Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 7.djvu/307

Rh measures, which sometimes exposed him to calumny from the guilty, but secured him unbounded esteem from all who could value independence of soul and integrity of heart. His sentiments respecting the affairs of both church and state were those of what may now be called an old whig; he stood upon the Revolution establishment, alike anxious to realize the advantages of that transaction, and to prevent further and needless or dangerous changes. "Nature," says an anonymous biographer, "had endowed him with strong faculties, which a very considerable share of learning had matured and improved. For extent of comprehension, depth of thinking, and accuracy in the profoundest researches, he stood unrivalled. In the knowledge of the world, and of human nature, he was a master. It is not wonderful that the best societies in the kingdom were perpetually anxious to possess a man, who knew how to soften the rancour of public theological contest with the liberality and manners of a gentleman. His address was engaging; his wit strong as his mind; his convivial powers, as they are called, enchanting. He had a constitutional strength against intoxication, which made it dangerous in most men to attempt bringing him to such a state: often, when they were unfit for sitting at table, he remained clear, regular, and unaffected."

Among the gifts of Dr Webster, was an extraordinary power of arithmetical calculation. This he began soon after his settlement in Edinburgh, to turn to account, in the formation, in company with Dr Robert Wallace, of the scheme for annuities to the widows of the Scottish clergy. From an accurate list of the ministers of the church, and the members of the three southern universities, compared with the ordinary ratio of births, marriages, and deaths, in this and other kingdoms, he was enabled to fix on a series of rates to be paid annually by the members of these two departments, the amount of which rates was to supply a specific annuity to every widow, whose husband should be a contributor, and a proportional sum for the children of the same. To forward this scheme, he opened a correspondence with the different presbyteries in the kingdom; and, in the year 1742, received for it the sanction of the General Assembly of the church, which, after suitable examination, approved of the whole plan, with the exception of a few immaterial particulars. Accordingly, the several presbyteries and universities concurred with the Assembly, in petitioning parliament for an act, enabling them to raise and establish a fund, and obliging the ministers of the church, with the heads, principals, and masters of St Andrews, Glasgow, and Edinburgh, to pay annually, each according to his option, one of the following rates, viz., either £2. 12s. 6d. £3. 18s. 9d. £5. 5s., or £6. 11s. 3d., to be repaid in proportional annuities of £10, £15, £20, or £25, to their widows, or in similar provisions of £100, £150, £200, or £250, to their children. The act was obtained in terms of the petition, (17 Geo. II.,) with liberty to employ the surplus of the annual payments and expenses in loans of £30 a-piece among the contributors, and to put out the remainder at interest, on proper security. A second act, amending the former, was procured in the 22nd year of the same reign, (1748,) regulating the several parts of the management, and granting liberty to raise the capital to 80,000, including the sums lent to contributors. The commencement of the fund is reckoned from the 25th of March, 1744, the whole trouble of planning, arranging, and collecting the revenues, and applying them to their immediate purposes, devolving on the original proposer, who, with a