Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 7.djvu/44

180 This sermon possesses a singular degree of merit, and exhibits all the felicities of composition and strength of reasoning, for which his after productions are so remarkable. That he himself had a favourable opinion of this sermon, appears from a letter written by him to his son-in-law, Mr John Russell, on June 16, 1788, along with which he had sent him, "as a monument of his friendship and attachment," a very handsomely bound copy of his works, as "I wish you to possess them in their most perfect form, as I purpose they should be transmitted to posterity;" and he adds, "my solitary sermon, naked as it came into the world, accompanies its well-drest brothers, but though the least of my works, I would not have you esteem it the last in merit."

A few years afterwards, he made his appearance in the debates of the General Assembly, where his eloquence acquired for him the ascendancy which he long maintained as a leader in the church courts. It is remarkable that one of the first uses he made of his influence in the General Assembly, was to defend his co-presbyter Home from the censures of the church, for his having written the tragedy of Douglas. Dr Robertson could, indeed, scarcely have done less, after Laving himself taken part in the rehearsal of the piece, in common with Blair and Carlyle, as has already been narrated in our memoir of Home. He exerted himself warmly in behalf of his peccant brother; and it is allowed that his arguments and eloquence had a great effect in softening the vengeance of the General Assembly. As the play-going portion of the public sympathized but little in the feelings of the clergy on this subject, and felt besides a strong prejudice in favour of Mr Home, these efforts of Dr Robertson were exceedingly grateful to that party, amongst whom his defence had the effect of acquiring for him an extensive popularity.

In the mean time, his "History of Scotland, during the Reigns of Mary and James VI.," which, in the midst of all his other avocations, he had been noiselessly, but assiduously bringing forward, approached to a close, and he was about to commit to the caprice of popular taste and opinion, the labours and the hope of years. On the final completion of that work, he proceeded to London, to make arrangements regarding its publication; and in February, 1759, it appeared. The effect which it produced, was instantaneous and extraordinary. Letters of congratulation, of admiration, and of praise, poured in upon its author from all quarters, and many of them from the most eminent men of the time, all outvying each other in the language of panegyric and compliment Nor was it praise alone that attended his literary success; the work cleared to its author no less a sum than £600; preferment also immediately followed, and changed at once the whole complexion of his fortunes. While his work was going through the press, he had received a presentation to one of the churches of Edinburgh, to which he removed with his family; and in the same year in which the work was published, he was appointed chaplain of Stirling castle; in two years afterwards, he was nominated one of his majesty's chaplains in ordinary for Scotland; in the following year, he was elected principal of the university of Edinburgh; and in two years more, appointed by the king, as historiographer for Scotland, with a salary of two hundred pounds a-year. From being an obscure country clergyman, he was now become one of the most conspicuous men in the kingdom. His society and correspondence were courted by the noble and the wealthy, and his self love was flattered by encomiums and oulogiuras from the dignified and learned.