by all the neighbouring nations in pastoral melody, and sweet combination of sounds: And my will and meaning is, that, in the event of the establishment of such professorship as aforesaid, the Principal and Professors of the said University do, and shall, within six months next after such an event shall have taken place, by a public ordinance of the University, make a declaration of what, in their estimation, the annual and perpetual salary to be allowed to such Professor of Music ought to amount to; the sum not being less than £.300 of good and lawful money of Great Britain; and that upon such declaration being so made as aforesaid, and notice thereof in writing given to my said trustees, or to the survivors or survivor of them as aforesaid, and due provision made for securing the payment of such yearly salary after the amount thereof has been ascertained in the manner aforesaid; they, my said trustees, or the survivors or survivor of them, or the executors or administrators of such survivors, shall, and do by such instrument or instruments as may, by the law of Scotland, be in such case requisite, make over the residue of my said last-mentioned personal estate to the Principal and Professors of the said University, for the purposes aforesaid; and by the instrument declare, that the power and right of presentation or nomination of such professorship, and the superintendence, care, and management of the said fund, shall, on their decease, be vested in, and be perpetually enjoyed in all time thereafter, by the Principal and Professors of the said University for the time being; and that in case of misbehaviour, or neglect properly to discharge his or their duty on the part of any Professor or Professors of the Theory of Music, from time to time to be appointed as aforesaid, the Principal and Professors of the said University for the time being, or the major part of them, shall have power in their discretion, to dismiss such Professor or Professors, and to elect another or others in his or their place, and generally to establish, from time to time, such rules and regulations as may, in their opinion, contribute to give stability, respectability, and consequence, to the establishment, and thereby carry my intentions into effect: And as I am the last representative of an old family in Perthshire, which on my death will be extinct in the male line, I therefore leave two portraits of me; one when a Lieutenant in the Earl of Loudoun's regiment, raised in the year 1745, and the other when a Major-General in the army, to the Principal and Professors of the said University of Edinburgh, to be disposed of in such manner as the Principal shall direct; and to that University I wish prosperity to the end of time."

The General, in a codicil to his will, afterwards bequeathed a third portrait of himself to the University, taken after he had attained the high rank of General in the army. Whether the University has yet come into possession of this noble benefaction I have not learned, but was given to understand, about four years ago, that Mrs Robertson was then alive.

The University possesses a very valuable and rapidly increasing Museum of Natural History, which is under the superintendence of that eminent Philosopher and Naturalist, Professor Jameson. It has also one of the largest and most valuable collections of Anatomical preparations in Europe; for which it is indebted to the great skill and indefatigable industry of the present and late Professors of Anatomy, the three Doctors Monro. Connected with the University are several Literary and Philosophical Societies, as the Royal Medical and Royal Physical Societies, established by royal Charter: the members of these institutions are chiefly the students of medicine, who meet weekly during the winter and spring, to discuss Medical and Philosophical subjects; each has a handsome building for its use, containing a hall for the meetings, a well-furnished library, and some philosophical apparatus. The Speculative Society is chiefly composed of gentlemen studying the law; and the Wernerian Natural History Society, established for the promotion of that science; the two last meet in the College.

Let it always be remembered, to the honour of Edinburgh, that it was the first University in Europe in which the Philosophy of Sir Isaac Newton was publicly taught. Sir Isaac was indeed Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge; but the doctrines of his everlasting work, "monumentum

aere perennius," were not at first there duly appreciated, Dr David Gregory, who was admitted Professor of Mathematics at Edinburgh, October 17th 1683, taught the Newtonian system there very shortly after its publication in 1687. Gregory, in 1691, became Savillian Professor of Astronomy at Oxford; and one of his Edinburgh pupils, John Keill, a native of that city, followed him thither in 1694, and is said to have been the first person who, in England, illustrated the Newtonian Philosophy by experiments exhibited to his pupils +.

The word University cannot be classically rendered into Latin by Universitas, for in that sense no Roman ever used it. The only equivalent for University is undoubtedly Academia, which, however, from modern usage, may be translated either University, as of Oxford, Edinburgh, or Paris, or merely Academy, as of Arts or Music; both the French word Académie, and the English Academy, having a very extensive, but certainly inferior signification.

Undoubtedly, the Academy of Athens bore no resemblance to a modern University or Academy of Music, Dancing, or any other art; yet, from the name given to Plato's grove, have the moderns borrowed this comprehensive term, and applied it to the most dissimilar institutions.

In fact, the ancients had no establishments bearing any resemblance to our Universities, for, until the reign of Charlemagne, there had not been any foundation of the sort in Europe. The University of Paris was founded by that Emperor, on the remonstrance or recommendation of Alcuinus. Had the writer in the review not used the term Academy as opposed to University, and as meaning an inferior establishment, why was the word printed in Italics? Give the Scotch seats of learning an appellation common to Paris and to Oxford, and they will be content; they affect no superiority, but they know their consequence, and proudly claim an equality. Would there have been any sneers cast upon them had they been upon the same establishment as Oxford, Cambridge, or Dublin? But they are Presbyterian establishments, under the direct superintendence of the "General Assembly of the Church of Scotland;" and, what is equally as galling, they are free; that is the solution. English Dissenters are not allowed the privilege of education at Oxford or Cambridge. Is it too much that the liberality of Scotland has opened her Universities to them?

The University of Edinburgh is a striking example of what may be accomplished by the judicious application of only moderate funds, for the advancement and diffusion of learning, when combined with zeal and discretion. This orphan seminary being nearly deserted by her royal godfather +, was committed almost pennyless to the protection of the Lord Provost and Town Council of the city, whose fostering care during her infancy, and constant protection since she has arrived at her present state of vigorous maturity, she now so liberally repays, by reflecting upon her "Patrons" the lustre of her name. At the time Robertson presided, Black, Blair, Playfair, Stewart, Cullen, Monro, Duncan, Gregory, Robison, and other illustrious men, were Professors. In fine, here has shone such a galaxy of talent, both in literature and in science, that it has not only excited the envy, but commanded the applause of Europe.

I have thus endeavoured to shew that there are no illegitimate Academies" in Scotland. Whether the term has been applied through stupidity or malignity, I shall leave to the writer of the review to determine; if from the former, he is to be pitied, if from the latter, despised.

LAWSON WHALLEY, M.D. F.R.S.E.

Vide Bower's History of the University of Edinburgh.

+ Vide Bower's History.

James the First of England promised this University, to which he had given his own name," a guid God's bairn's gift;" but, unfortunately, princes have bad memories, and promises are more easily forgotten than fulfilled.

SKETCHES OF THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE
CHURCH OF SCOTLAND.
No. III.

some of the leading ministers and the principal nobility was held in the house of the Clerk Register. A doubt was started, how far it was competent for subjects to interfere with the religion of their Sovereign, and it was agreed that the opinion of the Church of Geneva should be requested. Knox expressed his readiness to correspond with some of the leading members of that church; but the matter was entrusted to Maitland of Lethington, who was more anxious to have it delayed than decided.

Things were in this unpleasant state when the meeting of the Third General Assembly approached. The place is not specified; but it must have been about the 20th of December 1561, as the supplication to the Queen and Council was presented on the 22d of that month. At first, the nobles who favoured the interest of the Queen refused to meet, as they had formerly done, with the Assembly, but remained by themselves in the apartments of the Abbot of Holyroodhouse. A deputation was sent from the Assembly, requesting their presence and aid. Mutual recriminations between the ministers and the nobles ensued. The nobles complained that the ministers drew aside the country gentlemen, and formed plans without their concurrence or counsel. The ministers replied, that, of themselves, they had done nothing but what the common good and order of the Church required. The nobles questioned the right of the General Assembly to meet without the Royal authority or permission. The ministers maintained the usefulness and necessity of free Assemblies of the Church; and their reasoning upon this point being admitted, the conference seems to have closed, and the deputation, with some of the nobles, to have repaired to the Assembly.

It was then proposed that the Book of Discipline, which already had been subscribed by many of the nobility, should be presented to the Queen for her royal sanction. But the measure was ridiculed and defeated by Lethington, between whom and Knox some unseemly altercation ensued.

The Book of Discipline contained a plan for the appropriation and dis

tribution of the patrimony of the Church; but as the ratification of it was still delayed, it was necessary that, in the mean time, some provision should be made for the maintenance of the ministers. Accordingly a supplication, in which this was the leading article, was presented; and readily admitted by the Queen and the propriety of the measure was Council. But, although the matter was in itself obvious and reasonable, plishment of it. After long consulmany difficulties attended the accomtation, the following plan was agreed and acted on: An account was taken of the value of all ecclesiastical benefices. The incumbents, whether two-thirds of the revenue. Popish or Protestant, were to retain The remaining third was placed at the disposal of the crown, burdened with the maintenance of the Protestant Church. To this arrangement the Popish party gave a reluctant consent, and the steps necessary to its completion were but slowly complied with. The Reformers, on the other hand, were dissatisfied with the legal alienation of so large a proportion of the property of the Church, and feared that the spirit which could prompt this arrangement was capable of curtailing or embezzling the pittance which was allotted for the maintenance of their ministers. Nor were their fears without foundation. When the rentals of the different benefices were obtained, the third part was by anticipated. Many of the incumbents no means so productive as might be seem to have exhibited fraudulent rentals, and in this way to have lessened the sums which were due from them. The Queen, on the other hand, granted remission of their thirds to such as she wished to attach to her interest. Many very curious particulars relative to this measure have been preserved by Keith, in the Appendix to his History. The sum total of the thirds for the year in which this arrangement was completed, amounted to upwards of seventy thousand pounds Scots. But, of this, not much more than twentyfour thousand pounds was given to the Protestant Church. Nor were distribution of this small proportion. complaints wanting concerning the By an Act of Council dated at Lin