Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 4.djvu/282

24 On the 31st of the same month, (August,) Mr Henderson was called upon to preside, in his clerical capacity, at the opening of the parliament, and on that occasion delivered a most impressive discourse, in which he treated of the duties and utility of governors with singular ability and judgment,

A proof still more flattering, perhaps, than any he had yet received of the estimation in which his character and talents were held, was afforded him in the following year, (1640.) Previous to this period the college of Edinburgh was without 'any presiding officer to regulate its affairs, these receiving only such attention as might result from an annual visit of the town council. As this was little more than a visit of ceremony, the system of education, and almost every thing else connected with the university, was in a most deplorable condition. To remedy these evils the town council came- to the resolution of having a rector appointed, to be chosen annually, and whose duty it should be to direct all matters connected with the college, to keep an eye on the conduct of the principal and professors, and to superintend the education of the students, and the disposal of the revenues.

To this honourable and highly responsible office Mr Henderson was unanimously elected; an appointment not more indicative of the general opinion entertained of his moral qualities, than of his learning and abilities; for besides the merely legislative duties which were connected with it, the rector, by the constitution of the office, was to be invited by the preses at all solemn meetings of the college, "to go before the rest in all public disputes of philosophy and divinity."

Mr Henderson, notwithstanding his other various and important avocations, discharged the duties of this office with an attention, ability, and judgment, which soon placed the university on a very different footing from what it had hitherto been. He added to and improved its buildings and its approaches, bestowed especial care on the education of candidates for the ministry, instituted a professorship of oriental languages, a department which had previously been greatly neglected, to the serious injury, in particular, of the students of divinity, whose knowledge of the Hebrew was left to be gleaned from one short weekly lecture on that language ; and, in short, he overlooked nothing which could contribute to its interests and prosperity. His own personal influence, together with the high respectability which his sagacious administration had procured for the college, was so great, that the citizens of Edinburgh, with a spirit of emulation which was very far from existing before, strove who should most contribute to the accommodation of its members. The consequence of these judicious and important services was, that Mr Henderson was continued, by re-election, in the office of rector till his death.

From these peaceful pursuits Henderson was occasionally directed to take a share in the renewed distractions of the times. The king having refused to ratify gome of the points agreed upon at the Birks, both parties again took up arms: Charles denouncing the covenanters as rebels, marched towards Scotland with an army; while the latter, with three or four and twenty thousand men, penetrated into England. Some partial successes of the Scottish army on this occasion, together with some defections in his own, again brought the unfortunate monarch to pacificatory terms with the covenanters. A conference was begun at Rippon, and afterwards, as the king's presence was required in London, transferred to that city. The commissioners who were despatched thither by the covenanters to conclude the conference, took with them several of the most popular of the clergy, and amongst these was Mr Henderson, on whose talents they relied for all the subsidiary efforts which were at once to bring the conference to an issue satisfactory to themselves, and to impress the English with a favour-