rested . If these nocturnal habits were known to the deputation

h im that waited upon , there was some excuse for their fears . What more alarming than the shadows in the room The midnight crucible an dthe sulphurous smell

a were not there, but it must be admitted that the L ird of Kin air dy loved the hours of darkness better than the day .

- David Gregorie had twenty nine children . Fifteen of fi them were the children of his rst 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 every

it Kin air d one says, that was remarkable for y 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 pro fe s s o r s a -it is for the most part t ken , is seen that David ,

2 4 FAMOUS SCOTS

h e right, he thought, for although had meant to help his f - en ellow countrymen, the inv tion 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 ’ Kin air d end of David Gregorie s life . y was made over S avilian to his son, the 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

n V gentle herbalist had drawn so ma y healing irtues, left to die . I t would be best to think that he returned to ’ ‘ eau fi Aberdeen at the call of King s College, which B ti ed ’ 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 h e r children , so they set up house once more in the old town of Aberdeen .

1 1 In 7 5 comes another turmoil, a flitting, almost a

flight across the North Sea to Holland , to be out of the f di ficulties of conflicting hopes and fears, to be out of the

u country, to take at least no part against the St arts,

Kin ir whom we suspect a dy of loving in his secret heart . f Likely enough they may have of ered 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 . T wo o r three years passed before they returned to T H E ACADEMIC GREGORIES 2 5

Scotland . They were content to wait till the storm ’ m k f was past . When they ca e bac Gregorie s li e was

1 2 0 nearly over. He died in 7 , an old man of ninety

five .

‘ An din h is s to r y s till r em ain s ’ A s n m em o r o f fe s o s s an d n s di ta t y li l gai , ’ A s tar lit pictur e o f h is joy an dpain s .

’ A Visit to his widow, who was Thomas Reid s grand mother was described by her grandson in after years in a

Me di cm e letter to James Gregory, Professor of in Edin ‘ ’ ‘ burgh I found her, he says, old and bedridden, but I never saw a more ladylike woman . I was now and

Sh e then called into her room , when sat upon her bed, or

m entertained e to sweetmeats and grave advices . Her h daug ters, who visited her, as well as one who lived with

‘ her, treated her as if she had been of superior rank, an d indeed her appearance and manner commanded

z respect. She and all her children were ealous pres ’ t r ian s by e , the first wife s children were Tories and ’ Episcopalians . But to return to what interests us about David Gregorie

Kin air d f of y, in connection with his many pro essorial sons

o f an dother kindred, he was a great lover science, and a

m m worker to who all scientific atter came home to stay .

m His mathematical and echanical 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

m — Gregorie fa ily the inborn gift of doctoring. He had h e no training except what gave himself, but he could no more help being a physician, than his brother Professor 2 6 FAMOUS SCOTS

James could help his incessant work at mathematics . David and James Gregorie were the children of their

r o mother far more than of their father ; who, good as he p bably was, is, we must confess, just a little dull . Yes,

Janet Anderson, you have lived again for us in your sons ! CHAPTER II I

AM E S GR E GOR E 1 6 8- 1 6 J I , 3 7 5

H e l e ar n e d th e ar t ’ In Padua far beyon d th e s ea.

— SCOTT L a I , y , xi .

AM E R E GOR E J S G I , the third son of the minister of

D r um o ak , 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 m athematics 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 h im herself all she knew of

m geometry, sending him away when the ti e came to the Gram mar School of Aberdeen already far ahead of his

u class . He st died at Marischal College, and took his degree (laureated is the pleasant Scottish word) along i h m w t Gilbert Burnet, the readable if i aginative historian , with whom likely enough he did not find much in com mon, representing as they almost did fact and fancy . Now their portraits hang side by side in the Picture ’ l — m Gal ery Gregorie s grey and grave and ste , with an indication of what he was in the mathematical globe by ’ S — his ide Burnet s less severe, satisfied with himself, and a most prosperous portrait . 2 8 FAMOUS SCOTS

After the graduation Jam es 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 f beauti ul 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 them it selves through as they appear to the naked eye, and not upside down as is the case with most of the great telescopes .

' 1 6 6 O t z ca Pr om ota In 3 , his book entitled p , 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 f through the fumes of his stu fy parlour, and presented him to Master Collins as a likely friend for him ; any

o f - way, this was the beginning 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 T H E ACADEMIC GREGORIES 2 9

! . in London , but, alas in vain Mr Reeves could not

” ffi overcome the di culty 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 ’ m the hands of astronomy s aster craftsman , the reflecting

1 6 68 f telescope emerged in in a more beautiful orm , 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

S z Six i e down to or nine feet, and the idea was so ingenious , O that it made Gregorie famous , and what was more, pened 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

— ah was not so very long before, that Galileo 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 h h is the principal professor of p ilosophy, w om I have repeatedly and earnestly requested to look at the moon s and planet 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 i Grand Duke with logical arguments , as with magical h FAMOUS SCOTS

’ ’ c n tion s h s k l m , to c arm the new planets out of the y a ‘

‘ It .. is well that Galileo laughed at this stage of his life ; when he fell into the hands o f the Inquisition it became

no laughing matter, and even after he had renounced his

u views, he was s bjected 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

u taken science under his care, so the Inq isition was no longer available as a means of preventing the spread o f ’ original thought, and Gregorie, unsuspecting of the pope s

a attitude tow rds him , went to very Padua itself, and

stayed there for three years .

C Padua, with its still olonnades and drowsy population,

s e ar ch ' fo r is Visited now, not in the eager learning, but because of the pale frescoes with which Giotto had gifted h it long before Gregorie was t ere, but in the seventeenth ! century, what other attractions drew men thither Then

such men as Riccioli, Manfredi and De Angelis were

m far drawing the erudite fro and near to sit at their feet .

Such men as Manfredi and De Angelis, who were they ? ! m Alas they, the great mathe atical champions of their

day, have passed into oblivion, and are only remembered

now, even in Padua, by the work of the masons who

m carved their na es on the walls of the University.

In thin e halls th e lam p o f le a r n in g u n ow n o m o r e is ur n n Pad a , b i g L e m e eo r o s e ik a t , wh Wild way I s o s o e r th e r e of l t v g av day , It gleam s be tr aye d an dt o betray On ce r em o tes t n atio n s cam e T o e s cr e m e o ad r that a d fla , Wh en it lit n o t m an y a he ar th On this co ld an dgl o o m y e ar th

3 2 FAMOUS SCOTS

’ ' ’ ’ ’ the title of Geom et r z ae Pa r s Um ver s alz s z zz s er w eus Quan ti

‘ ' ’ t a m m Cu r ar a m Tr am m uz a t v z om et M em ur ae. The book came out in Padua with the permission of the State o f V enice, and was a great success . Before its publication the Royal Society showed their appreciation of it by mak ing Gregorie a Fellow . This was in January 1 66 8 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

. Kin air d sides There was y 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 jour

u ney . This was Mary Burnet, the widow of John B rnet, who to his great joy consented to become his wife , and

1 6 was married to him in 6 9 .

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, an d with Newton and Collins, with Dr Wallis Lord

Br o u n cke r . 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

m only committed to memory, neither can I dispose of y self 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

ZE dis l death she married Mr , she was stil young and

In very beautiful . A rare piece of her work remains the tapestries which adorn the Magistrates’ Gallery in St ’ e h s Nicholas Church in Aberdeen . Susannah and Jph t a THE ACADEMIC GREGOR IES 3 3

u da ghter were her subjects, and there they are still,

Of m looking out their panels, fro the midst of their beautiful blue and green landscapes, with the rigid uncertainty of tapestry portraits . Bailie Burnet would have been pro ud 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

h im the pictures for her . Walpole called the V an Dyck ’ f of Scotland , though it is di ficult to know why, as there is

m really no resemblance in their work, but at least Ja eson ’ V an u and Dyck were friends in R bens studio, and the kindly appreciation of his fellow- citiz ens has remembered and repeated the phrase .

1 6 0 m In 7 , Ja es Gregorie was appointed to the Chair h of Mat ematics in St Andrews, where he had a successful f if sometimes vexed li e . His duties were to deliver two lectures a week , and to answer any mathematical f questions that might be set be ore h im . I am now ’ u 1 6 1 much taken p, he writes in May, 7 , and have been

b - m u so all this winter y past, both with y p blic lectures,

u which I have twice a week , and resolving do bts , which

m so e gentlemen and scholars propose to me . This I

u must comply with , nevertheless that I am often tro bled with great impertinences, all persons here being ignorant hi of these t ngs to admiration . These things do so hinder me , that I have but little time to spend on these studies ’ m u y geni s leads me to . He lived near the beautiful cathedral and almost under

u the shadow of St Reg lus, and there his name is still r e ’ ’ m m e bered in Gregorie s Lane and Gregorie s Place . He

- worked in the long, many windowed library, where the C 3 4 FAMOUS SCOTS

clock which he used is still at work, and where it has been keeping time these two hundred years, Since

u u Huygens, who invented the use of the pend l m in clocks , and Gregorie himself were laid at rest . H uygens and Gregorie had a long feud abou t his

u Pad an 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

fo r criticisms, however well founded they were , with a ‘ f M Gr e o r m sudden burst o the g spirit, Professor Ja es

f m sent forth a volley of answers, his o ficial state ents

m through the edium of the Philosophical Transactions,

f u and his uno ficial thro gh his many letters . Neither his ’ O great opponent, nor his great pponent s allies were ‘ u spared . I am not yet so m ch a Christian as to help those who hurt m e . I do not know (neither do I desire f H u en ius to know) who calleth in that pre ace, g his ani m adve r s io n s m 1 2 t h 1 6 68 of Nove ber , judicious, but I wou ld earnestly desire that he would particulariz e (if he m be not an ignorant) in what y answer, which is contra dict o r y to H uge n ius his anim adversions is faulty ; fo r in

m m u geo etrical atters, if anything be judicio s its contra dict o r y must be nonsense . I do not know what need

fo r m but there was for an apology inserting y answer, to

m H u e n ius if co pliment g , and violently ( it be possible) to m bear down the tru th . I i agined such actions below the

m m meanest e ber of the Royal Society, however, I hope I may have permission to call to an accou nt ’ f a f in print the penners o th t Pre ace . The account

m a m was never called for, because Newton in the e nti e,

m u h ad gave the si pler sol tion , which Gregorie been

but declaring an impossibility, it must be remembered THE ACADEMIC GREGORIES 3 5 that Gregorie’s method although almost impossible to

m a m any but the most clear athematic l ind, was easy to h im and was correct as far as it went . Can anyone

u u m help loving H ygens, even tho gh they know no ore of h im than what is Seen in his intercou rse with Gregorie ? What graciousness and kindness was retu rned in exchange for the thunderou s treatm ent he received !

u Sick, as he thought he was unto death, he s ggested Gregorie as a fit su ccessor to h im in the favour of Lou is

IV . ! , and we find his father, who was secretary to the

Prince of Orange and a poet— the poet of the garden

u similarly occ pied , trying to influence the great folk with ’ m f whom he ca e in contact to urther Gregorie s interests . But in Spite of the recommendation of the Académie des

u Sciences, the Royal Society, and s ch friends as he had at court, Gregorie never received any Royal patronage the want of which he took very calm ly and with a great deal f o broad good sense, never having expected any other ‘ f result . I have had su ficient experience in the un

a Of cert inty things of that nature before now, which

m e m m maketh since I ca e to Scotland , how ean and

m despicable so ever y condition be , to rest contented and

f m m satis y yself with that, that I am at ho e in a settled condition by which I can live . I have known m any learn ed m en far above m e u pon every accou nt with whom ’ u I wo ld not change my condition . ’ 1 6 6 u s In 9 Gregorie s books were s ppres ed in Italy,

m e h im m which ca as a shock to , and was all the ore grievous because it deprived him of many of his m ost inter e s t e d — ! readers and controversialists Scotland , however,

w a supplied the deficiency wonderfully well . There s a f pro essor in Glasgow called George Sinclair, a mathe 3 6 FAMOUS SCOTS

m atician , 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

' wh ich s o m e in 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 Hydro ‘ statics, which he called The Great and New Art of V ’ Weighing anity . Witty, scurrilous, easily written and easily read, the book was a great source of merriment

a t . both to Gregorie and his colleagues St Andrews, and

f u it raised a per ect h rricane in Glasgow . The very name was an impertinent play on the title of his antagonist’s former book Ar r n ova et M agm z and the fact that Professor Sinclair was no mean adversary added z est 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 per f suade people to order copies o it . ‘ For as m uch as there is a Book of Natural and E xper i mental Philosophy in English , to be printed within these

u four months, or thereabo ts wherein are contained many

AS m excellent and new purposes : first, Thirty Theore s, 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 know ’ ‘ c ing, by the eye, the Sun or Moon s motion in a se ond

6 0 0 of time, which is the 3 part of an hour, and many

ff . others of di erent kinds, useful and pleasant These are T H E ACADE MIC GR EGOR IE S 3 7

therefore to give notice to all ingenious persons, who are n lovers of Lear ing, that if they shall be pleased to advance

Gedeon Shaw, Stationer at the foot of the Ladies Steps, f three pounds Scots, for de raying the present charges of the said Book, they shall have from him , betwixt the date

f m o f : hereo and April next to co e, one the Copies And for their further security in the interim the Author’s obli ’ i fo r m gat o n perfor ing the same . ‘ Which so exposed to my m asters 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 h e after wards quoted in the Preface to his book T/z e Gr eat a n d ‘ — N ew Ar t . I Sir, admire exceedingly the forwardness of your hum or (I will call it no worse) in your last to

' - h e is a person not concerned in you or in your books, neither will he ignorantly commend anything, as it d seems ye expecte he should have done, when ye sent him these papers . Ye might h ave known long ago that he had

f u fo r no veneration for what ye had ormerly p blished , he

m d made no secret of his in , when he was put to it. Ye m a if b - y mistake him , ye think that any y end will cause him speak what he thinks not : nevertheless he delivered

u in co n ce r n ed yo r commission , and was willing to be , ex pe ctin g their answer. They pressed him to know his j udgment of your last piece : he told ingenuou sly 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

n him more tha others, he hath ground to look upon him o f self as one the sophistical rabble, for they only are such 3 8 FAMOUS SCOTS

m who conde n anything ye do, the rest of the University

u w contin ing al ays learned persons . It is to no purpose

z fo r for to apologi e themselves, ye take all granted, which ye have heard I Shall not put you to the pains o f prov ing it ; yet it seem s ye would hardly have believed it so

u o u easily, had not yo r conscience told y , that they had

u w some reason for their j dgement, which really as this

: following That they see nothing in your last piece, new and great (albeit it be Ar r n ova ef M ag n a ) save errors and o f nonsense ; as your demonstrations the pendulum, your

’ ' ' ' ' ‘ [Vi/127 s afz ale Gr ao z t as cz r m la r z s fr or z z om alzk p , your , and , your question Whether or no a body may be condensed ” ? . m : in a point etc , too any to fill several letters for ye

u m st not call experiments new inventions, otherwise ye

m are aking new inventions every day, neither must ye call ff di erent explications new inventions , else the same thing might be invented by almost every Writer. I admire how f ye question the R . Society ; o r I desire to know one

- point of doctrine, which ye or they either pretend to,

o f o f concerning the weight the air, the spring it, or

k m anything else in your boo , save istakes, which was

m not received by all mathematicians , and the ost learned o f Philosophers m any years before any of yo u put pe n to

m u paper. Ye have been at ch pains to prove that by ex

e r im e n t m p , which all the learned already grant, and so e have de m o n s t r at apr ior i from the principles of Geometry

' ' S t at icks d os ter z or z f m and , and many p ro experience if sense m ay be called a de m onstration yet ye are the only m an who pr o duce th the Ar r N e w et M ag n et when all

' m n others are o ut o f fashion . But more to your com e da

Ma ick fo r tion , it seems ye do all these wonders by g ye have the o r din air principles of none of these Sci e nces

4 ° FAMOUS SCOTS

Element . I know not what else ye intend to prove

l I r e uis its A ways am as sure that he had two great q , which ye want ; to wit, Geometry and a sound head . As to what ye write concerning the imperfection of Sciences ; the s cien t ifical part of Geography is so per fect ed , that there is nothing required for the projection,

S description and ituation of a place, which cannot be fi l i k done and dem o n s t r at . The s cien t i ca part of o pt c s

u is so perfected, that nothing can be req ired for the ’ S de m o n s t r at perfection of ight, which is not , albeit men s hands cannot reach it and these being the objects of the

- a fore said Sciences, your uthority shall not persuade me that it is altogether improper to call them perfect. In

H dr o s t aticks m b the y , it were no hard atter to ranch out a all the experiments that can be m de into several Classes , h f of w ich the event and reason might per ectly be deduced, as consectaries (I speak not here of long deductions, as ye seem to rant) to som ething already published if it be noticed but rudely (as ye, not understanding what niceties

m of proportion eans, must do) only considering Motion an dRest : And I believe there is none ignorant of this who understands what is written in this Science . Upon

m a this account writing to you, I ight c ll it perfect, albeit I know there are m any things relating to the proportion

m and acceleration of the otions of fluids , which are yet unknown , and may perchance still be . Ye shal not think that I speak of you witho u t ground ; (fo r in your

Ar r M a n a et N ova fo r g , ye bring in your great attempts a perpetual motion ; all which a novice of eight days

r i k standing in H ydo s t at c s would laugh at) . I do not question that this age hath many advantages beyond f u t I w an ormer ages : b kno not y of them. it is be ho lden T H E ACADEMIC GREGORIES 4 1

to you for : only I admire your simplicity in this . Astro n o m e r s seek always to have the gr eatest intervals betwixt

Observations, and ye talk that ye will give an excellent ’ way for observing the Su n or Moon s motion for a second

s a m of time ; that is to y, as if it were a great atter that there is but a second o f ti m e betwixt your Observations . I w o n de r ye tell me t h e eye s h o uld be added ; for the invention had been m uch greater had that been away . I do confess that a go o d History o f Nature is absolutely the most requisite thing for learning ; bu t it is not like that you are fit for that purpose, who so surely believe

u t the miracles of the West, as to p them in print ; and

m m o f record the si ple eridian altitudes Comets , and that

f m only to hal s of degrees or little ore as worth noticing.

- However, if ye do this last part concerning Coal sinks

but Ar : M a n a et N or/a well, and all the rest be an g , ye may come to have the repute o f being more fit to be a Collier than a Scholar . Ye m ight have let alone the

w o r lde s precarious principles and imaginary of Des Cartes , until yo ur new inventions h admade the m so : For I m ust

u u tell you Des Cartes val ed the History of Nat re , as much

m as any experi ental Philosopher ever did , and perfected

m u u m it ore with j dicio s experi ents , than ye will by all

a appear nce do in ten ages . Ye are exceedingly m isin if formed , ye have heard that any here have prejudice or envy against you ; for there is none here speaks of yo u bu t with pity and com m iseration : neither heard I ever of any man who commended yo u fo r what he understood . As for your Latin Sentences, if they be

f s fo r not applied to yoursel , I under tand them not ;

n o t e in here we are printing no books , we are s nd g tickets throughou t the co un t r e y to tell the wonders we 4 2 FAMOUS SCOTS can do : We are going about the im plo ym e n t s we are called to, and strive to give a reason for what we say.

' ’ D olz et allacz ae fa au/ae ci tes tes Where then are our f , , ' ' ’ ' s a z en fz a aa ua m u ta m n os r em s s p g p w pe v e ? etc . In these things ye publish , ye know there is no Sophistry but clear evidence : If ye had done such great matters

’ ' ' Um ver s a /e er em r a tlam s m in , ye ight have had a shift ; but here ye m ust either particulariz e your in ve n tio n s w de m o n s t r at , or other ise yourself derogatory to the credit of the Nation : For what else is it to

i A r r M a a confound R . Societies and Univers ties with g n et N ova u t ; and yet when ye were p to it in print, to

S i u how your nventions , all ye co ld say was, that the publisher should have reflected upon the wisdom o f the

. Creator, etc , so that the Poet said well of Democritus, etc ., of which I understand not the sense, except ye make

V e r vece s yourself the summus vir, and us all the . I su ppose this may be the great credit that ye say ye have labored to gain to your nation ; to wit to get us all the

h o n r able . 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

u of scorners and ignorants, hath bro ght you to this height of imaginary learning) and that when ye co m e to yourself

m ye will thank me for y pains . ’ I rest your humble servant .

To this letter Professor Sinclair in his turn very per

in n tl S t e y remarked, that they hould 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 THE ACADEMIC GREGORIES 4 3

H dr os t aticks y commences, he gave expression to his f wounded eelings .

‘ m m When this Book was first co itted to the press, I

m f m m f sent an inti ation thereo to so e of y riends, for their

m m encouragement to it, a practice now co on, and com mendable which hath not wanted a considerable success,

m as witness the respect of any worthy persons, to whom

o blide d. B ut I am g there is a generation, that rather

m than they will encourage any new invention, set the selves by all m eans 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

u v but A thor shall gi e the title of New to his invention, though never so deservedly, they fly presently in his

m - u throat, like so any Wild Catts , st dying either to ridicule

— a his work altogether trade that usually, the person of

m weakest abilities, and ost empty heads , are better at,

m e n than learned like those schollars, who being nimble

m u in putting tricks, and i post res upon their Condisciples, were dolts, as to their lesson, or else fall upon it with such snarling and carping as discover neither ingenuity, ’ but E n v . nor ingeniousness, a sore sickness called, y

- u Now, indeed , now was the Arch Bedal j stified, and so

u in hot haste he wrote that stinging book , which p rported to be by Patrick Mathers (the Arch - Bedal to the Uni versity of St Andrews) , but was really by Gregorie, a fact

m m which its erudition ust have ade clear to Sinclair, even

u u before that kind person , the m t al friend, had confided f the act to him . The cu riou s thing was that with all his desire

u to heap ridicule pon his adversary, Gregorie only 44 FAMOUS SCOTS touched upon what would naturally now appear the

o f most vulnerable point, the passage about the Devil

u Glenl ce . In the meantime the clear air o f St Andrews was daily suggesting to him how desirable a place it was in which

m to teach Astrono y . At night, when he walked over the links, the stars were so clear above him , and the hills so

z h inconsiderable on the hori on , that he felt that now ere in Scotland was there a site more suitable for an o b s er vat or y. His idea was cordially agreed to by the

U f m niversity, and su ficient oney had been collected by 1 6 7 3 to admit of the authorities com m encing th eir arrange m ents . 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 .

fz z m I ot j e 1 673 .

kn o w e n Be it to all men be these presents , Us , Rector,

Principals, Doctors , and Professors of the University of

u : St Andrews, nder subscribing For as much as we have formerly taken to our serious consideration the great de tr i ment 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

r o fe s conduce for the better, more solemn and famous p

atur all sion, teaching and improving of N Philosophy and

m the mathe atical 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 T H E ACADEMIC GREGORIES 4 5 this place) whereby we may be enabled to keep corre s po n de n ce wit h learned and inquisitive pe r s o n e s in solide

f ff : philosophy everywhere, for the orsaid e ect And having purposed (to be forthcom ing to our duty and the e n co ur age m en t of others) to set as effectually as may be

u u a fo r abo t this la dable and necess ry work , providing the fo r s aids m instru ents of all kynds, ane observatory, and all other accoutre m ents requisite for the i m provement of the

! f be n e fit e orsaid sciences, the , advantage and delight of

u youth to be trained p here, the honour of the Kingdom , f the reputation of our bene actors, and the lustre and splendour of the University : Did therefore co m m is s io n at som e o f our nu m ber to make application u nto all per

m u sons , who they knew to be enco ragers of learning, and

f f m patrons to the pro essors thereo , representing unto the that we were instantly upon the effectuating of the forsaid ff designe, And to that end to crave their a ections and su ch other encour agem ents fo r the said work as they please to bestow ; And to report to us their diligence

m o f therein , with the na es our benefactors, to the effect

m a this University y record them , and endeavour to make such r e s pe ctfull resentments to the m and their

m : m posterity, as beco es giving the power to do every other thing proper and requisit in the said affair ; They being always answerable and accountable to us anent the prem ises . And whereas this our laudable designe hath already met with such considerable encouragem ent

m o f fro persons all ranks, that we have ordered Mr James

f o f m Gregorie, pro essor the Mathe atical Sciences here to

an d far goe to London, there to provide so as the money

f m o ur f s u already received ro Bene actor will reach , s ch i n struments and utensils as he with advice o f other 4 6 FAMOUS SCOTS skilful persons sh all judge m ost necessary and usefull fo r the above m entioned design : Like as be these presents we the under su bscribers all with one consent constitute

m o ur n the said Mr Ja es factor for the effect forsaid, Givi g and granting him our full power and am ple com m ission for transacting and buying the forsaid instrum ents in so

m far as the oney 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 ourse lves to r at ifye and approve what the said Mr James should doe in this our co m m ission directed to h im by us du ring his

h im o f residence there , and to acquit and relieve all prej udice he may incur and su stain in execution o f this

m m m m our co ission , or any other co ission sent by us to h im during his residence there : And to take notice of the fabric and form of the m ost co m petent o bs er vat o r ye that ours here intended may be builded with all its advantages : And also considering the intended work to

u m m e x e n s s be of s ch o ent and p , that we ar not able to acco m plish it with the contributions o f these only who have already listed themselves encouragers of it ; Therefore we also by these presents do n o m in at and constitu te the said Mr Jam es Gregorie o ur factor and special mandator for m aking application unto all who m he knows to be favourers o f learning fo r their concurrence unto the advancement of the fo r s dw ork with full power

u ff to do everything proper and req isit in this a air, as others form erly employed therein have been i m powered 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

s ubs cr ived time, and with our hands in the University

4 8 FAMOUS SCOTS

co n cer n it de s r it by all , and humblie y be him, that this bu rgh wold contribute to the furtherance of the said work

co un cell All which the considering, finds it incumbent upon them not to be wanting for advancement of the said e ffair far l able t h er for a o n in so as they are y , and pp y t s ane co lle ct io n e to be at the Kirk dores the n ixt or ’ f subsequent Lord s day for the orsaid effect .

Things were going very s m oothly— success was ah s o lut ely fawning upon Gregorie — h e was getting money

m as he wanted it, and the instru ents he had bought were

m entirely to his ind ; but on his return from London,

u m where he had gone to f lfil his co mission, he found s everything changed, and his colleague , 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

f m all three colleges, and that in itsel would ake his

m f u f position so ewhat di fic lt, but this di ficulty had always existed . The real cause of dissension was that in his absence the students had been making popular dem on

n s t r atio s 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 au thority determined to make it most un

f o f . com ortable all for Gregorie His salary was suspended, the university servants were told to take no notice of his

m orders , and the students were com anded not to attend h is m u lectures, for certainly the mathe atics as ta ght by

h ad u him t rned their heads, they had shown distinct signs o f of madness . The attitude the professors was not u n nlike that taken up by the country doctor, who whe

fo m f asked to fill in a r , certi ying one of his patients to be T H E ACADEMIC GREGORI ES 4 9

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 Edinbu rgh University . After the treat ment he had received this w as a m ost blessed chance f and with great joy he le t St Andrews, and came to

Edinburgh,

m The whole story was written to Ja es Fraser, then at Paris

‘ U CH H O OU R E D S IR — I m M N , received so e days ago

O your very bliging letter, and not long after your arrival

f o u at Paris I had another rom y , to which the truth is ff I was ashamed to answer, the a airs of the St Andrews

Observatory were in such a bad condition , the reason of which was the prej udice the masters of the University did take at the mathematics , because some of their scholars finding their courses and dictates opposed by what they

m had studied in the athematics, did mock at their

o f m u . masters , and deride some the p blicly After this the servants o f the college got orders not to wait on m e

m m m or y observations, y salary was also kept back fro

m m a me, and scholars of ost e inent r nk were violently ’ m m e a n d kept fro , contrary to their own their parents

m u m wills , the asters pers ading the that their brains were

l u not ab e to endure it . These and m any other disco rage ments oblige m e to accept o f a call here to the College of

u m e n Edinb rgh , where y salary is here double, and my ’ co ur a e m e n t g s much greater .

f m u o ud Gregorie le t St Andrews so ewhat nder a cl ,

u u beca se, as we have good reason to s ppose, he had been D 5 0 FAMOUS SCOTS teaching Newton ’s Philosophy before the Kingdom of Fife was quite ready for it, and because, too, his students had E more ardour than wisdom in their minds . But in din

u b rgh he had a great reception . The hall where he gave

m 1 6 his inaugural address , in Nove ber 7 4 , was crowded , f and he was given perfect reedom in what he taught. In his observatory he passed many happy hours, and often at nights he wo uld take his students to look through the

o ut telescope at the stars, to find belted Saturn and

u Jupiter with his satellites, which was not s ch a nursery ff a air then as it is now. These phenomena had only been

f f fo r discovered fi ty years be ore, let us remember James

Gregorie lived in the days of Charles the Second, and just ’ m issed by a few years being Sam uel Rutherfu rd s fellow

z citi en 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 .

m It see s 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 .

z Mengoli , Newton , Huygens, and even Leibnit (who ’ fo r 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 m aster minds who appreciate him . He was a mathe m at ician for mathe m aticians .

There are many of Gregorie s letters still extant . and THE ACADEMIC GR EGORIES 5 1

u u a for the p re pleas re of re ding one just as he wrote it,

m this letter written to the Rev . Coline Ca pbell is inserted

‘ S T A D R E S 1 . a n . 1 6 . N W , j 7 3

‘ S IR - I 2 r d , received your of the 3 of December last, and am glad to have the occasion to keep a corres po n de n ce with such a knowing person as ye ar. I have not had le as ur at this ti m e to s at is fie you in your

n probleme, bei g drawn away all this afternoon with necessarie affairs : but with the n ixt I shall doe my endeavour for I expect not to m ak the calcu lation con s i er ablie u u d short, seing the nat re of the q estion doeth

‘ fli ur a not s u ce it . O bedal his book gainst Mr Sinclair

m o ut . 0 is co e several weeks ago N more at present, but being in hast and hoping that ye will be pleased to continue this new correspondence , I rest, ‘ u u m Yo r h ble servant, ‘ AM E S R E GOR E J G I . ’ ‘ A PBE for Mr C OLIN E C M LL .

His widow and orphans were granted a pension by

o f 0 e o f Charles II . £ 4 a y ar Scots in recognition what

Gregorie had done in Scotland . N 0 one could be found suitable to succeed h im in the Chair of Mathematics at

n Edi burgh . The authorities waited eight years before they made another appointment ; and when the new

m n f professor ca e, he was also a Gregorie, a ephew o the late professor . His own son, too, held a chair, but that

e f m was in Aberdeen, and he was a prof ssor o edicine . CHAPTER IV

DA D GR E GOR Y 1 66 1 - 1 0 8 VI , 7

‘ c o B r e w as s o o n e w h o us e t h e s w o r n o t t o cut n o Ty h ah al d d , i t e s an d o n e but t o u u n e r m o n th e s s of fl h b , b ild p a plai way a g all tar ’ — A A D R E h e ave n . H N S N E S N .

DAVI D GR E GOR I E was the third son of his father and n am fat h er Kin air d e , the Laird of y. He was born in a house without the port in the Upper Kir kgate o f b Aberdeen , where the tradition of his irth lingered, and was indeed cherished many a year after the boy had grown

m to anhood , and had left his grey birthplace for the richer lands of the South . ’ m a The boy s mother was, it y be remembered , Jean

Or ch is t o n an d was Walker, one of the family, the child taught from his babyhood loyalty to the Stuarts and a passionate adherence to the episcopal form of church

a h im . t government and teaching, which he c rried with o 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 , however, where his uncle had had such a brilliant if short career, that he took his degree as Master of Arts in 1 6 83 . He was even as a student a man whose life was com mented upon .

o f m People talked his studiousness, of his joyful te per, 5 2 THE ACADEMIC GREGORIES 5 3

m Pit cair n e and still ore of his friendship with Dr Archibald , whose tim e was coming to make the tongues of Edinburgh

u f Pi air n wag . They really were wonderf l riends . t c e studied everything fro m sheer love o f learnin g . He was

u u fo r d ed cated in t rn the church, the law, and for me i

u cine , and besides this he made a great exc rsion into the higher m ath e m atics at the instigation of his friend . David

m Gregorie, on the other hand , was a pure athematician , all else in his studies giving way to his love for his dear

‘ ’ in Celestial Physicks . From his uncle, James, he had h er ite d u a great n mber of mathematical manuscripts , and this inheritance was regarded by h im with the deepest

m veneration . So e day he would edit all these papers, but meanti m e m any 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 ad m irer of the philosopher as

If m ever his uncle had been . he were ade a professor,

a Gregorie thought, he would admit none of the Cartesi n 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

A. M . a his degree, he was ppointed to this Chair in the

n f h a Edi burgh University, an o fice which dnot been filled ’ up since his u ncle s death . Lectures had been given by

u a st dent called John Young , but he was only acting as m w athematical tutor , filling the place temporarily, hereas w hen Gregory was appointed it was as professor, with a

1 0 0 salary of £ 0 (Scots) .

In December he gave his inaugural address in Latin , on an Analysis of Geometrical Progress . The lecture has 5 4 FAMOUS SCOTS

m o f been lost, but a volu e of notes his usual course of teaching is preserved in the University Library, and its range is very large . As has already been said , what chiefly distingui s hed David Gregorie was his appreciation f ’ o Newton s ideas . It was his object to bring down the

' ' ' Pr z m z z a m p to the average level of mathe atical minds, and 00th he and his brother James , who held the correspond ’ ing chair at St Andrews , were teaching Newton s philo

‘ f u m sophy be ore it was ta ght at Ca bridge . It was not ’ ‘ m long, says Whiston, before I with im ense pains, but

f u z no assistance, set mysel with the tmost eal to the study

’ ' of Sir Isaac Newton s wonderful discoveries in his Plz z lo

’ ' ' ' s o fiz az N a tu r a lz s P r z n cz oz a M a t/z em atit a f p j , one or two o which lectures I had heard h im read in the publick

u u m schools , tho gh I nderstood the 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 m ost prodigiou s com m endations to that

m work , as not only right in all things, but in a anner ff the e ect of a plainly divine genius, and had already caused several of his scholars to keep acts, as we call

m the , upon several branches of the Newtonian Philo sophy, while we at Cambridge, poor wretches , were ignom iniously studying the fictitious hypothesis of the ’ Cartesian . V o f oltaire wrote Sir Isaac Newton, that when he died he had not m ore than twenty followers in h is own country;

m fo r f and, even aking allowance the un riendly eyes with

m h is m which the French an regarded conte poraries, there

m was probably so m e truth in the state ent . Whiston was

m m f professor of m athe atics at Ca bridge, and writing rom ’ that University, where of all places in the world Newton s

5 6 FAMOUS SCOTS office therein well affected to their Majesties and the estab

f u lis h e dgovernment o Ch rch and State . Therefore their

adv ce o f o f m Majesties with y the said three Estates Parlia ent,

o r dain e m m f doe statute, , and enact, that fro this ti e orth, no

f Pr in ci alls Pro essors, p , Regents, Masters, or others bearing o flice s ch o o ll in any university, colledge, or within this Kin gdo m e be either admitted or allowed to continue in the exercise of their saids fu nctions but such as doe

f s ubs cr ve acknowledge and pro ess , and shall y to the confession o f faith ratified and appr o ve n by this present

als o e s w e ar e s ubs cr ve Parliament, and and y the oath of allegiance to their Majesties ; And w ith all shall be

u found to bee of a pio s, loyal and peaceable conversa o f f tion , and good and su ficient literature and abilities

r exive I m lo m en t s m for their p y , and sub itting to the

o f an d government the Church now settled by Law, albeit it be their Majesties undoubted right and pre rogative to name visitors and cau se v isite the forsaid u co lle de s s ch o olls t m e niversities, g and , yet at this y their Majesties are pleased to no m inate and appoint with advyce and consent forsaid the persons u nder

via u m o f named, , The D ke of Ha ilton, Earle Argyle

u co lle de s et alii To meet and visite all niversities , g and

h ll n m o f s c o o s within this Ki gdo , and to take tryall the

f Pr in ci alls present Pro essors, p , Regents , Masters and others bearing office therein according to the qualifi

u m cations and r les above entioned , and such as shall

f u u a in s uffi be o nd to be erroneo s, sc ndalous , negligent, ’ m cient, or disaffected to their Majestie s Govern ent, or

s ubs cr ve f o f f s w e ar e who shall not y the Con ession aith , and s ubs cr yve the oath of allegiance and s ubm itt to the govern m ent of the Ch urch now settled by Law T H E ACADEMIC GREGORIES 5 7

als o e to purge out and remove . As to consider the foundations of the saids Universities co lle dges and

h o lls u s c o , with the rents and reven es thereof, and how the same have been adm in is t r e d and m an adged and to sett down such rules and m ethods fo r the good man f adge m e n t thereof for herea ter . As likewise for ordering co llede s s ch o olls the saids universities , g and , and the professions and manner of teaching therein and all things else r elat e n g thereto as they shall t h in ke most m eet and convenient according to the foundations thereof, and consistent with the present established f govern m ent of Church and State . And to the ef ect

m that these presents may be ore surely execute . Their

adv ce m Majesties with y forsaid , doe farther I power the fo r s aids persons visitors or their qu orum to appoint Co m m it t ee s of s u ch nu m bers of their own m em bers as they shall t hin ke fit t to visite the s eve r all Universities and

o lle de s m S ch o o lls C g within this Kingdo , with the within

u the bo nds to be designed to them , and that according to such instructions and injunctions as they shall thinko fit t to give them And to the effect that upon report made be the said Com m ittee to the afo r s aidvisitors or their qu or um they may pr o ce e de and conclude thereupon as they shall see cause ; And their Majesties appoints the fo r s aids visitors to meet at Edinb urgh upon the twenty third day of July instant for the first dyet of their meeting with power to the m to adjour n e and appoint their own m eetings to such dayes and places as for thereafter they shall judge convenient ; And this Com m ission to en du re ay and while their Majesties recall and discharge ’ the same. This large commission therefore which was appointed 5 8 FAMOUS SCOTS

to deal with the universities and schools in Scotland, met in Edinburgh in the Common Hall under the presidency

f 1 6 0 o the Lord Provost in July 9 .

The Principal, Alexander Monro, was tried first, and a

o f u sentence deprivation was passed pon him , as also f o f upon Dr Strachan , Pro essor Divinity . When ’ u Gregorie s t rn came, he like those who had gone before was accused by men of whose nam es he was

u kept in ignorance, whose statements he co ld but feel were libellous , malicious and false . The lay portion of the commission were inclined to favour him , and

u u when they enq ired into his cond ct as a teacher, he was able to present an admirable r eport of his public

fo r m u lessons three years . At the sa e time he wo ld not of subscribe to the Confession Faith , and so it came about that when he reco m menced his lectures in the

o f m r ensuing month Dece ber, he did not know whethe

o f he was to continue in the possession his chair, neither

Pit cair n e were Dr Archibald nor Lord Tarbat, his constant

u m r e s pporters in all this ti e of trial, able absolutely to

h im o n t u assure the poin . John Hill B rton , in his chapter on the ecclesiastical settlements says that ‘ Dr

u m an E is co Gregorie, the only tr ly great among the p f ’ palian pro essors , was wisely spared . But for him the suspense and anxiety were very tedious , and he was glad when a prospect Opened o ut before h im of quitting the university in which he had been subjected to so much a nnoyance. The Opening occurred through the resignation of Dr

S avilian f Bernard, Pro essor of Astronomy in the University

f u m of Ox ord , to whose chair Dr Gregorie tho ght he ight

f m aspire . It was o the first i portance that he should T H E ACADEMIC GREGORIES 5 9

receive the support of Sir Isaac Newton in his application, so he went at once to London to be introduced to him .

u h im Sir Isaac was m ch pleased with , and wrote him a

m u 1 6 1 testi onial , dated London , J ly 9 . ‘ Being desired by Mr David Gregorie, Mathematic Professor of the Colledge in Edinburgh to t e s t ifie m y

h im knowledge of him , and having known by his printed

u Mathematical performances, and by disco rsing with travellers from Scotland , and of late by conversing with

u him , I do acco nt him one of the most able and judicious Mathematicians of his age now living . He is very well skilled in analysis and geometry, both l new and O d. He has been conversant in the best w u u riters abo t astronomy, and nderstands that science

u very well . He is not only acq ainted with books, but

m his invention in Mathe atical things is also good . He

m u has perfor ed his d ty at Edinburgh with credit, as I

Mat h e m at icks u hear, and advanced the . He is rep ted the

m greatest Mathe atician in Scotland , and that deservedly,

far fo r so as my knowledge reaches , I esteem him an

m u o orna ent to his country, and p n these accounts do recom mend h im to the duties of the Astronom y Professor

' ' — s ic s ub r o into the place in Oxford now vacant s e z z t ur . W ’ I S . E TO M ata. Pr o Ca n tab N N, f , .

’ fo r Nor did Sir Isaac s kindness end here, he wrote a f letter to Flamsteed, the Astronomer Royal, asking o r his

m m influence in the appoint ent . Fla steed responded with if great kindness, only mentioning the fact that his old friend Mr Caswell insisted on standing for the vacant

u h im chair, he wo ld be obliged to support . In the end of his letter, Sir Isaac , while mentioning his anxiety to 6 0 FAMOUS SCOTS

’ have F lam s t e eds observations on J upiter and Saturn ‘ : for the next twelve or fifteen years , adds If you and

u I live not long eno gh, Mr Gregorie and Mr Halley are ’ m young men, thus indicating that he thought the fit to carry on his work .

Edmund Halley, who was the other candidate for c the professorship of astronomy, had from a scientifi point of View stronger claims to the appointment . To him the world is indebted for the publication of ’ Pr im i ia Newton s p , which Halley undertook at his own ffi expense, seeing that the Royal Society made di culties

m about the oney, and that Newton himself was too

u poor, and possibly too much engrossed in his st dy, to take the burden of it on his own shoulders . B ut

u Halley was an infidel , and this disq alified him in the eyes of the patrons of the chair. Sir Henry Savile had left his professorships open to candidates o f any Christian ‘ o f m Nation if they were good report and correct de eanour,

m eminently skilled in mathe atics , possessed of at least a

u moderate knowledge of the Greek lang age, and if they ’ - had attained the age of twenty six years . He had left the election in the hands of the Archbishop of Canter bury, the Lord Chancellor, the Chancellor of the Uni

o f versity, the Bishop London, the Principal Secretary o f f State , the two Chie Justices , the Chief Baron of the

u f Excheq er and the Dean o Arches . With an electorate - u m u composed of s ch men , Ed nd Halley, holding the

Views which he acknowledged at that time, had no chance of election . ‘ Whiston in his M em oir says that Bishop St-illin gfleet

m u was desired to recom end him at co rt, but hearing that

ce tick he was a s p , and a banterer of religion, he scrupled T H E ACADEMIC GR EGORIES 6 1

to be concerned , till his chaplain Mr Bentley should

But talk with him about it, which he did . 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 . h David Gregorie t en (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 .

h ad A M He entered at Balliol, was incorporated . . on

6th 1 6 2 . . the of February 9 , took the degree of M D , and was subsequ ently adm itted 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

u V sol tion of the Florentine problem , which iviani had

m sent as a challenge to British Mathe aticians . 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 f first. He next wrote a de ence of his uncle against the

é h im Abb Gallois, who accused of plagiarising from f Roberval, and then ollowed 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 i of an arch s arrived at .

1 6 m z In 9 5 David Gregory arried Eli abeth, a daughter of Mr Oliphant of Langton . His marriage is com m e m o r atedin a Latin ode written by his friend Anthony

‘ Alsop, a student of Christ Church, and published in his works 6 2 FAMOUS SCOTS

Shortly after his marriage he brought out his great book,

Ca to t r iea e et D io tr ieae S /z er ieae E lem eiz t a p p p , 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 m en in that da for S f u y, in it Gregory tried to impli y his s bject, and to make it clear to the many instead of to the few . He was

m im m r rewarded with praise, and his book was pro ised o tality . How changed are things in the present day, when to none of our writers will criticism promise celebrity ex

K eill ce e din g at the outside two generations . blossomed out into poetry It will last as long as the sun and moon ’ — in endure, and it is just possible that it may the Bodleian Library only that was not what Keill 1 meant . Comparatively unnoticed at the time was a suggestion made in this book about m irrors and lenses with regard to following Nature in the construction of a telescope . It was almost certainly Pitcair n e who had explained to

an Gregory the strange mechanism of the human eye , d how in Nature objects before they fall on the retina pass

u m u through both the Vitreous h o r and the crystalline lens .

Gregory pointed out that Nature does nothing in vain,

m and suggested that, in i itation of Nature, the object glasses of telescopes m ight be composed of media of ff di erent density, and that an instrument made on this principle would probably produce much clearer vision than

1 1 - 2 r n i n r Was n Keill 1 6 1 1 w as o n u . r o f J o h , 7 7 , b Edi b gh P es s o r n o m O fo r an dan ct e m e m e r o f th e o o f As tr o y at x d a iv b R yal S o cie ty . ‘ ’ o en fe e r O fo r o n T ur s Au u H e die d o f a vi l t v at x d h day , g s t 3 l s t ‘ 1 2 1 few s f e en t e r n n th e ce n ce o r an do e r 7 , a day a t r tai i g Vi Cha ll th acad em ic dign i t ar i e s at h is h o us e in H o lywe ll S tr e et wit h wi n e an d ’ ’ H e is u r e in S t M r s ur c . pun ch . b i d a y Ch h

64 FAMOUS SCOTS

o f m N has stole most his astrono y from Isaac ewton , whom he has mentioned with some little ackn o wle dg ment but not so often as he should have done, which, ’ a as tis said , has put Sir Isa c on a new edition of his ’ Pr in cipia . ff How di erent 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

S avilian him , yet it is impossible but that the professor

- occasionally felt the sting of such mischief making . ’ Ch ar le tt Gregory s great ally was Dr , the Master of

‘ m University College, but besides him , he nu bered amongst his friends, Halley, who obtained the Savilian

S m alr ide Chair of Geometry, Dr Hudson , Dr g , Dr Wallis

m and Dr Aldrich, between each of who and Gregory,

Hearne seemed determined to make bad feeling . As

u was quite nat ral , these men , working along the same ’ lines , had often to use each other s materials, but Hearne always represented Gregory as pirating the resu lts of their labour without acknowledgment . The statem ent of his

u indebtedness, only given once, was pet lantly regarded as

f m insu ficient, and even inverted co mas did not mollify

m his wrath . In fact, Gregory com itted the only sin which Dickens says is unpardonable — h e was successful

— and the commoner men in Oxford , who could not u regard anything Scottish witho t disapprobation, would ‘ not forgive him . When Hearne took exception to the ’ ’ Scotchman s Greek he was on safe ground and no one f regretted this more than did Pro essor Gregory himself, ‘ who was held up fo r ridicule by Hearne because men ’ be m took him for an oracle . When co menced the THE ACADEMIC GREGORI ES 6 5

o f publication his edition of the ancient mathematicians,

' w ith D r u f he arranged H dson that, while he himsel 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 Apollo ’ but m . nius, it was not co pleted till after Gregory s death

If Gregory was not universally appreciated at Oxford, f at the court he was in great avour, 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 o f the court was received with universal disapprobation .

His honours, however , were only enjoyed in anticipa tion, for the boy died before his duties as tutor had commenced . Gregory was now busy trying to compass some r efo r mations in the Oxford curriculum . He drew up a new ’ u - u scheme for an nder grad ate s course of study, which ’ Ch ar lett ‘ was sent by Dr 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,

r m cor ect, alter and i prove it, as may make the design most beneficial to you th (especially of the Nobility and Gentry) and redound most to the honour of the University f ’ and our Pro essors and the promotion of learning. Gregory’s plan was that the teaching should be given in English , which was certainly a sensible proposal, that

- u m the under grad ates should study so e Euclid , trigon o m e t r m y, algebra, echanics, catoptrics , and dioptrics , m o f astrono y, the theory the planets and navigation . 6 6 FAMOUS SCOTS

’ d The teacher , he said , should be always rea y to gratify the request of those who desire his instruction . I f 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 t wenty. The course here touched on was described very fully in the paper sent to ’ a . Mr Pepys, and Mr Pepys answer is r ther refreshing ‘ E E R E D S I R m R V N , As little qualified as I truly a , for offering aught u pon a scheme digested with the thoughtfulness and skill of its learned author, legible in every line of it, the terms nevertheless wherein you

u m req ire y opinion and advice concerning it, j oined with the dignity of its subject and q uality of the per sons for whom it is calculated, are so forcible, that I

m m cannot omit observing to you y issing two things . First — M us ie— a science peculiarly productive of a

u pleasure that no state of life, p blic or private, secular

ff m or sacred, no di erence of age or season, no te per of

n m u mi d, or condition of health exe pt from present ang ish, nor, lastly, distinction of quality, render either improper,

1 ' u M o th er untimely, or nentertaining . y want is what pos s ibly may be thought of less weight ; but what n ever th e less holds no lower a place with me on this occasion

e s w h o as w e n o fr o m h is r as e as fr o m Mr P py , , k w Dia y w ll e n w as s k e in m us c t us an o o r un t o f e r es s n Ev ly , ill d i , had h pp t i y xp i g i h s vie ws o n that s ubject. T H E ACADEMIC GREGORIES 6 7

fo r (whether 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 ffi less thought on, or (which is more) of less di culty in the attaining I m ean Perspective : not barely as falling within the explication of vision, or serving only to the laying down of objects of sight, but with the o f improvement it, to the enabling our honourable

u student gracef lly to finish and embellish the same ,

h ei h ten in s with its just g g and shadowings , as far as expressible in black and white ; thereby when in foreign travels to know how by his own skill to entertain h im

a o f i self in t king the appearances all he meets w th , as

m o f o f f re arkable , whether palaces or other abrics, ruins, ’ f . ortifications , ports, moles, or other public views 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

r f these proposals were car ied into ef ect then is uncertain, but the S avilian professor came into closer connection with Mr Pepys during the few years that elapsed before his death, being especially upon one occasion, made the

f u bearer of tender thanks rom the niversity to Mr Pepys, who had co m m issioned Sir Godfrey Kneller to paint Dr ’ Wallis portrait for the university . The drawing was done ’ in m an Dr Gregory s house, where the reverend old was

at h im happy and his ease, and the picture of is pleasant. In the list of the persons to whom rings and m ourning ’ were presented on the occasion o f Mr Pepys death and

h ar l tt funeral, Dr Gregory, Dr Wallis and Dr C e , are all 6 8 FAMOUS SCOTS

inserted as recipients of the most expensive rings . Others

n who received tokens of regard , though o t such costly Clo ude s l ones , were Sir y Shovel, and Sir George R ooke

2 Mr William Penn was honoured with a 0 5 . ring . In 1 7 0 4 Sir Isaac Newton became President of the R oyal Society, amidst general content . Prince Ge orge of

Denmark was interested in astronomy, and only wanted to be shewn h o w he could most wisely help this science

n o w forward ; and thought Sir Isaac, if the prince gave ’ F lam s t e e the money, there was no reason why ds labori ous and accurate observations of the heavens S hould 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 con s ider able f him di ficulty, persuaded 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 li m itations . Feeling that the papers before him conveyed absolu tely nothin g to his uninstructed

be m m mind, appointed some e bers of the Royal Society to act as referees and see that the publication of Flam ’ steed s Cat alogue of tlie Con s tella tion s 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

u had made up their minds to carry the business thro gh, T H E ACADEMIC GR EGORIES 6 9

’ and, as the dispensers of the prince s bounty, and pro te ct o r s of public interest, they drew up articles binding themselves as well as Flam steed and the printer to per form their relative obligations . S o slow and fretful how ff ever was the course of this joint e ort, that neither the princely benefactor nor Gregory, whom he had appointed a referee, lived to see the work completed .

1 0 2 B ook on tlz e Gregory had, in 7 , dedicated his

E lem en ts o As t r on om co m f y , to the prince, drawing a parison while he did it between Prince George of Denmark , t he patron of science, and that King of Denmark who had so wisely given to the great Danish astronomer, Tycho

U r an ibor — Brahe , the wonderful observatory of g the city f o 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

u sagacio s Kepler had got the scent of, but the Prince of

m Geo eters, Sir Isaac Newton, brought to such a pitch as

m surprises all the World , ight by my Care and Pains in

u illustrating them , become easier to s ch as are desirous f ’ o being acquainted with Philosophy and Astronomy. In t m this book there is a mos curious ixture of history, ’ o f h imagination, ideas Newton s , which the philosopher ad

m m h im . co unicated to , and observations It was of course, as was usual at that time, written in Latin, but Edmund

1 2 6 Stone translated it into English in 7 , and this was the book which Samuel Johnson read with so much accept ance in some of his dull days in the Island of Col! . Gregory imagined the stars as they would appear to the Of o f inhabitants the satellites Jupiter and Saturn , and

o gave to his bo k that inexpressible charm of individuality, 7 0 FAMOUS SCOTS

’ 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

u be haunted , and ro nd the doors was collected a crowd

o f o f not only undergraduates but of Fellows , and some

m f them Fellows of Trinity . Noticing that so e o 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 Cam bridge he was always full

m of essages for Sir Isaac, and when he left, equally so with messages from him . In this way he saw a good deal of all the i m portant mathematicians and astronomers then living in Great Britain , and very likely it added to his

1 0 h already considerable reputation . In 7 5 e was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians t h of Edinburgh , and on the 4 of October he took his seat

O at the Board . This was no doubt an honour btained for

h is f Pitcair n e m him by riend , who was then exa iner, but

w n Gregory could not spend much time a ay from E gland . When the negotiations for the Union between Scotland and England began , Gregory was appointed along with

f u o f o f Paterson , the o nder the Bank England , to decide

7 2 FAMOUS SCOTS

Go ve r n o ur Deskford and his . He is son to the Earle of

S e afie ld . , 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 i beyond sea . You w ll find him a sober and grave young

m a Nobleman . You y depend upon it, that he is what you and I wish all s uch as him in Church affairs and all thereunto belonging . I know I need say no more . ‘ u m Tho gh Dr Arbuthnot gott a pro ise 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

Win ds o r e .

‘ o u Before I see y again, I am like to be sent by My t h e Lord Treasurer into Scotland , to see that Mint there

m be regulated upon the sa e foot with that of the Tower, o f as to the Standart the Silver and Gold, the Pieces of

R at ein Stan dar din Moneys, the Weights, the g and g, and f the ormes and manner of keeping the Books of the Mint, and I have been somewhat taken u p with seeing and informing myself of everything of this nature in the

h O e Tower . I shall, I p 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 ’ co n ce r n d. ‘ As for what you propose to be done with the ’ Mulct e s S avile s , I am very clear for it, Sir Henry and ’ Dr Wallis s Ar mes 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, li m Your most o b dge dand most hu ble servant, ’ R . D . G R E G O Y THE ACADEMIC GREGORIES 7 3

m When the Union really ca e, it was very unpopular in

Scotland and rather unpopular in England . Dr Arbu thnot published in Edinburgh a pam phlet with the title A ’ s er m on pr eaelz ea to tlz e people a t tile M er ca t Cr os s of ’ r lz n E a in on g ; o tite s n ojeet of fir e Un ion . In it he forcibly argued against the foolish prej udice of his own country . He pointed out the inti m ate conjunction be ‘ tween Pride, Poverty and Idleness ( this is a worse union a great deal than that which we are to discourse of at ‘ ’ Better is he that laboureth, he said in ‘ u concluding, and abo ndeth in all things than he that ’ . boasteth himself, and wanteth bread The populace ,

m however, was by no means in the hu our to be cajoled ’ u h by any man s wit, and even Dr Arb t not, who, according to Samuel Johnson , was the greatest writer of Queen ’ f f Anne s reign , ound himsel unable to create anything

u but ungracio sness . Dr Arb uthnot was a very constant friend towards i Gregory, and the day was fast draw ng near when the

u u professor S hould tr ly req ire his help . Symptoms of

1 0 8 serious illness appeared in 7 , and Dr Gregory was f advised to try the effect o the waters at Bath . He felt

m f u f hi sel that his jo rney would be in vain , and o ten tried to prepare h is wife fo r his being taken from her very

u s uddenly. There was much to dist rb the quietness o f his mind , his children were ill in London , and he was u f f ll o anxiety for them and yet unable to go to them .

m After a wretched ti e at Bath , it was decided that he

m should return to London, but at Maidenhead he beca e

u m so ill, that he co ld not be oved . Dr Arbuthnot, who w as m f n sent for fro Windsor, ound him sinki g, and on the 1 0 th of October 1 7 0 8 he died . 7 4 FAMOUS SCOTS

The news was sent to Oxford by this kind physician in ’ Ch ar le t t f a letter to Dr , Gregory s best riend .

‘ A DE H E AD R E H O D I NN M I N , G Y UN ,

ues . f e r n o o n T 3§ a t ,

Oct . 10 1 , 7 08.

E AR S IR — D , This gives you the bad news of the death ’ d da of our dear friend , Dr Gregory, who y bout 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

f dis s waded to London this morning, rom which I happily [him! finding him in a dying condition: He has a child his only daughter dead at London of the small pox, of

o ff which neither he nor his wife knew anything , for I would not tell them the rest o f his family lye sick of the same disease, so you may easily guess what a disconsolate

u d condition his poor widow mu st find herself in . She wo l be glad to see you to advyce about his burying . My

adv c present thought and y e is to bury him at Oxford, where he is known , amongst those who will shew a great allm o s t deal of respect to his memory, and it is the same distance from this place as London . Mrs Gregory begs the favour to see you here if possible, being one of his

allwa es most intimate friends , whom he y confided in . I am in great grief and shall stay here as long as I can in

n hopes of seei g you . If I am not here you will find his

- - h in . brot er law, Dr Oliphant

I am , Dear Sir,

u Yo r most humble servant, ’ R B Jo . A U TH NOTT .

Dr Sin alr idge also wrote to h im . T H E ACADE MIC GREGOR I ES 7 5

Oct . 1 6t/z 1 7 08.

E E R E D S I R — R V N , You had sooner heard from me, but ’ that my thoughts o f late have been very much dis co m pos d e r ll by Se ve a Melancholy Objects . On Friday y last week o f m m I lost a dear child , who I was extre ely fond, and all

e that knew H im excused me for being so. I find all y

m e as ie Philosophy I have, little enough to ake me on this

m u sad Occasion . The I ages do at present ret rn thick

m u fil e pon Me, but I hope in a little time to find y less a i ’ u u tive . My wo nd wo ld have been sooner heal d had it not been kept open by the Occasions I have had to give ‘ m f Others y co fort which I have wanted mysel . On Tues day I went with Mrs Arbuthnot towards Brentford to meet Dr Gregory and his Wife who were expected that day f m from Maidenhead . My errand was to in orm y of the death of their Girl, of whom they were extremely fond ,

e they left Her well when they went to y Bath, and she died

e m on Friday was sennight . We e t not y coach We ex

ect e d u p , and when We returned, We fo nd a letter was sent from Mrs Gregory to her brother Dr Oliphant begging ‘ ° y he would come down to Maidenhead to y Dr, who was very Ill . She came to Town on Thursday Night a very disconsolate Widow . The Doctor died on Tuesday m orning and was buried on Wednesday - Night at Maiden

m head . A essenger was despatched to Ha m bledon to

f o u Him if . etch y to , you had been there Mr Lesley

° cam e from y Bath with H im and assisted Him in his

S m . m ickness, and in extre is Dr Arbuthnot fro Windsor

m Him m w o ca e to . It see s He al ays t ld his Wife that

S u - He ho ld be but short lived , and of late has often ’ de s ir dHer to be prepared for his being taken from Her

. u Clo ath s very quickly When his last S it of was made, 7 6 FAMOUS SCOTS

He said He should not live to wear them out . When

o ut m m He went of Town, He did not expect to co e ho e

° again alive ; and when He left y Bath to return He ‘ u u tho ght He sho ld not be able to reach y town . I am told that He has left his Family in very good Circum

m am stances . I afraid his tender con[cern! for y 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

e miss . I visited y Widow Yesterday, who bears her ‘ Afliict ion with as much patience and r esignation 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 Tr ea tis e on

r Pr actical Geom et y . 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 spendin g too

m u n little of his ti e in the observatory , and he was doubtedly greater as a mathematician than as an as t r o n o m er . It was as a pure mathematician that he held the high place which was his in the eightee nth century . CHAPTER V

D A D GR E GOR Y 1 6 6 - 1 6 VI , 9 7 7

‘ ’ T h ur o f t h n m e pict e e D ea s e e s a tr ue o n e .

— W . H AC E R A . . M T K Y

OF the four children who survived Professor David

Gregory, there was only one who inherited his taste for

m learning . This was his na e 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

u wrote upon the s bject, a man in fact who had more of a ’ ’ woman s cleverness than a man s ; and looking back on h im , 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

u f blessed in his very to ch, and through his li e, as he

n f f passed alo g his way, adorning dif erent o fices and posi

m n tions of growing i portance, there was always some toke ’ left behind h im that David Gregory s order- loving eye had

— f rested there the gardens had resh flowers, halls were beaut ifie d m u by statues, libraries beca e more spacio s , 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 1 4th of July

1 6 6 9 . He was educated at Westminster School, of which

w as o he a scholar, and there among the grey shad ws of 7 7 7 s FAMOUS SCOTS

London this aesthetic 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 pict ur esque queen that has ever reigned over England , in o f whose day by the mercy providence, more even than ’ m by the queen s wisdom , England became the istress of the seas . From Westminster he was elected to a studentship at

due Christ Church , and in course he took holy orders, Se m l and became the Rector of y in Wiltshire . It was not long, however, before he was back again in Oxford ,

1 2 f for George I . upon his foundation in 7 3 o the pro fe s s o r s h ip of Modern History (with which at that tim e 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 pains takin g no one can doubt ; for realising that the amount

fo r m an m of work was too large one to acco plish, he introduced several foreigners as teachers o f their own

u - u n language, and ntil such time as they were self s pporti g

m he provided for the out of his own salary . Fortunately his chair was a lucrative one .

B B 1 1 1 He took the degree of . on March 3 , 7 3 , and D th that of D . . on the 7 of July of the following year, and

four years later he was appointed Canon of Christ Church . f On undertaking this o fice he resigned his professorship .

While he was canon , it was one of his most congenial

ta sks to superintend the restoration of the Great Hall,

m and before it was co pleted, he presented busts of his

o f . early patron George I . and George II , who was then

80 FAMOUS SCOTS

One set was upon the death of George I . and the accession

m of George II ., while another poe 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

6 0 book to Oxford, used by the tourists of I 7 , there is not one , whose name is familiar, unless we count that of Dean o Gregory, who als might have passed into oblivion had it not been for his greater father . The next honour that came to Gregory was his appoint ment as Prolocutor of the Lower House of Convocation ,

m and later, he beca e the Master of Sherborne Hospital ’ ’ m . near Durha Christ s Hospital in Sherburn, which had originally been founded by Bishop Pudsey between 1 1 81

1 1 8 and 4 , for the benefit of lepers, and had by degrees , as d leprosy die 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

z u of Eli abeth , it was appointed that there sho ld be thirty brethren always living there, except some there be some ’ o f fe w times absent, by lack chamber, the lodgings being .

1 6 0 When therefore Dr Gregory, who was Master from 7

1 6 to 7 7 , came into power and built a beautiful stone

s f edifice, in which the e alms olk 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 term s as the best ’ u of Masters , even if the conclusion be somewhat eq i ’ ‘ f vocal . His benevolence , says he, was dif usive and general : Whilst Master of this Hospital, he did not f confine the poor old men , as hereto ore to the literal THE ACADEMIC GRE GORI ES 81

m allowance , which, good as it ight have been when f anciently settled on them by their ounder, was now beco m e a sad and scanty pittance ; but so far as it was in his power, made them enjoy the sense and spirit o f the benefaction . He demolished all the little wretched

u huts in which they were h ddled together before, and

m m erected a handsome co odious stone edifice, making

ff a m it to consist of twenty di erent ap rt ents, that each of

m the old men ight have one entirely to himself, and

m also constructed a large roo , in the centre of the build ing, for their common reception , and comfortably pro vide dit with every necessary accom modation but it m ust 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

m to the expense, and thereby put so ething into his own ’ pocket . What a curious conclusion to the praise o f

m Master Gregory, who, it must be reme bered, is at the ‘ ’ beginning o f the narration called the best of Masters ! - to accuse him of putt ing public charity money into ! his pocket at the end If we had to believe it, there would once m ore be nothing for his character except the extenuating circumstances of his connection with that Highland worthy Rob Roy ; bu t fortunately for the m m f e ory of Dean Gregory, there is another biography o h im u n f , p blished not so lo g a ter 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

u s o p blic money,

! Le t us n e e r n e e r o u v , v d bt, ’ W t o u ha n o bo dy is s ur e ab t.

Dean Gregory married Lady Mary Grey, the youngest F 82 FAMOUS SCOTS

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 abou t the dean and

o f his wife, as one writer was in the beginning this century, she must have felt her responsibility. He had three ’ ‘ m C sons, says this na eless hronicler, who being by their mother connected with the English aristocracy, took to ’ o ut . horses and dogs , and soon died 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

C m u not bring it upon his hildren , however ch they deserved

- . w it They were a great scandal, and ere, too, if one comes ’ o f f u . to think it, the only ail re in their father s life As a

n pare t he is highly extolled by an anonymous writer, and, f this in itsel is touching enough, showing that his love

m was of the sort that disappoint ent cannot kill, and that

s u in their very weakne s he did not give them p. Possibly

fo r life did teach him to mistrust his sons , he left his valuable library, in the event of none of his children fol

a m lowing learned calling, to his nephew, Dr Ja es Gregory

Pr of Edinburgh . The will was badly worded, so that o ’ fe s s o r m James Gregory s clai had to be disregarded , but ’ the books were at all events not seiz ed by his sons credi

m tors, and they re ained in the custody of Christ Church, and may now be fou nd in the uppermost chamber of the closely locked Wake archives . David Gregory ’s character was one which was much

m considered and criticised . Some of his conte poraries would allow him no good point, while others pronounced

u u eulogies on his every action . One s ch e logy, written o f an with no great literary skill, was perhaps the work THE ACADEMIC GREGORIES 83

intimate acquaintance, stung into reply by the many attacks upon the me m ory of his friend . Of his social character f f this unknown biographer writes, That cheer ul, easy af a bilit fo r y which he was so remarkably distinguished , gained h im ff o f the love and a ection all around him , which con trib uted very considerably to his institutions taking root

m u so readily, and in so short a ti e flourishing so s ccess fully : abroad he cond ucted hi m self with that dignity which his situation as governor of a great college necessarily r e

u q ired though , under his own roof, he stripped himself o f it all, and became, to everyone indiscriminately, the easy and fam iliar com panion : he conducted himself in

u m short , througho t, in such an ad irable manner, that he

r e was not only loved and esteemed , but honoured and s e ct ed f p ; and as he was in his li e most sincerely valued , ’ so was he in his death truly and universally lam ented .

u u There is no do bt that Gregory was a pop lar dean .

He was , like so many of the Deans of Christ Church , a

m u an d m West inster st dent, his appointment, oreover, was all the more acceptable because he cam e immediately

Co n bear e - - after Dr y , the only non Christ Church man f that has ever held that o fice .

u um In his days the whole niversity was rather unill ined,

u and Christ Ch rch was no exception . Lord Shelburne,

n referri g only to his own college, says it was very low, and as a proof o f his statement adds that ‘ no one who was there in m y tim e has m ade m uch figure either as a ’ i m n publ c a or man of letters . But Gregory did his work well as far as in h im lay ; he died in 1 7 6 7 at a ripe old

m h age, in uch onour, in much affection , and now lies f buried beside his wi e in Christ Church Cathedral . C HAPTER V I

AM E S GR E GOR E 1 6 6 6 - 1 2 CH AR LE S GR E R E J I , 7 4 GO I ,

1 6 81 - 1 D A D G R E GOR E 1 1 2 - 1 6 7 5 4 ; V I I , 7 7 5

’ T h e t o f t h e c r — A D R E A Ci y S a let Go w n N W L N G .

AT Kin air dy on the 2 9t h o f April 1 6 6 6 a fifth son was born to David Gregorie . This was James, of whom pro

m bably because he was only one among any, there is no individual record till his nam e occurs in the list of the graduates in Arts in the Edinburgh University in May

u 1 6 85 . The likelihood is that his early ed cation was

him f s given by his ather, who, notwith tanding his work

m u m as an a ateur physician, fo nd ti e to superintend the

o f studies his children . Little is known of their college

Pitcair n e friends, but Archibald , who afterwards became the Professor of Medicine, first in Edinburgh and then in

Leyden , was constantly with them , and many happy vacations spent at Kin air dy 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

u elder brother, he was m ch 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 84 T H E ACADEMIC GREGO R IES 85

Cam bridge . There is extant a thesis by this Professor

V u James Gregorie dedicated to isco nt Tarbat, in which

o f A. M after a list of scholars, candidates for the degree .,

- five there follow twenty propositions, most of which are ’ a com pendium of Newton s P r in czpia . 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 o f things gr anted in ’ order to find what is sought . This was published in

1 6 9 0 . Professor Gregorie occupied the Chair of Philosophy

but at St Andrews until the Revolution , then his love

m fo r the discrowned king co pelled him to resign . H e could not bring him self to take the oath o f allegiance

W few to illiam and Mary, and thus for a years he was

h . fo r h im wit out any settled work Happily , however,

his 1 6 2 David elder brother was in 9 , by the influence of

a m S avilian f m Sir Isa c Newton, ade Pro essor of Astrono y f at Ox ord, thus leaving a vacancy in the Chair of Mathe m atie s at Edinburgh . He, too, had been somewhat

u under a clo d because of his love for the Stuarts, and although his greatness had prevented the party which was f in power from ejecting him rom his post, yet his life had

m uffi u m f t been ade s ciently nco or able for him .

But now things were changed . Feeling was no longer hot and bitter, and James succeeded to his chair in

1 6 2 9 , with a prospect of a long and quiet tenure of it . At t h e time of his election the College revenues were h ad low, and he to accept the chair on a diminished

a i u m 0 sal ry of n ne h ndred erks , or £ 5 sterling, in ’ u addition to the st dents fees . In the end Gregorie ’ o f certainly got his money s worth out the university, 86 FAMOUS SCOTS

fo r fift - an d he retired at y nine , owing to age infirmity, and then lived for seventeen years, during which time

u - Colin Macla rin , who had been made joint professor

h im with , got no salary. His case was indeed a piteous

m one, and Sir Isaac Newton ade him a yearly allowance ‘ ’ 2 0 him of £ , towards providing for , till Mr Gregorie s ’ m place beca e void . The entries in the Records of ’ Maclaur in Marischal College , Aberdeen , concerning s conduct there, or rather not there, are quaint. ‘ — D ecem ber 2 1 2 . On M L aur in e 3 , 7 4 consideration that has been abroad and not attended to his char ge for near thir three years the Council appoint Mr Daniel Gordon , one ! of the regents who had form erly taught Math e m aticks at ” the University of St Andrews to teach the class during ’ the current session . ‘ ‘ — a n u ar 2 0 1 2 . M L aur in e j y , 7 5 having returned a

: I s t Committee is appointed to confer with him anent ,

z ud his going away without Liberty from the Counsell . , ’ His being so long absent from his charge . ‘ A r il 2 1 2 — M L aur in e p 7 , 7 5 . appears before the n ’ Cou cil, e xpresses regret, and is reponed .

- ! ! ; — t ita 1 2 1 2 6 . l at n} , 7 The Council, learning by the

' ” ‘ Publidt News Prints that M L au r in e has been ad m itted

' cOn jun ct pr o fe s s o r with Mr James Gregorie in the Uni ’ o f ffi a . versity Edinburgh , declare his o ce vac nt It is a question whether there were not times when Colin Maclau rin thought that the safe salary which he would have enjoyed at Marischal College might h ave

f u been pre erable to his Edinb rgh 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

88 FAMOUS SCOTS

Be n ee m o f f u thi k th , Willia , thy a lt, Thy pl e dge an db r o k en o ath An d e m e c m m e n vo w giv ba k y aid ,

An dgive m e back m y tr o th .

Why did you pr o m i s e l o ve to m e An dn o t that pr o m is e k e e p ? Why did yo u s we ar m in e eye s we r e bright Y e t le ave tho s e e ye s t o we e p ?

H o w co uld yo u s ay m y face w as fai r An dye t that face fo r s ake ? H o w co uld yo u w in m y vir gi n h ear t Ye t l e ave that h ear t t o br eak ?

Why did yo u s ay m y lip w as s wee t An dm ad e th e s car l et pal e ? An d o un es s m why did I , y g witl aid , B e lie ve th e flatte r i n g t ale ?

f ce s n o m o r e is f r That a ala ai , Thes e lips n o lo n ger r ed r ar e m e e s n o w c o s e in e Da k y y , l d d ath , An d r r m i fl e ve y cha s ed.

T h e h un gr y wo r m m y s i s ter is This wi n di n g S h eet I w e ar An dco ld a n dwear y las ts o ur n ight

Till that las t m o r n appear .

But r t h e co c h as r n e m e en ce ha k k wa d h , A lo n g an dlas t adieu o m e s e e f s e m a n h o w lo w s h e es C , al , li ’ Wh o dy dfo r lo ve o f yo u.

T h e r s un o u th e m o r n n s m e la k g l d , i g il d Wi t h b e am s o f r o s y r ed Pal e William s ho o k in e ve r y lim b dr f i An avi n g l e t h s bed.

H e e h im to th e f t ce hy d a al pla , ’ Wh e r e Mar gar et s bo dy lay An ds tr e t ch e d h im o n th e gr as s gr e en tur f T r h r r hat w apt e b e athl e s s clay . THE ACADEMIC GREGOR I ES 89

’ An dth r ice h e call e d o n Mar gar e t s n a m e An d r ce h e e fu s o r e th i w pt ll , Th en laid h is che e k t o h er co ld gr ave ’ An dwo r d s pake n e ve r m o r e .

‘ M Gr e o r The author of this poem was not only a g , but

‘ M Gr e o r R 01 0 like the Gregories , a g of , and though he

m o f had changed his name, as did so many me bers that u f n ortunate clan, the tradition was always kept up in his fam ily. e Charles Gregorie, a half brother of Prof ssor James ,

m who was for a ti e Snell Exhibitioner at Balliol, was created by Queen Anne in 1 7 0 7 Professor of Math ematics

C - at St Andrews, which hair he held for thirty two years

u u ntil s u ch time as his son co ld be appointed in his stead .

u He was q iet, studious, and able, but little is known of

h im .

h im David Gregorie, who succeeded , does not bear

m an quite so gentle a character, but he was a much abler and one who could m ake his personality felt wherever he went .

After his own schooldays were over, he became tutor to the sons o f 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 Mathem atical Chair . As a professor he was very popular, and if he tried to extend his influence beyond

- m m but his class roo , he eant nothing kindness . This was not always understood . One of his students wrote an

u a tobiography, in which he described the ardour with w hich Mr Gregorie insisted that he should attend the

— u fo r h services at the church ardo r whic Mr . Stockdale was not grateful and to requ ite which he put the pro 9 0 FAMOUS SCOTS

’ ‘ ’ fe s s o r s name into his i m mortal autobiography as that

m of a bigot, who had co pelled him to attend the kirk . ’ Thomas Reid, when studying his cousin s character and

m especially his whiggery and Presbyterianis , so curiously unlike the rest o f his family, remembered that he, like

m hi self, was descended from the second wife of David

Kin air d Gregorie of y, and had inherited her principles both in religion and politics . There is an other incident in his life more likely to recall

‘ o f M Gr e o r those of his connections who bore the name g , and the record of it see m s odd enough and Old- world enough in our eyes . The report is that of a lawsuit which the

L at h o ckar . professor had against Mr Wemyss of Gregorie, ‘ ’ it seems, who loved sport, was hunting for partridges over the broad meadowlands o f Leu chars . He was acco m

an ied p by a man called Baird , who carried a second gun for Professor Gregorie . Suddenly Mr Wemyss sprang upon this m an and seiz ing his gu n refused to return

f — it . The pro essor was furious Baird was carrying a second gun for him, he was no common fowler, no higgler from whom a gun cou ld 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

m was no possible re edy but the courts , and in due course, the matter came up before the Sheriff. Gregorie claimed

u n fo r the restitution of his g , and damages the way in which he had been treated . As regards his first request,

m his clai was granted , but on the second point the judgment was not so favourable for — is it possible ? ’ there was a doubt in the Sheriff s m ind as t o whether Gregorie himself had a right to be shooting over the grounds of Leuchars . It had ceased to be a question TH E ACADEMIC GREGORIES 9 1

in only concern g Baird, and in the end, the Professor of ’ Mathe m atics in St Andrew s University was refused damages on the ground that he hi m self was poaching ! 1 o f The owner Leuchars was a minor, and as one of his tutors Professor Gregorie had never doubted his right to ’ but shoot over the estate, he went back to St Andrew s with new ideas on the limitations of his privilege .

1 6 fif - His life ended in 7 5 , when he was only ty three . m He published one book, which was a Co pendium of

— an - Algebra 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

: - m life a well bred, sensible gentle an , and much esteemed ’ as a laborious and excellent teacher .

1 o e r e r us s o n th e o e r o e o e m in th e S co s e R b t F g p t, w t a p t dial ct , o n f s r o fe s s o r r e r th e d e at h o thi P David G go ie . CHAPTER V II

AM E S GR E GOR E 1 6 - 1 J I , 7 4 7 3 3

AME S GR E GOR E 1 0 - 1 J I , 7 7 7 5 5

’ Ther e s an o ldUn ive r s ity to wn Be e e n th e D o n an dt h e D ee tw , Lo o n o e r th e r e s n un e s ki g v g y a d d , ’ h o o r ea L o o kin g o ut o n t e c ld N th S .

— D R W . C . S M ITH .

’ 1 AFTE R her husband s sudden death Mrs James Gregorie returned to Aberdeen . She did not wish to live in Edin

u b rgh , which was now so full of sad memories for her, and in the streets o f w hich she had not had time to

m f become ore than a way arer . She had shared Professor ’ u Gregorie s brilliant pop larity, but the round of gaiety had brought them inti m ate acquaintances rather than f u riends , and in her desolation her heart t rned to the

o f home her childhood, and back to the more kindly and north she took her three children, her two little girls i Jam es about whom th s chapter is written . Thus it came h that this boy was broug t up, like the generation before

. him, at the Grammar School of Aberdeen

It was a good school, and did much for its boys, beating

if u education into them they wo ld 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,

r o fes s o r m s r e C t e r . P Ja e G go r ie . f . Chap III TH E ACADEMIC GREGORIES 9 3 ’

n m but when he incli ed to beco e a doctor, it was decided that he should go abroad and get a French degree, an ar r r an e m e n t 1 6 6 g to which he acceded with joy, and in 9 at the age of twenty- two he set o ut fo r a time on the

. f m m continent Once away ro ho e, with no one to con

bu t m f sider hi sel , he turned to what was really the centre

f — m f o greatest interest in Flanders the ca p o William III . Merry were the days he passed there and full of excite m ent, so that perhaps there was one person who was only half glad when the Peace of Ryswick brought the w ar in

Flanders to an end . But it was better fo r his work that he S hould go further w afield . On therefore he ent, lingering first at Utrecht,

m be then at Paris before he reached Rhei s , where secured 6 his degree in September 1 9 8. How m uch study Gregorie

m put into these years it is i possible to ascertain . Medicine, and more especially surgery, were pretty barbaric arts in

u u m those days, but this st dent, it sho ld be re embered , was

u bu t . always a Gregorie, and co ld not learn Just before he came back to England he spent a fe w weeks in the French camp, and after this he accepted an

m f But invitation to take a practice at Chel s ord, Essex . alas ! James Gregorie found that he cou ld not settle down

a to country life, and so to the regret of his patients he

u i m took a h rr ed farewell of the , and went back to that town from which his forbears had com e — to the grey city

‘ ’ lookin g o ut 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

f Sh e home , and rom between her guardian rivers watches her sons as they go forth and is glad over their success . 9 4 FAMOUS SCOTS

So it was in the past, so is it now, and so may it be while the world lasts . In the beginning o f the eighteenth century Aberdeen was by no means a dull place, and indeed Dr Gregorie,

u one suspects, may sometimes have wished it to be d ller, as for example when Rob Roy d uring the brief time of his success was raising recruits for the Jacobite cause amongst

m his clans en there . The Earl of Mar, into whose hands

er fid r e the p y of Montrose had thrown Rob Roy, had quested him to bring as many of his clansmen into the

m Stuart ca p as he could muster. While he was occupied with this task, he lived with Dr Gregorie, for, however m uch the physician may have deplored his connection with

u f that too notorio s person, he could never af ord 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 ‘ ’ ’1 little son and mak a man 0 him . Rob Roy thought him far too good to waste upon doctoring, and if the C sunny hild had got his way, he would have followed the cateran in that delicious life of adventure w hich he painted

- a life of hunting and fighting and success . But Dr Gregorie was much alarmed ; he must not offend

h im but his cousin , not only because he loved , 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

o f what a Highland boy his years would be, said the

n m doctor, but all this depreciatio only ade Rob Roy the

’ 1 ce n e m e S co in B e N co r e s o ffe r t o t e S i itat d by tt, aili i l Ja vi ak ’ — o s s o n s m e s an d o er t o r e n t ce . R obR o . . R b Ja R b t app i y , Ch xxxiv

9 6 FAMOUS SCOTS and communicated the circumstance to Mr Alexander ’ Forbes, a connection of Dr Gregory by m arriage . There is also a gossiping paragraph about this Dr ’ de s r i Gregorie, or rather about his house, in Orem s c p f tion of Old Aberdeen , written a ter he was made ’ Mediciner in King s College, a post to which he was

1 appointed in 7 2 5 . ‘ Dr Gregorie hath repaired his lodging belonging to

1 2 t u t o o fall the college anno 7 7 and ha h b ilt to it a , fo r giving it a better entry to the rooms than it had

t o o fall formerly, in which 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

wh e r o f to enclose his glebe, a part he hath enclosed with

afo r s aid a stone dyke, and planted it within the year, and hath enclosed the rest of his forsaid glebe this year The scene rises before us of the physician taking his in t f t er e s ed riend, the town clerk, over his house and grounds.

f - It sounds most attractive, both the ront hall and the study, and certainly the visitor appreciated everything when he

u took the tro ble to write it down in his book . Gregorie also improved the salm on - fis hin g in the Don by b uilding a stone ram part across the river which was called Gregorie’s Dyke ’ and can still be seen from the Bridge of ‘ ’ f- Don . In return for this , a hal net s fishing was granted to him and his heirs for ever, and this has now devolved

m upon a descendant of Dr Ja es 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 T H E ACADEMIC GREGORIES 9 7

fitf l f u u . His predecessor Pro essor Urq hart had given ‘ ’ w some Publick Lessons on this subject, but no here is it mentioned that either Dr James Gregorie or his son followed his example . Their work consisted chiefly in M deciding which candidates were to be granted the D . degree, and in taking a share in the university life . The mediciner was not a regent and was thus saved the con tin uo us worry and supervision which fell to the lot of most of the professors . AS for the giving of degrees it was almost entirely a per ff sonal a air, and a doctor of medicine did not by any means

u need to know much of his s bject . 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.

8 1 0 1 th September, 7 .

Mr George Cheyne allowed to be gr aduat doctor in ’ r a tis o w n e medicine g , because he s not onely our country man, and at present not rich, but is recommended by the ablest and most learned ph ys itian s in Edinburgh as one of th e best mathematicians in Eu rope and for his skill in m edicine he hath given a sufficient indication of that

t r act at F e br ibus by his learned de , 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 ’ m embers of the R oyal Society . The affairs of King’s College left much to be desired

1 0 at this time . As early as 7 9 , there had been friction

n u betwee the professors and st dents, the latter of whom G 9 8 FAMOUS SCOTS

‘ 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 inter ’ ve n in fo r f g years ; , when Pro essor James Gregorie s son was mediciner, things had come to such a pass that the university had to m ake special and almost pathetic ff e orts to secure students .

2 r d 1 8 3 October, 7 3 .

‘ It being represented to the university, that the want of an accomplished gentlewoman fo r teaching white and ’ coloured seam, was an occasion of several gentlemen s sons being kept fro m this college, their parents in clin in m g to send them , where they ight have suitable education for their daughters also ; and that one Mrs ff Cuthbert, now residing in this town, had given su icient proof of her capacity and diligence the university j udged it reasonable to advance her twelve pounds

Scots , out of the revenue belonging to the college for the ’ f ensuing year . A ter 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 f university were success ul . Jam es Gregorie as mediciner received a salary of 1 80

2 6 1 8 m pounds Scots, bolls bear, bolls eal ; and on his

2 0 th 1 2 resigning his chair on the December 7 3 , his son

eo an James was appointed to fill the vacancy, to receive

m un ifice n t in his turn this salary, and to live in the fascinating manse .

m Dr Gregorie arried first, Catherine, second daughter of

F m but Sh e Sir John orbes of Mony usk, died young ; his second wife was a daughter o f Principal Chalmers (one of

CHAPTER V II I

H R E OR Y 1 2 - 1 J O N G G , 7 4 7 7 3

T h e o o - n ur e s z e o f his e s on an ds e t o f his f ce s eem to g d at d i p r a , S ho w that Philos o phy is n o t th e t hin g of to il an dan gui s h it o n ce w as ’ - m n O E R T . BAR O R t o e . R B W B U .

FR OM 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

1 2 . m 7 4 He came with his other 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 .

m His brother, the ediciner 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 l ff Leyden, was the best suggestion that they cou d o er him, and it turned out excellently.

His professors in Edinburgh were Professor Monro,

an d (the first), who daily strove to make dry bones live , P ’ succeeded ; rofessor Sinclair, who expressed Boerhaave s teaching in his own very beautiful Latin ; Dr Ruther o f ford , the grandfather Sir Walter Scott, who taught

1 00 T H E ACADEMI C G R EGORI ES 1 o 1

P the ractice 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 Goldsm ith attended the university some ten years

m afterwards, and he did not think uch of any of them , ’ m except Professor Monro, to who he gave his heart s admira ‘ ’ tion . 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.

f s As for Pro essor Alston , he has left behind him the note of his lectures, and they are very curious, though not

u f la ghable, for a ter 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 r eco m ’ u mended for cancer, conv lsions and headache . But, all h the same, t ink of John Gregory taking notes of such wr w teaching, sitting up late at night to ite do n how vipers

- must be used for ague and small pox, and picture his watching the cure of the lady with a headache who

u - - could be ind ced 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

- u worthy of a medicine man , there was yet througho t the university an awakening spirit of life and of enquiry . R The oyal Medical Society, which Cullen had founded

1 1 2 in 7 3 5 , and which John Gregory attended in 7 4 , was the scene of the most lively debates upon every subject 1 0 2 FAMOUS SCOTS

i in medic ne and philosophy. Little was taken for granted , ’ and everything was questioned . In Gregory s year its charm

Aken s i was greatly enhanced by the presence of Mark de, 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 Ake n s ide when 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,

Gaubius and then went to Leyden to study under Albinus, ,

V an . and Royen Albinus was an anatomist . His e n gr av ings were much clearer than those procured by anyone else at that time , but he was not a great lecturer, only Gaubius painstaking and observant . In , however, the

m an university had a strong , a vivid teacher, and an if original thinker, and Gregory had needed inspiration, he would have found it in his teaching. To John Gregory Holland was delightful country

o f when contrasted with the cold east Scotland, where even the roads were almost impassable in bad weather.

u In Holland he made his way along s nlit 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 uni versity town, along the banks of the old Rhine, and round the path on the top of the wall . Everything was new, and everything was for eign . He chose rooms for himself at a well- known lodging on the Long Bridge. Mademoiselle van der Tasse arranged her house especially for English m n I t e . paid her better, and besides, the fat little French woman could talk English , and knew how to please, and

1 0 4 FAMOUS SCOTS

! 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 express ing 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 su pper parties — these ’ Leyden suppers of red herring, eggs and salad . Gregory s

r great subjects were religion, and the equal, if not supe ior, talents of women as compared with men . Everybody made ‘ u fun of him , for he co ld 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 . ’ Mon ckl Nicholas y was a great friend of Gregory s, but more because it brought h im into notice than because of i t any love . He saw that Gregory could be w t y, so he u sed to talk to him in private about subjects of interest, and then bringing the same matter up for discussion at their ’ u evening entertainments, wo ld give out his friend s opinions

u as if they had been his own . Gregory was m ch amused with this , and after a few evenings took Carlyle into his confidence, whereupon these two played many pranks upon

M n ckl poor o y, leading him out of his depth, or contra

i t in . t r adc g him The sport was given up, because the victim was too unconscious of their satire , and when they ’ m f ade their cha f plain , he would come into Gregory s

m m . bedroo , and co plain even with tears Wilkes , who

m tried too , but with greater success , to be a leader a ong the students, used to leave Leyden when he felt tired of ‘ it, and spend a few days in Utrecht with Immateriality ’ m e n Baxter . These two were really attached to one T H E ACADEMIC GR EGORIES 1 6 5

and another, 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

u thus disting ished, he turned his face again towards home .

Mo n ckl via He , along with Carlyle and y, travelled Helvoet,

Harwich , and London . In the boat they found a charm

m V ing co panion in ioletti , who was on her way to fulfil an

m f . engage ent at the Haymarket Theatre, and to ame She became Mrs Garrick, and lived happily in her villa, near

1 82 2 London , till , 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 ff Aberdeen he was o ered the Chair of Philosophy , which meant in those days that he should teach mathematics ,

a natur l philosophy and moral philosophy, and be a l regent . His former study did not exactly ead to this, and people m ust 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 o f time to be several things in the leisurely eighteenth century.

1 1 That was what John Gregory thought, so from 7 4 7 to 7 4 9 f he was a Regent o Philosophy. Although regents had been abolished both in Edinburgh

f 1 6 and Glasgow Universities be ore 7 4 , in Aberdeen they were still retained , and from the statement quoted in Mr ’ Rait s book on the Universities of Aberdeen , I take the ’ o f following paragraph, descriptive of the attitude King s ‘ College in regard to this subject . Every Professor o f Philosophy in this University is also tutor to those who 1 0 6 FAMOUS SCOTS

study under him , has the whole direction of their studies,

an d o f the training of their minds, the oversight their manners ; and it see m s to be generally agreed that it m u st be detrimental to a student to change his tutor every session and though it be allowed that a pro fossor 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 ’ but sessions . So it was not only to teach, to train the ‘ ’ minds, and overlook the manners of his students , that

wa John Gregory was called . He s 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 unat th tractive . To quote from a letter dated September 4 ,

1 6 m 7 5 , from Tho as Reid , who held the Chair of Philo f f sophy shortly a ter his cousin, which is ull of much interesting inform ation as to what the work o f a regent n ’ ‘ was like The stude ts here, he says, have lately been compelled to live within the College . We need but look o u t at our windows to see when they rise and when they go to bed . They are seen nine or ten ti m es throughout the day statedly , by one or other of the masters

— u at public prayers , school ho rs, 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

m discipline hath indeed taken so e pains and resolution, ’ as well as some expense, to establish it .

1 0 8 FAMOUS SCOTS

Sh e was to other people, 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 Mr s 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

R as s elas another, when Johnson forgot that she had called 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 l of her sex, and a l the world reading her essay on Shake speare believed that she h ad saved his fame from the V calumnies of oltaire . Into this admiring circle Gregory

m an d was ad itted was himself enjoyed and appreciated , and it is possible that he might also in the end have

u sec red a practice if he had continued to live in the south. But in 1 7 5 6 his brother James died leaving a vacan cy 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

u ideas and wider c lture ; and , although the rest of his life was passed within the somewhat narrow li m its of university towns, he never became provincial .

Teaching was not one of his duties as mediciner . A ffi few years apprenticeship to any doctor su ced for training, and gave the students all the preparation they desired for

a degree . John Gregory and Dr Skene fretted against THE ACADEMIC GREGORI ES 1 0 9

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 i it was impossible to teach the Pract ce of Physic, and the attempt had to be given up for the time . Then it was that Thomas Reid and Gregory planned i h the Philosoph cal Society, w ich was nicknamed by the ‘ ’ people who did not belong to it the Wise Club . It met ’ after five Oclock dinner at a queer little tavern called the

Red Lion Inn . A paper was read and its subject dis

o n cussed . There was wine a side table, but no healths were allowed to be drunk, and at an early hour the dis cus s iOn s . 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 dis ’ r eadie course not , which his cousin the philosopher, who f kept the minutes never ailed 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 f pro essor. On these nights when no essay w as read the

Society had to content itself with philosophic discussion , the nature of which was arranged at the previous meet ing . There was for them always , however, one never ’ failn subject in David H u m e s Sceptical Speculation ‘ Your company, although we are all good Christians, ’ m would be ore acceptable than that of Athanasius, wrote

1 6 O Reid in 7 3 to his great pponent, and it was true . To Gregory there were moreover fields for speculation on 1 I 0 FAMOUS SCOTS

education , on what medicine had done for men, on the i distinct on 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 i which he uttered at the Ph losophical Society. Man y ’ . G Tas te books had their origin in this club erard s on , ’ ’ E s s a on Tr u tlz Tr ea tis e o n llf ir acle Beattie s y , Campbell s s , ’ Plz ilos o lt o R netor ic and p y f , and John Gregory s Com ’ ar a tive View o M a n a n dtir e An im al Wor lo p f , 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 h f d of the icy morning bat , which be ore his day was e r igu eur in every nursery. Long after his teaching days were over there were still fou nd homes where his broad

[Mem oir s o sensible views had not penetrated , and in the f ’ ’ a fflgfila n a L aay Miss Grant gives a ter rible description of her own early days

‘ - 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

u . before the dreadf l shock How I screamed, begged ,

- prayed, entreated to be saved, half the tender hearted

m e maids in tears beside , 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

1 1 2 FAMOUS SCOTS

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 res ign ’ 1 6 his chair at King s College, but in 7 5 Sir Alexander

L e s m r e - Gordon of o was appointed as joint professor. ’ 1 John Gregory settled in 5 St John s Street, Edinburgh, 1 6 n in 7 4 . His house was pleasa tly situated on a hill, and ’ Mo n bo ddo s was almost next door to Lord , between whom

e and Gregory there presently sprang up a gr at intimacy .

Practice came fast to Gregory, but celebrity greater than that which comes to a practitioner, however successful, a made his first year in Edinburgh a ye r of triumph . Only a few months before, he had sent his manuscript of A Compar a tive View of tlze S t ate a n dF aculties of M a n w itlt ’ t os e o tlze An im al Wor la lz f to Lord Lyttelton, and now the book had been published in London and received with such an enthusiasm that even Gregory and his

. d patron were greatly astonished London rea 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 l ‘ was most praised was the sty e . 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 T H E ACADEMIC GR EGORIES 1 1 5

Com ar ative Viez o p , which in respect to natural ease and un affected 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 co m position in Eng lish 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 m any laudatory reviews of the book, and by no means the most flattering, and it says ’ fo r o f a great deal John Gregory s sense that, in spite this ffi lionising, he came so successfully through the di culties 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

w m that he stood as it were as a rival of Cullen, for ho he had throughout life the profoundest regard . But never t h ele s s this was the case . In 1 7 6 6 matters cam e to a climax in the appointment

f o f o Gregory to the Chair the Practice of Physic, made vacant by the retirement of Professor Rutherford . There

m f u was an i mediate and urious o tcry against this election ,

u which was known to be mostly due to family infl ence.

m Gregory was a great man , and proved hi self a brilliant

u teacher, but at this time he was absol tely untried , whereas Cullen had already m ade hi m self 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 f medicine was sent after the death of Dr Whytt, Pro essor of the Theory of Medicine , suggesting the advisability of asking Professor Gregory to resign the Chair of the Practice H 1 1 4 FAMOUS SCOTS

of Physic, which he then held, and accept the less import e ant one of the Theory of M dicine, 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

C good of the ity, and our improvement will all in an

u eminent manner, be cons lted by engaging Dr Gregory to relinquish the Professorship of the Practice for that

o f of the Theory Medicine, by appointing Dr Cullen ,

f o f m present Pro essor Che istry, to the practical chair, ’ and by electing Dr Black Professor of Chemistry . After Of a dissertation on the qualifications Dr Cullen , they proceed . Nor is this our opinion of Dr Cullen meant f in the least to detract rom the merits of Dr Gregory .

m On the contrary, a principal otive to our expressing the sentiments we do on this occasion is the high opinion f ’ we entertain o that gentleman s capacity . By a late very

t r i elegant and ingenious performance, by everybody at

u b ted to him , we imagine it is evident what advantages the Un iversity 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 e n ot pleasure too, we refl ct, that his character is less respectable as a man , than as a Philosopher . We there f u ore cannot suppose, that were the p blic emolument to be obtained even at the expense of his private interest,

u he wo ld not rejoice to make the honourable sacrifice, far less that he would, in the least hesitate to favour a

u scheme for promoting the public tility, when his private ’ advantage is consistent with it .

This can hardly have been pleasant reading for Gregory,

1 1 6 FAMOUS SCOTS

to believe Dr Carlyle, and in fact he is rather bitter upon ‘ ’ ‘ u fo r the s bject, calls her a faded beauty, a candidate ’ s h e glory, and says might have been admired by the first ‘ order o f m inds had she not been greedy of more praise ’ than she was entitled to . Even he, however, acknow ledged her a wit, a critic, an author of some fame, pos sessing some parts and knowledge, which is praise to a

u certain point, tho gh not to the point which Mrs Mon ‘ tagu e would have desired ! Old Edinburgh was not a ’ u m u climate for the s ccess of i post res , writes the minister of Inveresk , and then to support his judgment with a ‘ little legal weight, he added , Lord Kames, who was at e first catched with her Parnassian coqu try, 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 J 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 R oder ick

R a n dom S in anything but a kindly pirit, and the Gregories ‘ ’ n m e were otoriously Love , love my dog people . He

l m R r lived on terms of c ose inti acy with Dr obe tson, Dr

Blair, David Hume, John Home , Lord Kames, Lord

Mo n boddo . , and Lord Woodhouselee He was a member

P be of the oker Club, though he went there very seldom , cause o f the way he was laughed at when he uttered his favourite doctrine of the superiority of women over men . o f but This at least was the gossip the time, there is just TH E ACADEMIC GREGORIES 1 1 7 a possibility that he thought his own com pany more entertaining than the constant attendance at the Poker f m f ro three in the a ternoon till eight at night, and though no one knew it, he was busy drawing up a book of advices fo r du f u his a ghters against the time, which he elt co ld not

o ff m be very far , when he would no longer be with the . ‘ MY DE AR GI R LS — You had the misfortune to be de pr ive dof your Mother at a ti m e of life when yo u were in

u sensible of your loss, and co ld 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 m any melancholy reflections on the forlorn and helpless situation you must be in if it should please God to remove m e from you before you arrive at that period of f fo r li e, when you will be able to think and act yourselves . I have been supported under the gloom by a r e lian ce on the Goodness o f that Providence which has v hitherto preserved you, and gi en me the most pleasing prospect of the goodness of your dispositions, and by the secret hope that your Mother’s virtues will entail a bless ’ ing on her children . was This the spirit in which the book was written , and though it is a type of book which has entirely passed

m out of fashion, it is interesting to read it and re ember 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 1 l 8 FAMOUS SCOTS

possess, it must be guarded with great discretion and ’ u good nat re, 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

m — of the co pany But if you happen to have any learning, ’ m keep it a profound secret, especially fro the men ‘ Beware of detraction, especially when your own sex are concerned . You are generally accused of being par ticu lar ly addicted to this vice — I think unjustly— Men are fully as guilty of it when their interests interfere. As

m f your interests ore requently 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 . ‘ m ake I do not want to you anything, I want to know what f ’ Nature has made you, and to per ect you on her plan . ’ A F at/z er s L egacy t o kis D auglz tcr was intended only for ’ his own girls, and was not published till after Dr Gregory s death . Dur ing his time in Edinburgh he brought out

Com ar a tive Vziezv L ect ur es on t/z e D uties a n d besides his p ,

uali at ion s o a Plz s icia n Q fic f y , which were his introductory

E lem en ts o tlz e Pr actice o Plz s ic lectures , and f f y , a first volume of a text- book for his students which he did not live to complete . He thought m edicine required a more comprehensive mind than any other profession , and often brought m uch besides mere technical knowledge into -his

u lectures . As a speaker he was simple, nat ral 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

It v fil be thought dth e com pan y— l

‘ Ben r e of detra.

con cer n ed. You a

M r fl s uflty of

fr equen t. For t h i r eputation of you to rival you in o n T H E ACADEMIC } R E GOR I E S

a f in so expensive a commodity books , I must a ford to ’ w s pu rchase at least the poetical rk of Beattie . Gregory’s views of his frien’s high gifts then were

h im Shared by Cowper . Gray also eld in high estima

n f tion, and Mrs Siddons spe t a a ternoon with Beattie , crying because they were so n appy over poetry and

r music, and some of the poetry ust have been his own . ’ Gr o r AS for Beattie s lines on c y, they are as much

t r calculated to draw smiles as t s from our eyes .

’ eu e s f n c s flo w er ado r n Adi , y lay that a y , T h e s o ft am us em en t o f th e vacan m in d s e e s in us an d t h e M11 5 m o ur n H e l p d t all , o m e c r ue r e eacl r ace r e n e H e wh a h Vi t fi d , x fi d , r en e c er e r n da r lin f m n n F i d, t a h , patt , gp a ki d H e S lee ps in dus t an dh o w s ho dI pur s ue

m e T o e r - co n s um in r ie f r e s n e My the h a t g ig d , n his r ecen r e m ie w H ere o t g av I fix y ,

d ou m e r t e s . Y e fin e r s e u An p r y bitt ar y lay , adi

Ar t ou m r e o for e er fii th , y G g ry, v An dam I left t o un availin g w o e ’ un e s s o r m s s s t h is 'e ar e When fo r t t a ail y h ad , r c r es o n s n ce e s h ec mtim el s n o Whe e a l g i hav y w, Ah n o w fo r co m for e r s h e o ? , , t whith I g N r s o o n o ce m a u s c ee r s 0 m o e thy thi g v i y g i h h , c e e s s m es n o lt er o Thy pla id y with il g gl w, a m ar s My ho pes t o che r is h an d llay fe . ’ ’ T i m e t S o u m o ur n flfv fo r h f e s m e r s s e t hat I h ld , t a r h y t a .

r li io us u Gregory wrote little upon g s bjects, except n e chapters in the Com par tive View and in the ’ tit er s L e ac S ( t e n g y , but he poke of the things which

c m tain to the Life Eternal . T hi they were as really

sent as the circumstances of eery day . His mind was deeply religion but it was of that sort

- lives more by meditation tha church going . Though 1 2 0 FAMOUS SCOTS

sent it to Dr Gregory, who read it, and cordially approved

bu t be of it, one result of this was that Gregory had to ’ come a partaker in the acrimony o f Hum e s friends . His advices as to an attractive style were somewhat curious, ‘ o f You are well aware 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 ad m ire their metaphysical if champions, yet they never read them , nor they did, ’ m could t hey understand the . Among Mr Hume s numerous disciples, I do not know one who ever read

Tr ea tis e on H um a n N a t ur e. f his In order, there ore, w to be read, you must not be satisfied ith reasoning with justness and perspicuity ; you must write with pathos , w h - e S it legance, with pirit, 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

r m o u c iticism will be read, and , if y partiality to y does not deceive me, be admired . Everything relating to the ’ Belles Lettres is read, or pretended to be read . What ’ has m ade Lord Kames E lem en ts of Cr iticis m so popular

u in England, is his numero s illustrations and quotations fro m Shakespeare This is a good political hint to you ’ in your capacity of an author. Gregory was also consulted about the sketch design of ’ l e Ill in s tr el m Beattie s Poem, , which he ad ired , and the

z closing stan a written by his friend the poet, when he ’ heard of Gregory s death, was supposed to be very beauti ful poetry. Cowper wrote in one of his letters to the ‘ m Rev. William Unwin , If you have not his poe called

T/z e Min s tr el , and cannot borrow it, I must beg you to buy it for me, for though I cannot afford to deal largely

1 2 2 FAMOUS SCOTS

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 .

u 1 One day in the beginning of Febr ary 7 7 3 , 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 . ’ m Gout was a dread enemy in his other 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 Pat/z er s L egacy indicates his anticipation of an early death . r o th On the morning of the he was found dead in bed .

His face was peaceful, everything was smooth and still, showing that death had come gently . But the familiar

m presence had passed away for ever from his ho e . 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 if and sit by him to hold his hand till he fell asleep, and

- 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 was Dorothea Gregory, William Pulteney Alison the sixth . In appearance John Gregory was tall an dstrongly built . His face in repose was kind, although too full an d heavy to look clever ; even his eyes were dull . THE ACADEMIC GREGORIES 1 2 3

When he was talking there was a complete change . f Interest, li e and expression transformed his features, until one could hardly suppose h im to be the same

m man . The char of his manner has never been gain

an d said, like the beauty of his wife, it is mentioned in every biography .

After her father died, Dorothea went to live with her

h u godmot er, Mrs Montag e, under whose care she spent the rest of her unmarried life. She was made very happy, an d gave great pleasure wherever she went . She had ’ inherited , if not all her mother s beauty, a great share of ’ n it, and her ature was as sweet and strong as her father s ’ m u and mother s in one . When Sir Willia P lteney, who ’ ’ had , been a friend of her father s, heard of Dorothea s h engagement to the Rev . Arc ibald Alison , he wanted to

f u satis y himself that she was making a s itable 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

m 1 t h Thrapston, and the arriage took place on the 9 , by a license from the Archbishop of Canterbury. I conducted h a t em fterwards to their residence, and we left them next f morning after break ast, 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 j ourney afforded me o f ’ making an acquaintance with him ; for tho I had little

u h ad do bt that Miss Gregory made a proper choice, yet I

f u wished to be per ectly satisfied, and the res lt is, that I think neith er yo u nor Mr Nairne have said a word too ’ much in his favour . 1 2 4 FAMOUS SCOTS

Dorothea Gregory’s two sons were William Pulteney f Alison , Pro essor of the Practice of Physic, and Sir

. a Archibald Alison, the historian Her daughter Mont gue,

f m a be ore her arriage with Colonel Ger rd, was loved by

m f Tho as Campbell, the poet, and by Francis Jef rey. ’ u m Anna, John Gregory s second da ghter, arried 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 f his sons one was a success ul doctor in London , and

Bah am m as another, John, Governor of the , was the father of Mr Philip Spencer Gregory, who has already been referred to in this book . Dr Gregory changed the spelling o f his name from

u n Gregorie to Gregory d ri g his stay in London . Curi o us l o f y enough, the only other branch the Gregories who had up to that time emigrated to the south had made the same alteration . ’ f Professor John Gregory s ame , while it may not have

- extended as widely as that of his son, was yet far reaching.

1 When Beattie had an interview with the king in 7 7 3 , His Majesty made special enquiries about his First

Physician for Scotland . This was probably shortly after ’ the professor s death . His life published in 1 80 0 along with sketches of Lord

m Kames, David Hume, and Ada 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 t in the line of his profession , few human charac ers will be ’ found to equal that of the late Dr John Gregory.

1 2 6 FAMOUS SCOTS

’ 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 Edin burgh James Gregory entered that university, and there f he spent the next years of his li e . Later he went up to f Christ Church, Ox ord, 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 ele ’ gance, if we are to believe his admiring contem por ar ie s . It is probable that it was at Oxford t hat 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 t hat a hitherto un imagined 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 1 7 6 7 .

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

o John Greg ry . Under such teachers as these James made

u s m rapid progress , and altho gh there are no tale of edals or priz es w e cannot forget the instance of his medical foresight when he predicted an attack of gout for his T H E ACADEMIC GRE GOR I E S 1 2 7

a father, which attack c me, to his sorrow, so soon and so fatally after the prediction .

ai The Ch r of the Practice of Physic was given to Cullen, ’ and young Gregory went to St George s Hospital, London,

M . to gain a wider experience . He took his D degree in Edinburgh in 1 7 7 4 : his thesis entitled D e m or bis Coeli ’ eaen s in M uta tion e M cli treats detail Phthisis Pulmonalis,

u Hypochondriasis, and Gout, and concl des by noticing the advantage o f 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

i h im im on the continent, left beh nd a very favourable

- pression 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 . 1 There are two portraits of Gregory, or rather a portrait and a bust, which were said to be very like . A tall n man, large, ungai ly, of a rare presence . A man having

u u a thority impressed on every feat re, 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

1 T h e o r r is e ur n an d e r e is ls p t ait by Ra b , th a o a m in iatur e o f th e r o fes s or th e s m e s c is in th e o s p by a arti t, whi h p s es s ion o f Mr Philip S pen ce r G r ego r y. 1 2 8 FAMOUS SCOTS whom n one of his associates could regard dispassionately ; they either loved him as a friend or hated him as an enemy .

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

m is a refreshing unani ity in their opinions . In June 1 7 7 3 he was elected to the Chair of the

Institutes of Medicine . This chair had been practically

m vacant for three years, during which ti e it was offered over and over again to Alexander Monro Drummond , whose chief merit seems to have been that he u nited the names of the great teaching Monroes with that of

z Drummond, perhaps the noblest citi en Edinburgh has e ve r h ad. . It has been suggested, however, that this was

O only done to keep the appointment pen for Gregory,

m when he should have co pleted his studies , and certainly when he returned, his election was unanimous . He entered upon his duties with happy vigour . Teaching h is was, as with every Gregory, 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

1 6 S 1 82 about twenty in 7 7 to one hundred and ixty in 7 . I n the teaching of his class Profess or Gregory daily felt the need for his s t udents of a new book on the Theory of ’ Con s ect us M eaicin ae Tfieor eticae Medicine, so he wrote the p

Which proved such a valuable handbook on the subject .

This book was most successful , it passed through many l editions, was translated into English and severa other

1 3 0 FAMOUS SCOTS

much to his fame . Throughout these years, too, he kept up a constant correspondence with his cousin Thomas R f eid, and proved himsel just the appreciative critic that

r f R eid required in the w iting o his books . Dugald Stewart and Gregory together revised the proofs of R eid’s

E s s a s on fire I n tellect ua l Pow er s y , 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 W Mr Stewart will allow me to prefix to them . hether 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 1 7 9 0 it became apparent that

Cullen, the greatest doctor of his time was failing in strength , and on his resigning the Chair o f the Practice of Physic the Town Council reappointed h im 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 o f

n the Edi burgh 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 teach

a ing was superb . Sir Robert Christison in his uto bio ‘ o f h im graphy, says , 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 T H E ACADEMIC GREGORIES 1 3 1

’ simplicity In the form o f a commentary on Cu llen s F ir s t

L in es of tfie Pr actice of P/zy s ic. His measures for the cure of disease were sharp and incisive . In acute diseases

m é there was no decine expectante for Gregory, he some how 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 m ade his students see not only the general

d h ad features of a isease, but an actual case of it which co m e . 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 m ore than two - thirds of his subject in one

m o ut course, but whatever he issed he always discussed

in flm m ati n fevers and a o s . In much that he taught he was in advance of his age . In observing how frequently rheu m atic fever tends to heart disease in limiting the us e 1 of blood - letting at a time when it was becoming al m ost a u a niversal pan cea with doctors, in urging a liberal dietary in certain stages of consumption , and in the invention and u s e of his m ixtu re he showed that his views were in

o f advance of those held by most his brother physicians . Professor Gregory had an odd habit o f wearing his cocked h hat while e lectured . It was in the summer o f 1 7 9 6 that dear old Thomas

Reid , who was becoming very frail , was induced to pay a ’ m visit to St Andrew s Square , to which Gregory had igrated . d His aughter, Mrs Carmichael, was anxious to have the

I n o e cl s s es of cas es o er r r wh l a , h we v , G e go y w as a decided

- advocate o f blo o d l ettin g. 1 3 2 FAMOUS SCOTS

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 . ’ o f Gregory delighted in the keenness the old man s m ind . AS he was not fit for much exercise, he passed his time in solving algebraical problems, and discussing abstruse sub ects w j ith Dugald Stewart. Gregory was no doubt busy.

His practice increased daily, and besides this, he probably

‘ spent a good deal o f his tim e in the house of Mr M L e od

Ge an ie s ff o f - S of , the Sheri Ross hire ; to whose daughter,

m 1 th o f Isabella, he was arried on the 9 October, j ust ten ’ days after Thomas Reid s death.

‘ ' M L e od Miss was a very beautiful girl , both winning ’ R ae bur n s o f and attractive, if portrait her is true to f life, and she made both a good wi e and good mother . ’ Am R aebur n s an d ong other portraits, interesting to us because they were the friends of the Gregories, are such men as Dugald Stewart, Principal Robertson, Blair,

m z m ff Ho e, Ferguson, Macken ie, Francis Ho er, and Je rey .

m How much is it Raeburn, one wonders, who akes 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 sweet ness and dignity, has only written histories which are now f ’ superseded . Jef rey railed at Wordsworth . Blair s ser mons 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 por traits ; it is because Cockburn lets us know them in their

— it homes is because John Brown, who lived early enough to

1 3 4 FAMOUS SCOTS

tion of them , much amended , and I will send it to Mrs

u H nter, who, I am sure, will have much pleasure in read w ing it. Pray give me like ise for myself, and her too, a copy (as much amended as you please) of the ! Water ” n fowl o Loch T ur it . ‘ ! The Wounded Hare is a pretty good subject, but the measure or stanz a you have chosen for it is not a good one : it does not flow well and the rhyme of the fourth

m f line is al ost lost by its distance rom the first, and the two interposed, close rhymes . If I were you I would put

ff z it into a di erent stan a yet . ‘ — Stanz a 1 . The execrations in the first two lines are

m a too strong or coarse, but they y pass . Murder aiming is a bad compound epithet and not very ! ” - z . intelligible . Blood stained in Stan a III line 4 has

: B leedin the same fault g 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 ? F or m is neither a poetic nor a dignified nor a plain common word : it is a mere ’ S portsman 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 . ‘ ! Stanz a 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 m other had bestowed and used to provide for ?

There was a ridiculous slip of the pen , Feeling (I sup ” pose) for Fellow, in the title of your copy of the verses ! but even fellow would be wrong it is but a colloquial T H E ACADEMIC GREGORIES 1 5 5

! W m . and vulgar ord, unsuitable to your senti ents Shot is improper too . On seeing a per s on (or a sportsman) wound a hare : it is needless to add with what weapon ;

ow lin but if you think otherwise , you should say with a f g

oiece. m e Let see you when you come to town, and I ’ ’ m will shew you so e more of Mrs Hunter s poems .

Perhaps when Burns submitted his lines, On seeing a

u m wo nded hare li p 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

1 8 in December 7 7 but if so, he was much disappointed . ’ cr ucifie s Dr Gregory is a good man , but he me, wrote

Burns soon after and again , I believe in the iron justice ’ m o f Dr Gregory ; but like the devils I believe and tre ble .

wa u . It s a c rious friendship, but friendship it was There is an English translation of Cicero, which the physician

in 1 8 had given to Burns in Edinburgh 7 7 , and on the ‘ fl- y 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 — s o help me Go d— Robert ’ ’ ’ B urns . Clarinda s desire to make Gregory s acquaintance which is surely an indication of h o w m uch her Sylvan de r

h im 1 8 adm ired , finds utterance in a letter of 7 7 , Pray is ’ u ? Dr Gregory pio s I have heard so, I wish I knew him . ’ n It was at Lord Mo bo ddo s that Gregory first met Burns .

Besides the queer old judge, who was made a laughing

m e n stock for saying that originally had tails , there was his

h m f m c ar ing daughter, the beauti ul Miss Burnet, to who ff Gregory is said to have o ered his heart and hand . One of the stories that Lord Cockb urn tells of Gregory is in connection with Miss Sophia Johnston (generally 1 3 6 FAMOUS SCOTS known in the Edinburgh of that day as S uph y one of

f u m u the Hilton amily ; abo t who , because of her c rious ’ . Su h s upbringing, there were many odd stories When p y ah day was visibly approaching, Dr Gregory prescribed ! s t in e n ce f m m ro animal food, and recom ended spoon ” ! ’ u Sh e meat nless wished to die Dee, doctor, odd , I m ’ thinking they ve forgotten an au ld 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 re ’ membered .

Gregory lived now, as we know, in St Andrew Square,

f m Can o n at e having le t the old ho e in the g , but besides

Can aan f L o de this he bought a house called g , which was then at a sufficient distance from Edinburgh to be in the

u real co ntry. Walking towards this house he might often be see n of an evening with his all too warlike stick over his

u sho lder, 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

1 0 0 m £ da ages to the infuriated object of his attack, but th with Gregory, who as usual had the last word , and e

u last la gh in the matter , and said as he paid his fine, that f he would willingly pay dou ble o r another chance.

’ A th e co un r far an dn e r t y , a , ’ H ae e r c r e o r s f m e . h a d Ma g g a , lady

H e w a s e e o u h is fr en s a h dg ab t i d , A ec e t o h is fo e s h kl , lady If an m an h im n s y did gai ay,

H e fe t h is e o s . l d adly bl w , lady

It is really a pity, but no sketch of Professor James Gregory cou ld be adequate without mentioning some o f

1 3 8 FAMOUS SCOTS

On another occasion, by the consent of the Royal College P ‘ of hysicians , A narrative of the conduct of Dr James Gregory towards the Royal College of Physicians of Edin burgh 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

m dissensions . The inte perate and injurious conduct of one of their members however has now made this a matter of necessity . Like other collections of individuals, they

m r have had their dissensions and disagree ents, but till ve y 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 intro ’ duce da 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 ’ 1 Gregory s practice increased steadily . In 1 8 8 his pro

i n al m 2 2 fes s o inco e was £ 7 3 , and in the following year

1 0 0 m £ more, while in the same years he derived fro his

1 6 1 2 0 0 r es e professorship by way of fees, £ 3 4 and £ p c l t ive y. These figures represented a much larger sum in

1 81 8 1 0 0 u than they would in 9 , and give a s bstantial ’ proof of Gregory s popularity. A story told of Professor Gregory is peculiarly touch ing . One day when he was giving out the tickets for his class, he had to go into another room to fetch something.

u When he came back he saw a st dent , who was waiting

o ff for his ticket, take some money his table and put it T H E ACADEMIC GREGOR IES 1 3 9

f h im into his pocket . The Pro essor gave his pass and said nothing, but just as the lad was leaving the room, he

u rose up and laying his hand on his sho lder said, I saw

am . what you did , and I 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 ‘ ’ m . ade a point And do you seriously say, Doctor, he

‘ a dded, that a person having a superior capacity for a

ffi h - game so di cult, and w ich requires in a pre eminent degree, memory, judgment, and combination, can be at ’ ‘ the same ti m e 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 ’ ! i n sane king . Needless to say, he won his case

1 81 8 In Gregory had a serious carriage accident, in w ar m m S hich his was broken, and fro this hock 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

u tho ghts went back often to his time of study in London ,

h im and to all the prosperity that had come to since . He 1 4 0 FAMOUS SCOTS had received almost every honour which his profession could bring him . He had been President of the College ’ m of Physicians . He was ade king s physician to George

III ., and his commission had been most graciously renewed V (during this visit) by George I . Innumerable societies

m had bestowed their honorary embership 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

1 82 0 . after Christmas 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 .

m William , afterwards Professor of Che istry in Aberdeen

m and Edinburgh, and Duncan Farquharson , the Ca bridge mathematician . There was not lacking one token of the love and esteem in which the great professor was held . The voices

h im of his rivals were hushed . His friends mourned for , 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 Can o n gat e Churchyard . V R PR I CAE R TU T S PE R OM E S TAE GR AD S E T I S V I I , N VI U IN ’ O M NI VI TAE OF F IC I O F R OBAT ISSI MAE .

1 4 2 FAMOUS SCOTS and from this stage of his life he had to struggle with ill health, all his occupations being interrupted at times by unconquerable pain .

MD 1 82 8 He graduated . in , and then went abroad to l study chemistry in the famous schoo s of the continent .

At Giessen , the most important of these, he had the good fortune to attract the attention of the great teacher, whose f work had made the university amous, 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 diflicultie s in connection with ’ the post of mediciner . In the days of John Gregory s ffi tenure of that o ce, he had as we already know, made

' e flo r t s to improve the medical curriculum there , but

1 80 1 without success . A step in advance was made in , when it was determined that a candidate fo r the degree ‘ M o blide of D . must g himself that he is not, nor will be concerned in the sale of qu ack medicines o f any de s cr ip ’ tion ! and a further step was taken in 1 81 7 by the authorities insisting on a satisfactory account of the ‘ s cien tifical classical, literary and education of the ’ candidate .

1 82 1 82 6 Between 4 and , an attempt was made by the Chancellor and Senatus to insist that the mediciner h shouldteach medicine, but Dr Bannerman, who t en ffi held that o ce , would only consent to consider the matter for a year, and after that time he let it rest .

1 8 6 In 3 , he was advised that if he would neither teach nor appoint a substitute, a lecturer would be chosen, T H E ACADEMIC GREGORIES 1 4 3

o u t . and paid of his salary This threat, however, was

1 8 8 never carried out, and he died in 3 , and it was to this

l m post of mediciner, made vacant by his death , that Wil ia

1 t h 1 8 . Gregory was appointed on February 9 , 3 9

Dr William Pulteney Alison , to whom the electors of ’ King s College applied for suggestions as to a suitable

m candidate, had curiously enough never entioned the m o f na e his cousin , and it was only owing to the inter ve n t io n of Thom as Clark who held the Chair of Chem istry in Marischal College that Gregory came to apply. After giving him minu te instructions as to the form which his ’ application must take, he added , Don t mention me no ’ m more than the Devil . The na e of this friend was there fore 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 ’ f King s College . Their di ficulties in improving the

u m u medical co rse, when the very ediciner wo ld not teach a class, had been insuperable, but now they felt a man of

m influence was coming amongst the , who would be the m eans of promoting the interests of their university, and who 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 Willia m Gregory became intensely ’ i interested in the welfare of King s College, and bus ed hi m self in trying to secure revenue from the government

u . to fo nd new chairs, but in this he was unsuccessful He taught Materia Medica in a house fitted up fo r a

Medical School in Kingsland Place, and he had a good

m i class , but fro the w tticisms of the students as to the ’ effect o f their professor s preparation of m u riate of mor 1 4 4 FAMOUS SCOTS phia it is evident that William Gregory’s physical weakness w s u a growing pon him, and that it was only with the most ’ ff u strenuous e ort that he co ld get to his class at ten o clock .

As his power of walking failed him , the professor found

m much solace in usic, and sweet snatches of melody were carried across his old- fashioned garden to the ears of

- b passers y. He played beautifully, and his wife, who was a niece of Colonel Scott of Gala, added greatly to the charms of their m usical 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 Gregorywas of a singularly n childlike and trustful dispositio , and he was intensely interested in the occult science of Spiritualism the result was that he became the patron of a most undesirable

- s cien tific throng of quasi 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 t silver, besides making impor ant observations on many other chemicals . He had an accurate command of

o f practical chemistry, a power condensation and clear

expression, and a just perception of the value of discoveries, which made his writings unsurpassed for the use of students .

1 4 6 FAMOUS SCOTS

’ from any other s cientific chair in Europe . At the request o f of Liebig, he translated several his more important

in F a m ilia r books into English, and the preface to the

L et ter s on Cliem is tr y , Liebig writes , From his intimate familiarity with chemical science, and especially with the

am physiological subjects here treated , I confident that the task could not have been entrusted to better hands ’ than those of my friend Dr Gregory . Their friendship

a l sted throughout life, and only a few days before Pro ’ fe s s r o Gregory s death, he was propped up in his bed to

m write a pa phlet supporting some new theories of Liebig, which the German had just communicated to him . ’ Gregory s appearance was most noticeable . He was o f

r an d g eat proportions, obese, slouching loosely hung to gether. 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

r day, the g eatest 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

1 8 8 . 5 , and was honoured with a public funeral He was succeeded in the univers ity by Dr Lyon Play fair (afterwards Lord Playfair) who had contested the ’ chair unsuccessfully at the time of Gregory s appointment . THE ACADE M IC GR EGOR IE S 1 4 7

William Gregory was survived by an only son, who was ’ his - called after 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 a especial love those who are to pass quickly from this e rth .

His hair, which was thick and curling, fell more about his

u u ill m i brow than is s al, and his eyes like dark lamps u n

ated 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 h im as with an equal on subjects of ’ r History and Geog aphy, so Mr Ellis wrote, and this when

Six the boy was not more than , 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 t aught entirely by his

mother, who was quite as attractive to her children as she

had ever been in society , and for whom Duncan had ff always a peculiar reverence and a ection . 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 a Genev , where his mother and sisters were spending a h is winter, and on return he attended classes at the

m University of Edinburgh. In athematics he made . c astonishing strides, under Professor Walla e, and those who saw the master and pupil together in Cambridge 1 48 FAMOUS SCOTS

’ ’ in after days, said that the old man s pride in his pupil s success never di m inished . ’ In 1 83 3 Mr Gregory s name was entered at Trinity

m College, Ca bridge , 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 .

B A. 1 8 After taking his degree of in 3 7 , he felt himself more at liberty to follow original speculation , and turned his attention to the general theory of the co m bination of symbols . His studies in this subject appeared from time

Ca m br ide M a tbem a tical our n a l to time in the g f , of which

Duncan Farquharson Gregory was editor, with only an n fi interval of a few mo ths, from its rst appearance till

S hortly before his death . Mr Gregory was in 1 84 0 elected a Fellow of Trinity

College, and he took his M .A . degree in the following f year . In that year, too, he was appointed to fill the o fice 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 .

1 5 0 FAMOUS SCOTS began a paper on the analogy between differential equations and those in finite differences . S As the weeks passed , the watchful eyes of his ister could see the gradual failing of his strength, and at five ’ 2 r d 1 8 o clock on the morning of February 3 , 44 , 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,

S had to pend most of their time in the inn , and as a last resource fell to writing doggerel .

T h e e s ar e o n e e en s e bo fi ld xt iv g , T h e r o ads ar e jus t as bad s e r e e fr o I wi h I w a littl g , Then r ain would m ake m e glad.

But am o f th e um n r ce I h a a , Whi ch e ver S in ce th e flo o d r efe r s fir m dr r es n - ce P a , y ti g pla

T o wadin g in th e m ud.

But ye t at las t a little gleam Of s un s n e e hi did app ar, An ddid m o s t tre ach er o us ly s eem f h k u AS i t e S y wo ld cle ar.

An dt r us tin g t o its s pecio us face T o eo r n t r e walk G gi a i d , But s o o n retur n ed in piteous cas e ’ T r r m n t s o have h e ga e d r ie d .

He was a delightful brother and a delightful friend . What he might have done as a mathematician had be but T H E ACADEM I C GREGORIES 1 5 1

lived it is impossible to tell. As it is , a writer who has

u disc ssed the hereditary qualities of the family, speaks of the mathematical genius, which had lain dormant since ‘ ’ the time of Jam es Gregorie as blaz ing forth again in

u Duncan Farq harson Gregory, and if this writer passes

Savilian over such talents as those of David Gregory, the f th e Pro essor at Oxford, he must have held Fellow of

m Trinity in great honour . Another authority on the fa ily, if l said that Duncan Gregory were a ive, which he might

far quite well be as 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

m Lord Kelvin , given at the Bristol eeting of the British ‘ 1 8 8 Association in 9 , where in a paper on Graphic Representations of the t wo 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 ‘ m m some diagra s , he added , we cannot tell what we ight ’ if a have known Gregory had lived . His talent was p

r e ciat e d but p when he lived, the qualities to which his friends reverted with most tenderness were his unenvious ’ o f m appreciation other en s work, his sweetness and joy u f lness, and the patience with which he bore his last long illness . CHAPTER ! I

R E TR OS PE CT

‘ e e h e in m s e f h e ou f n e m e o ut What v r had hi l , w ld ai hav ad a

— e r e r c m fo r . LOC H ART L i e o S cott ch . . h dita y lai K , f f , lxxxiv

’ H E W N Pennant on his famous tour through Scotland,

m r ai r o s t on came to the dreary oorland below C g y , he was

filled with special interest by the scene . Here, he was

‘ M Gr e o r s told, was the cradle of the g , a clan so devoid f o kindness, that they had been hunted down like wild

m beasts, their name suppressed and their re nant 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 MacGr ego r wo uld

i arise a family, thirteen of whom would be ment oned in the Encyclopaedias o f 1 9 0 0 ? After all it should be remembered that even Rob Roy ’s literary tastes have ffi never been su ciently appreciated , for his name is found ’ in the original list of the subscribers to Keith s [dis tor y o tbe A a ir s o Clz ur clz a n dS ta te in Scotla n d f f f , published in 1 7 3 4 !

The Gregories, then, were inclined to an academic life . Their portraits appear oddly and unexpectedly in the

u public buildings of this country, their names eq ally 1 5 2

1 5 4 FAMOUS SCOTS

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 tele scopes . This also ih its way was a parable of what the Gregories were to do in the world of science in making

m e n things as plain as possible, so that the wayfaring 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 endeavour ’ ing to bring Newton s Pr in cipia 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 assist ance of foreign teachers , whom he supported , not only with his influence, but with his purse . There were other

o Kin air d mathematicians descended fr m David of y, who,

m o f it may be reme bered, had three sons professors mathe m atie s at one time, and of this branch of the family also R were Alexander Innes and Thomas eid, both professors of philosophy . Reverting to the descendants of Pr o fe s s o r Jam e s Gregorie

- - - the son, grandsons, great grandson, and great great grand sons, were founders or builders , all of them of medical

u ed cation in Scotland, each doing his own part for the

a cause of medicine . James the son, c lled the third pro fe s s o r of that name (fo r 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

- P John the grandson (his half brother, rofessor James the

l - fourth, was inconsiderab e), the fellow worker with Cullen , T H E ACADEMIC GREGORIES 1 5 5 accepted and taught that great doctor’s vie ws,and with his charming good - sense eradicated many of the more pre ’ - judicial ite m s o f children s upbringing . The great grand ’ son, 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

- P great grandsons, Professor William Gregory and rofessor

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 i was the g ft of the whole family . Duncan Farquharson Gregory was the only one of the descendants of James t Gregorie, the great contemporary of New on, who followed in his footsteps as a mathematician . He died in his

o f thirtieth year, but left behind him a brilliant record ’ his life s work, which is only sad because it was so short.

O u These Gregories, though they did not care for p p lar it y, 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, n and even exposi g the partisanship of their allies . Take the story which Sir Archibald Alison gives us in his auto

o f biography, how a mathematical examination was once f rearranged for his benefit in the University o Edinb urgh .

i o f It was in the t me Professor Leslie, in the spring of

1 80 8 , that this examination in the class of mathe 1 5 6 FAMOUS SCOTS

maties took place . Archibald Alison had three very

. able competitors These were Borthwick of Crookston, ‘ . M Ph er s o n J Macleod , and Mr Edward Irving . Young u Alison , nervo s and excitable in face of the examina

m u tion paper, beca e s ddenly destitute of ideas, and could only solve two o f the six problems which were set . It was all the more distressing, because he knew

n that, bei g by his mother a member of the great mathe m atical 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 S hedding tears of vexation . Immediately he was freed from the

- m be a anxiety of the lecture roo , solved the problems r pidly 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 priz e to Alison on the strength of his answers . He therefore decided that the work of that f r day should not hold , and appointed a second date o the trial . The next time the result was all that he and Archibald Alison could have desired This little episode

m entertained Sir Archibald im ensely, and is a curious indication of the lengths to which their friends were pre

m in pared to go for the , but while in many families,

fluen ce m , however acceptable it may be to the selves, 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

1 5 8 FAMOUS SCOTS 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 s hort 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 th e teaching of the Gregories, have felt themselves honoured by their service, and have adorned their annals with their name .

T H E E ND . IND E !

A E R D E E Un ve r s o f 2 2 . OR E S t er n e o f o n m us B N , i ity , 5 , 9 F B , Ca h i M y k ,

A E R D E E r m m r S c o o o f 8. B N , G a a h l , 9

2 2 2 1 00 1 2 . OR E S H o n . z et 10 7 , 5 , 9 , , 5 F B , Eli ab h , 7 ,

A SO S ir Ar c 1 1 6 1 1 1 1 1 . LI N , hibald , 55, 5 . , 7 A SO m u t en e 1 22 F R E ND R AUG HT s coun 1 LI N , Willia P l y , , , Vi t, 5 ,

1 2 I l 1 6 1 8. 41 431 5 5 , A D E R SO o f F in z each N N , David , , A E O 2 0 G LIL , 9 , 3 . I o . A TO 1 0 . G L N , A DE R SO n e t 1 0 26. N N , Ja , , E OR GE r n ce o f en m r G , P i , D a k , AR TH OT D r 68 2 . BU N , , , 7 , 7 3 , 74

- B E ATT E 10 1 1 2 1 . OR D O s e 2 2 . I , 9 , 9 G N , I ab l , 3 , 5

B U R E T B s o 2 6 . R E GOR E A e n e 1 1 N , i h p , 7 , 5 G I , l xa d r, 4, 5 ,

B UR E T e en o f r c . 1 6 1 20 . N , H l , El i k , 99 , 7 ,

B U R E T r 2 . R E G OR E r es 8 N , Ma y , 3 G I , Cha l , 9 .

B U R S 1 2 1 1 1 1 . R E GOR E o f Kin air d N . 9 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 57 G I , David , y, I ° 2 I A AA LODGE 1 6 1 0 9 5 , S3 C N N , 3 , 5 . - R E G OR E 8 1 . AM R D G E E R S T 0 G I , David , 9 9 C B I UNIV I Y , 7 . R E GOR S av. o f. G Y , David , Pr , A T An r e 1 2 1 1 . C N , d w , , 3 , 53 I AR E A e n e 1 0 1 0 7 7 1 S4 C LYL , l xa d r, 3 , 4, R E GOR e n - 8 1 G Y , D a , 7 7 3 , 54 . 1 1 6 . R E GOR o r o e 1 1 1 22 H A M E R S r n c 8 100 G Y , D th a , 5 , , C L , P i ipal , 9 , .

H AR L E TT D r 6 6 1 . C , , 4, 5 , 7 R E GOR un c n G , F r qu s on - Y D a a har , R CH TO S T h e 1 1 8. C I N , , 3 I 4 1 1 47 5 : 55 ‘ H R STCH R CH 8 82 8 1 2 6. C I U , 7 , , 3, R E G OR E r o f. m es I . 2 H R ST S O Sir o e r 1 28 G I , P Ja , , 7 C I I N , R b t, , 1 1 5 1 53 1 53 1 30 . R E GOR E o f m es . G I , Pr . Ja , II , E R o f e n cu uo e 1 . CL K P i ik , q t d , 7 - 8 8 . OC R Lo r 1 28 1 2 4 7 C KBU N , d , , 3 . R E GOR E r o f. m es . O E GE o o f s c n s G I , P Ja , III , C LL , R yal , Phy i ia , I S4 ! 1 37 . R E GOR E r o f. m es S n 2 G I , P Ja , IV O , o 8, 29 , 1 . C LLIN J h , 3 8 U E 10 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9 , 99 C LL N , , , 3 , 4, R E GOR o f. m es V . 82 G Y , Pr Ja , , , 1 1 1 22 1 26 1 2 1 0 . 5 , , , 7 , 3 - 1 22 1 2 1 0 1 . , 5 4 , 55 D R UMOAK 1 0 1 1 1 . , , , 4 R E GOR E o n R e v. 1 1 - 1 G I , J h , , 4, 1 53 . D R GH ACADE M 1 . E INBU Y, 47 - R E GOR r o f. o n 100 1 2 D R G H Un e r s o f G Y , P J h , 4 , E INBU , iv ity , 49 1 2 1 - 8 8 8 5 1 54 53, 55 5 , 4, 5 , R E G OR S en ce r 22 1 1 1 1 1 1 26 1 2 2 G Y , Philip p , , 1 3 , 4, 5 , , 7 , 1 8,

I 0 1 x 1 1 . 3 , 39. 45. 47 , 49 R E G OR r o f. m 1 1 G Y , P Willia , 4

AM ST E E D 68 6 . I I FL , 59 , , 9 47 1 SS

A D E R S . R E r 81 FL N , 93 G Y, Lady Ma y ,

1 60 I NDE!

A E Y 60 64 , 6 . PIT CAI RNE D r A c H LL , , 5 , r hibald , 53,

AM TO r o fe s s o r 1 6 1 . H IL N , P , 3 , 37 58. 70. 84

E AR E uo e 6 6 . H N , q t d , 3, 5 E GE TS 1 0 , 5 , 1 06 . O A D 1 2 R N H LL N , 9 , 4. E D , r o f. T o m as 2 2 0 DS R I P h , 3 , 5 , 9 , O . 64 , 65 . HU N 1 1 06 1 0 1 1 1 9 . . 9 . 9 , 30. 1 3 1. U M E 1 0 1 1 6 1 1 1 20. H , David , 9, , 9, 1 32 . G E S 2 0 HUY N . 9 1 34 1 35 1 5 H E M S R I , 9 3. F R MAR o o f E n O E R TSO r n c a 102 1 1 IN I Y, R yal , di R B N , P i ip l, , 6,

ur 1 6 1 . b gh , 3 , 37 1 32.

E S o f. 2 . R OB R OY INN , Pr , 3 , 94 , 95 . O A S OC E T 1 2 60 6 1 AM E SO e o r e . R Y L I Y , 3 , 3 , , , J N , G g , 33 68 1 , 0 . OH SO S m ue 6 1 08. 7 J N N , a l , 9, TH E R FOR D r o fes s or 1 1 RU , P , 0 , KE IL L , 62 . 1 1 3 . KE Lo uo e 1 1 . LVIN , rd , q t d , 5 S COTT S ir e I NAI R D Y 1 1 20 2 1 22 , l , quo e , K , 3 , 4, , , , Wa t r t d 95, 1 00 1 , 39 . 24, 84 . ’ S H E U R E r f K G S O E G E A e een 20 B , l o , q uo e IN C LL , b rd , , L N Ea t d, 7 91 83 97 . 98. t oo , 1 05 . 1 08. S H E R OR E OS P TA 80 81 1 0 1 1 2 1 26 1 2 1 . B , , . 9, , , 4 , 43 N H I L S C A R r o f. eo r e IN L I , P G g , 35 , 36, E D E 1 02 1 0 2 L , , 3 , 1 04 , 1 7 . Y N 42. E G 1 2 1 6 . LI BI , 4 , 4 S E E A e n er K N , l xa d , 47 . TTE TO eo e 1 0 . LY L N , G rg , 7 S E E 1 08 0 K N , David , , 1 9. L TTE TO Lo r 1 1 2 . Y L N , d , S E E o e t 2 K N , R b r , 5 .

ACGRE GOR S T h e 1 2 . S MAL R I D GE D r 6 M , , 9 , 5 , , 4 , 7 5 , 7 6.

ACG RE GOR o f R 01 0 8 . S OC E T o e c 1 0 1 . M , 9 , 9 I Y, R yal M di al ,

AC E Z E eo r e 1 8. S PA D G uo e 1 2 M K N I , G g , L IN , q t d , .

AC A R o n 6 86. ST A DR E S U E RS T M L U IN, C li , 7 , N W NIV I Y , 33, ‘ - M L E OD s a el o f Gean ies 8 8 8 . , I b la, , 44 49. 4 . 5 . 9 1 2 ST E AR T u 1 0 . W , D gald , 3 , 1 32.

ALE T 8 8 . M L , David , 7 , 9 E E S COPE Ac om 62 T L , hr atic, . AR S CH A O E GE A e M I L C LL , b r E E SCOPE e ec n 28 2 T L , R fl ti g , , 9, e en 2 86. d , 7 , 3 1 . MONBOD DO 1 1 2 1 . , , 35 R T OL E GE am r T INI Y C L , C b idge , O R O r o fes s o r m us 100 M N , P r, P i , , 148. 1 0 1 . - U O NE GOT AT O S 0 . O RO n c 8. , 7 7 M N , Pri ipal , 5 NI N I I N 3

M O TAG E , Mr s , 1 07 , 108, 1 1 5, A E R e n of Or chis t on 1 N U W LK , J a , , 9 , 1 1 6 1 2 . 2 2 , 3 3 1 5 A S D r 1 6 6 NE TO S ir s c 2 2 W LLI , , 3 , 4, 7 . W N , I aa , 3 , 9, 34 , WIIST MI NST E R S CHOO 8 0 6 68 86 : L, 7 7 , 7 , 5 : 54 : 59 1 4 : 1 S3. PHA TS o f n t o n 6 1 8 OLI N La g , , 7 . H STO uo e 60 . W I N , q t d, 54 , O! FOR D Un e r s o f 8 6 1 , iv ity , 5 , , S 10 WILK , 3 . 8 80 : 7 9 79 : AM AND ARGAR E T 8 WILLI M , 7 ,

AD A 0 2 88 8 . P U , 3 , 3 . , 9

E A T uo e 1 2 . S E U 10 1 10. P NN N , q t d , 5 WI CL B, 9 ,

E P S S m ue 6 66 6 . TCH CR AFT 2 1 P Y , a l , 5 , , 7 WI , .