Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 4.djvu/82

428 God; a man, in short, conspicuous above all men as a juggling impostor. Now to the divine mission of Moses, we have the direct testimony of Jesus Christ himself, with the express assurance, that without believing in Moses it was impossible to believe in him. But we cannot here follow out the subject, nor can we enter into any particular analysis of his works, to which the eccentricities of his character, the singularity of his opinions, and the peculiar circumstances of his life, gave for a time an interest, to which they were not at any time entitled. His translation of the Bible, after all the professions he had made, the means he had accumulated, and the expectations he had excited, was a complete failure, and has only added another demonstration to the thousands that had preceded it, how much more easy it is to write fluently and plausibly about great undertakings, than to perform them. We intended here to have noticed more particularly his translation of the first book of the Iliad of Homer, which he undertook for the purpose of demonstrating his superiority to Cowper, but upon second thoughts have forborne to disturb its peaceful slumbers. Upon the whole, Dr Geddes uas unquestionably a man of learning and of genius, but from an unhappy temper, and the preponderating influence of arrogance and vanity in his constitution, they were of little avail to himself, and have not been greatly useful to the general interests of mankind.

GEDDES,, an advocate at the Scottish bar, was born in the county of Tweeddale, about the year 1710, and being the son of a gentleman in good circumstances, was educated by tutors under his father's roof. The progress which he made in the learned languages and philosophy, was considered extraordinary; and he fulfilled every promise at the university of Edinburgh, where he distinguished himself, particularly in mathematics, which he studied under the celebrated Maclaurin. Having prepared himself for the bar, he entered as an advocate, and soon acquired considerable reputation. His labours as a lawyer did not prevent him from devoting much time to his favourite studies the poets, philosophers, and historians of antiquity; and in 1748, he published at Glasgow his "Essay on the Composition and Manner of Writing of the Ancients, particularly Plato." The year after this publication, he died of lingering consumption, much regretted, both on account of his learning the fruits of which had not been fully given to the world and for his manners and disposition, which were in the highest degree amiable.

GEDDES,, a distinguished divine of the church of England, and author of some admired works, was educated at the university of Edinburgh, .where, in 1671, he took the degree of master of arts, in which he was incorporated at Oxford, on the 1 1th of July, in the same year. He was one of the first four natives of Scotland who were permitted to take advantage of the exhibitions founded in Baliol college, Oxford, by bishop Warner, with the view of promoting the interests of the Episcopal church in Scotland. Geddes, however, did not return to propagate or enforce the doctrines of that body in his native country. He went in 1678 to Lisbon, as chaplain to the English factory; the exercise of which function giving offence to the inquisition, he was sent for by that court in 1686, and forbidden to continue it. This persecution obviously arose from the attempts now making by king James at home to establish popery. The English merchants, resenting the violation of their privilege, wrote on the 7th of September to the bishop of London, representing their case, and their right to a chaplain, as established by the commercial treaty between England arid Portugal ; but before this letter reached its destination, the bishop was himself put into the same predicament as Mr Geddes, being suspended from his functions by the ecclesiastical commission. Finding that his case had become hopeless, Geddes returned to England, in May, 1688, where he took the