Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 7.djvu/156

292 although, to those who knew him, these peculiarities detracted nothing from the respect which his abilities commanded; and, although to his intimate friends they added an inexpressible charm to his conversation, while they displayed in the most interesting light the artless simplicity of his heart ; yet it would require a very skilful pencil to present them to the public eye. He was certainly not fitted for the general commerce of the world, or for the business of active life. The comprehensive speculations with which he had been occupied from his youth, and the variety of materials which his own invention continually supplied to his thoughts, rendered him habitually inattentive to familiar objects, and to common occurrences ; and he frequently exhibited instances of absence which hare scarcely been surpassed by the fancy of La Bruyere. Even in company he was apt to be engrossed with his studies ; and appeared, at times, by the motion of his lips, as well as by his looks and gestures, to be in the fervour of composition. I have often, however, been struck, at the distance of years, with his accurate memory of the most trifling particulars, and am inclined to believe, from this and some other circumstances, thar he possessed a power, not perhaps uncommon among absent men, of recollecting, in consequence of subsequent efforts of reflection, many occurrences which at the time when they happened did not seem to have sensibly attracted his notice.

" To the defect now mentioned, it was probably owing that he did not fall in easily with the common dialogue of conversation, and that he was somewhat apt to convey his own ideas in the form of a lecture. When he did so, however, it never proceeded from a wish to engross the discourse, or to gratify his vanity. His own inclination disposed him so strongly to enjoy in silence the gayety of those arour.d him, that his friends were often led to concert little schemes in order to engage him in the discussions most likely to interest him. Nor do I think I shall be accused of going too far when I say, that he was scarcely ever known to start a new topic himself, or to appear unprepared upon those topics that were introduced by others. Indeed, his conversation was never more amusing than when he gave a loose to his genius upon the very few branches of knowledge of which he only possessed the outlines.

" The opinions he formed of men upon a slight acquaintance were frequently erroneous; but the tendency of his nature inclined him much more to blind partiality, than to ill-founded prejudices. The enlarged views of human affairs on which his mind habitually dwelt, left him neither time nor inclination to study in detail the uninteresting peculiarities of ordinary characters, and accordingly, though intimately acquainted with the capacities of the intellect and the workings of the heart, and accustomed in his theories to mark with the most delicate hand the nicest shades both of genius and of the passions; yet in judging of individuals it sometimes happened that his estimates were in a surprising degree wide of the truth.

"The opinions to which in the thoughtlessness and confidence of his social hours, he was accustomed to hazard on books and on questions of speculation, were not uniformly such as might have been expected from the superiority of his understanding, and the singular consistency of his philosophical principles. They were liable to be influenced by accidental circumstances, and by the humour of the moment: and when retailed by those who only saw him occasionally, suggested false and contradictory ideas of his real sentiments. On these, however, us on most other occasions, there was always much truth, as well as ingenuity in his remarks; and if the different opinions which at different times he pronounced upon the same subject had been all combined together, so as to modify and limit each other, they would probably have afforded materials for a decision equally comprehensive and just. But, in the society of