Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 4.djvu/301

Rh Sec. 7. "I dont know by what fate it happens, that some men have the fortune to be counted wits, only for jesting a little out of the common road, and for endeavouring, in opposition to all the reason and sense of mankind, to turn into ridicule those things which are, in their own nature, the most sacred and venerable. But as a man is not infamous for being defamed, so it is no disparagement to any person or thing, to be laughed at, but to deserve to be so. It was a wise answer of Diogenes, which we find mentioned by Plutarch, when some of his friends told him that his enemies were laughing at him; 'but I,' replied he, 'am not derided.' "

Sec. 9. "A man of genius ought not, in my opinion, to think even his dress below his notice; as the world is but too apt to judge by appearance."

Sec. 15. "A man discovers the extent of his genius, if, upon all occasions, lie handsomely acts his part, and behaves with a good grace in every scene and circumstance of human life. The care of doing nothing unbecoming has accompanied the greatest minds to their last moments : they avoided an indecent posture, even in the very article of death."

HERD,, an ingenious and useful inquirer into our national antiquities, was born in the parish of St Cyrus, Kincardineshire, about the year 1732. Of his education, and early life in general, nothing has been ascertained. He probably served an apprenticeship under a country writer, and then, like many young men in his circumstances, sought a situation of better promise in the capital. Throughout a long life, he appears to have lived unambitiously, and a bachelor, in Edinburgh, never rising above the character of a Writer's clerk. He was for many years clerk to Mr David Russel, accountant A decided taste for antiquities, and literary antiquities in particular, led Mr Herd to spend a great part of his savings on books; and although the volumes which he preferred were then much cheaper than now, his library eventually brought the sum of £254, 19s. 10d. The same taste brought him into association with the principal authors and artists of his own time: Runciman, the painter, was one of his intimate friends, and with Ruddiman, Gilbert Stuart; Fergusson, and Robert Burns, he was well acquainted. His information regarding Scottish history and biography was extensive. Many of his remarks appeared in the periodical works of his time, and the notes appended to several popular works were enriched by notes of his collecting. Sir Walter Scott, for instance, was much indebted, in his Border Minstrelsy, to a manuscript of Mr Herd's, which is frequently quoted by the editor, both for ballads and for information respecting them. Mr Herd was himself editor of what Scott calls " the first classical collection" of Scottish songs, which first appeared in one volume in 1769, and secondly in two volumes, in 1772. At his demise, which took place, June 25, 1810, he was understood to have left considerable property, which fell to a gentleman in England, supposed to have been his natural son, and who is said to have died a major in the army.

HERIOT,, founder of the excellent hospital in Edinburgh which bears his name, and jeweller to king James VI., was descended from the Heriots of Trabroun in East-Lothian. This respectable family was connected with some of the most distinguished names in Scottish history. The mother of the illustrious Buchanan was a daughter of the family, and it was through the patronage of James Heriot of Trabroun, his maternal uncle, that the future poet and statesman was sent to prosecute his studies at the university of Paris. Elizabeth, daughter of James Heriot of Trabroun, was the mother of Thomas Hamilton of Priestfield, first earl of Haddington, president of the court of session, and secretary and prime minister to James VI. But the family may, with more reason, boast of their connexion with the subject of this memoir, who, though