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Another Minister's Autobiography.

1861.]
opportunity for laying on massive
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"The singular talents of Dr Webster, his dexterity in business, and his substantial services to his brethren and the public, entitled him to distinguished celebrity among his contemporaries. He was for more than forty years considered the head of the popular party, and admired as one of the ablest speakers in the ecclesiastical courts. He was deficient in literature, and applied little of his time to reading or study. Few of his sermons, as I have been informed, were fully written out, and the subjects of them little varied, being mostly confined to doctrinal points of orthodoxy, or the fourfold state of man; but the fluency and copiousness of his expression, and the vivacity and animation of his manner and address, arrested the attention of the most judicious, and excited the admiration of the multitude. In the church courts he uniformly espoused the popular side of the question under debate. His arguments were specious rather than cogent, and yet he never failed to impress his hearers with a high opinion of his strong native good sense, and his knowledge of the world. The speeches of Dr Webster, too, were enlivened with such brilliant sallies of wit, that no public speaker was listened to with greater delight and applause. His capacity for financial business, and a profound skill in arithmetical calculation, rendered him an instrument of extensive It is a curious fact, public usefulness. that while Dr Webster and Provost Drummond were regarded as political adver saries, they consulted and co-operated in the promotion of the city interests. heard Dr Webster himself say, that, by his advice, the Town Council had adopt ed the measure of appointing a chamberlain to be constantly and entirely intrusted with the business of the revenue, instead of a treasurer annually elected. By the adoption of this measure, their accounts have ever since been kept with greater exactness and fidelity.

I

"The scheme for the benefit of the
widows of the ministers of the Church of

Scotland was first suggested, and chiefly
promoted, by the services of Dr Webster.
In framing the plan, and particularly in
the detail of calculations, he derived im-
portant assistance from the Rev. Dr Wal-
lace, and Mr Maclaurin, Professor of Ma-
thematics.

"Dr Webster shone above all his con-
temporaries in social life; and the pleas-
antry and gaiety of his conversation, his
command of amusing anecdotes, and the
sprightliness of his wit, always good-
natured and inoffensive, rendered him

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253

His innate saga-
the most delightful companion to persons
of every age and rank.
city, his love of convivial festivity and
mirth, and the preference which he always
showed, in the choice of his company, for
persons who notoriously differed from him
in theological sentiments and party attach-
ments, occasioned doubts with respect to
the sincerity of his public conduct, and
staggered the confidence of some of those
with whom he acted in ecclesiastical
affairs. The part he took in the events
which happened at Cambuslang, by pub-
lishing his belief of their supernatural
character, appeared to many an extrava-
gance irreconcilable with the shrewdness
and knowledge of mankind in which he
surpassed all his party friends, and ex-
cited a suspicion of the affectation rather
than the genuine impulse of popular en-
thusiasm.

"I am disposed to put confidence in Dr Webster's sincerity. His zeal for religion was manifested at an early period of his life, by his relinquishing the mercantile business into which he had entered with high prospects of success, and devoting himself to the laborious and ungainful profession of a Scots clergyman; and he gave other proofs of religious earnestness, which it were to the last degree uncharitable to ascribe to artifice.'

We cannot say that this cautiously guarded certificate of character, with the accompanying explanation of the grounds on which it rests, afford a complete refutation of the sharp, and certainly by no means guarded, remarks which Carlyle has left about Nay, however sucthe same man. cessfully the historian may consider that he has protected the memory of Dr Webster against any foolish nonsense which his outspoken contemporary may have uttered about the great evangelical champion, we cannot help thinking that what we have just quoted is merely Dr Somerville's way of describing the same character as that which Carlyle handles after the fashion following:

"Webster had justly obtained much respect amongst the clergy, and all ranks, indeed, for having established the Widows' Fund; for though Dr Wallace, who was an able mathematician, had made the calculations, Webster had the merit of carrying the scheme into execution. Having married a lady of fashion, who had a fortune of £4000 (an estate in those days), he kept better

company than most of the clergy. His appearance of great strictness in religion, to which he was bred under his father, who was a very popular minister of the Tolbooth Church, not acting in restraint of his convivial humour, he was held to be excellent company, even by those of dissolute manners; while, being a fivebottle man, he could lay them all under the table. This had [brought] on him the nickname of Dr Bonum Magnum in the time of faction; but never being indecently the worse of liquor, and a love of claret to any degree not being reckoned in those days a sin in Scotland, all his excesses were pardoned.

"When it was discovered that Jardine led him, his party became jealous; and it was no wonder, for he used to undermine them by his speeches, and vote with them to save appearances. But the truly upright and honourable men among them, such as Drs Erskine and Hunter, &c., could not think of parting with his abilities, which, both in the pulpit and the Assembly, gave some lustre to their party. He could pass at once from the most unbounded jollity to the most fervent devotion; yet I believe that his hypocrisy was no more than habit grounded merely on temper, and that his aptness to pray was as easy and natural to him as to drink a convivial glass. His familiar saying, however, that it was his lot to drink with gentlemen and to vote with fools, made too full a discovery of the laxity of his mind. Indeed, he lived too long to preserve any respect; for in his latter years his sole object seemed to be where to find means of inebriety, which he at last too often effected, for his constitution having lost its vigour, he was sent home almost every evening like other drunkards who could not boast of strength. Besides the £4000 he got with his lady, he spent £6000 more, which was left him by Miss Hunter, one of his pious disciples, which legacy did not raise his character. In aid of his fortune, when it was nearly drained, he was appointed Collector of the Widows' Fund when a Mr Stewart died, who was the first, and likewise obtained one of the deaneries from the Crown. When the New Town of Edinburgh came to be planned out, he was employed by the magistrates, which gratified his two strongest desires-his love of business and of conviviality, in both of which he excelled. The business was all done in the tavern, where there was a daily dinner, which cost the town in the course of the year £500, the whole of an additional revenue which had been discovered a little while before by Buchan,

the town's Chamberlain. He had done many private and public injuries to me, in spite of the support I and my friends had given him in his cause before the Synod in May 1752, for which I did not spare him when I had an opportunity, by treating him with that rough raillery which the fashion of the times authorised, which he bore with inimitable patience; and when I rose into some consideration, he rather courted than shunned my company, with the perfect knowledge of what I thought of him.

"There were a few of us who, besides the levity of youth and the natural freedom of our manners, had an express design to throw contempt on that vile species of hypocrisy which magnified an indecorum into a crime, and gave an air of false sanctimony and Jesuitism to the greatest part of the clergy, and was thereby pernicious to rational religion. In this plan we succeeded, for in the midst of our freedom having preserved respect and obtained a leading in the Church, we freed the clergy from many unreasonable and hypocritical restraints.

"I have dwelt longer on Dr Webster than on any other person, because such characters are extremely pernicious, as they hold up an example to unprincipled youth how far they may play fast and loose with professed principles without being entirely undone ; and how far they may proceed in dissipation of manner without entirely forfeiting the public good opinion. But let the young clergy observe, that very few indeed are capable of exhibiting for their protection such useful talents, or of displaying such agreeable manners, as Dr Webster did in compensation for his faults."

pole of British clerical celebrities, to We pass at once to the opposite

conclude our extracts with the rival sketch of Dr Dodd, more celebrated in these days for having been hanged for forgery, than for his brilliant fashionable discourses.

SOMERVILLE'S SKETCH.

"The unfortunate Dr Dodd was one of the most popular preachers, and attracted crowded assemblies at the Queen's Chapel, and the Magdalen in Goodmansfields, where he preached on the Sunday evenings. His sentiments were orthodox, occasionally pathetic, but oftener bombastic, and his style turgid. The pertness of his address, his apparent self

1861.]

sufficiency and vanity, and the grossness of the details which he introduced in his address to the Magdalens, must have been alike offensive to most of his hearers."

CARLYLE'S SKETCH.

"Before I began my operations relative to the window-tax, I witnessed something memorable. It being much the fashion to go on a Sunday evening to a chapel of the Magdalen Asylum, we went there on the second Sunday we were in London, and had difficulty to get tolerable seats for my sister and wife, the crowd of genteel people was so great. The preacher was Dr Dodd, a man afterwards too well known. The unfortunate young women were in a latticed gallery, where you could only see those who chose to be seen. The preacher's text was, 'If a man look on a woman to lust after her,' &c. The text itself was shocking, and the sermon was composed with the least possible delicacy, and was a shocking insult on a sincere penitent, and fuel for the warm passions of the hypocrites. The fellow was handsome, and delivered his discourse remarkably well for a reader. When he had finished, there were unceasing whispers of applause, which I could not help contradicting aloud, and condemning the whole institution, as well as the exhibition of the preacher, as contra bonos mores, and a disgrace to a Christian city."

We cannot part with Dr Somer

ville's pleasant little book without
dropping a tribute of praise to the
The pre-
excellency of its editing.

face being dated at Roxburgh, and
initialed W. L., it is no breach of
propriety to speak of the Editor as
the Reverend William Lee, clergy-
man of that parish, and son of the
late Principal of the University of
Edinburgh. His notes prove him to
have amply inherited that happy
combination of varied learning, strict
accuracy, and thorough good taste,for
which his father was so memorable.
In a book which carries one on in
a rapid rush of interest, such an
abundant supply of notes might
have been misplaced-they would
have been liable either to have
been thrown aside, or to be charge-
able with the effect of perpetually
tripping up the reader when his
mind is bent on the interest of the
text. Appended, however, to a sort
of commonplace book, or collection
of anecdotes and sketches, they
carry out the spirit of the text,
affording in themselves excellent
reading, and they save the reader
from going to his authorities to com-
plete his knowledge of the subject
under discussion.

THREE DAYS IN THE

HIGHLANDS.

AN EPILOGUE, IN THREE VOICES.

INTRODUCTORY, BY REGINALD A

IN the middle of July, having some leisure and no immediately engrossing amusement, I undertook the charge of two elderly female friends, whose hearts were set on a short ramble in the Highlands. When I say that three days was the proposed amount of time to be spent in this excursion, it will be apparent that the call upon my patience and fortitude was not so overwhelming as might appear by the first statement. And let me tell you that such a trip is by no means to be despised in the absence of greater attractions, when one is in want of a new sensation. The flutter of enjoyment conveyed to the mature female bosom, by attentions which are not always duly appreciated by their natural objects, is agreeable alike to one's benevolent feelings and to one's personal vanity. One has the satisfaction of combining amusement with the happy sensation of having done a good action; and one is rewarded by the simple flatteries, the delight, the excitement, and the friendly jealousy of the good old souls whom one takes in hand. together, I recommend the experiment to any man of good feelings, who has nothing better to do. It is less captivating, certainly, than the service of those dangerous and delusive sirens, who, alas! have it all their own way in the susceptible heart; but it is infinitely safer and the true benevolence of the action cannot fail to strike every feeling soul.

Al

Accordingly, I got up with heroism at a preposterous hour on the profoundly cloudy_morning of St Swithin's Day. It was a mere temptation of the watery saint to start at such a moment; but having got up my courage to the height

ESQ. THE FALSE START.

of goodness necessary, I was not to be held back even on the 15th of July by a shower. It looked so unpromising, however, that I sauntered down to the pier, in comfortable anticipation of going back to breakfast. What were my astonishment and dismay to see my fair companions seated already on a damp bench on the damp deck of the steamer, with luggage boldly labelled for the farthest point of the projected voyage, may be better imagined than described. Of course I joined them on board, though without a coat or a toothbrush, in the primitive simplicity of my morning jacket. The scene was amusing, as may be supposed. Around us stretched an indefinite expanse of mist, which experience and faith alike declared to be Clyde, with all its various banks and ports, but which sight pronounced to be nothing save a damp horizon of fog, heightened in effect by smoke and rain, all condensed within the enclosing firmament of cloud. Clouds blurred the sky-clouds enveloped the wooded banks-clouds closed in the busy piers and dockyards of the murky town of Greenock. Wherever one looked, nothing but clouds met one's eye, amid which appeared dolefully, as one neared the shore, a pale spectrum of that enchanting coast. was the external scene into which the little steamer plunged boldly over the dead-calm, mist-enveloped water. On deck sat my female friends, disputing the question, investigating the sky, appealing to me and to the clouds, to the helmsman and the porters-Would it be a fine day?—would it clear up-should they go forward or go back? The climax of the business appeared in the person of a friend not exactly of

Such

my own inches, who audibly offer ed me the contents of his portmanteau, with a self- abnegation unusual to modern friendship. I flatter myself I am not vain-but when a fellow half your size offers you the use of his wardrobe, you naturally decline the offer, however benevolent may be its intention. Resolute not to shrink from my post, but deeply conscious of my defective provision for it, I stood watching with some anxiety the decision of my fair companions. The state of puzzled and comical uncertainty in which they sat was amusing enough to withdraw from his own circumstances even the thoughts of a man starting upon a Highland excursion without a shirt, a wrapper, or a toothbrush. The good creatures consulted the skies, and my face, and each other, with a pertinacity possible only to women their eagerness, their doubts, their anxiety to take everybody's opinion, their uneasy shifting of responsibility from one pair of shrinking shoulders to another, was as good as a scene in a comedy; and whether it would have come to a decision, but for the sudden appearance of

the steamboat in which the further voyage was to be performed, packed from stern to bows with Glasgow excursionists, I cannot tell. That sight, however, settled the question. Mists, clouds, and even rain, might be overcome; but what resolution could stand against the society of a Glasgow mob of pleasure-seekers? My companions yielded to the dire compulsion; they turned back, damp and mournful; and with a pathetic parting we separated till the next day. Of course, an hour after, the morning cleared up and became radiant.

The next day, however, we set out, and the following narrative of the journey, conveyed as it is in the natural and unsophisticated utterance of my fair charges, will no doubt be grateful to many intending tourists in this early season. My modesty has impelled me to delete many of the flattering remarks addressed to myself; but, with this trifling exception, I have not ventured to tamper with the tale of my fellow-travellers, who have each contributed to this brief but eventful passage the history of a day.

THE FIRST DAY.-COMMUNICATED BY MISS ARABELLA W

On Tuesday, as good a day as ever is to be had in the Highlands, we set out upon our little tour under the kind guardianship of our excellent young friend, whose kindness, indeed, can never be sufficiently estimated. The earliest beginning of our course lay along the sweet banks of the Gair Loch, all broken into tiny bays, and wooded points rich with the fullest foliage, to where the shores of the Clyde slope downward to Loch Long. The sun was shining, and all the outlines stood out clear against the distinct but pale sky of the Highland summer. The scene was not Italian certainly, but I am not sure that the atmosphere and brightness of a southern climate would have suited those hills, which began to rise grand,

but not too solemn, in a hundred irregular lines out of the horizon. A blaze of sunshine would but have transfixed in speechless grandeur those huge shoulders and heights of rock and heather; whereas the constant motion and progress of light and shadow sets a perpetual drama astir among those bold and graceful hills, and keeps one's interest constantly engaged. I confess though no one can be more glad than I to see the city-bound escaping for a holiday I do confess that the steamer, with its noise and its clangour, with the flute and the fiddle playing in concert, with parties out for the day filling all the seats, is not conducive, so far as I am concerned, to the enjoyment of fine scenery. The music reduced me to that aggra

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