Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 8.djvu/257

 Mr. Duncan brought the whole strength and experience of his mind to a revival of the plan under better arrangements; and the result was, that several friendly societies were originated in Ruthwell, having 300 members independent of the "parish box," and happy with each other in their public meetings and temperate soirees. Coincident with this was Mr. Duncan's concern for the intellectual as well as physical and moral elevation of his people; and therefore he endeavoured, by conversational lectures which he held on the Sunday evenings, to illustrate the Divine attributes, as manifested in the sciences of astronomy, physics, and history. This, however, unfortunately staggered the people, who as yet were neither prepared for such Sabbath ministrations, nor to believe that the earth turns round, and that the stars are of such prodigious magnitude. With the same purpose of elevating the lower orders, and inspiring them with the capacities as well as right feelings of industrious manly independence, he next commenced, in 1808, a serial work, of great efficacy in its day, under the title of the "Scotch Cheap Repository." This periodical, consisting of short tracts and stories, was formed upon the plan of Mrs. Hannah More's "Cheap Magazine;" and both were the precursors of penny magazines, Chambers' journals, and the other economical popular literature of the present day. In supplying the materials for his " Repository," Mr. Duncan was assisted by five of his clerical brethren, and by Miss Hamilton, the justly-famed authoress of the "Cottagers of Glenburnie;" while his own principal contribution, entitled "The Cottage Fireside, or Parish Schoolmaster," afterwards published in a separate form, was thus eulogized by that Aristarchus of modern criticism, the "Quarterly Review:"—"In point of genuine humour and pathos, we are inclined to think that it fairly merits a place by the side of the 'Cottagers of Glenburnie,' while the knowledge it displays of Scottish manners and character is more correct and more profound." Without going out of his way to seek it, Mr. Duncan's talents as an author were now so highly appreciated, that his pen was in demand both from the "Edinburgh Encyclopædia" and the "Christian Instructor"—to the former of which he supplied the articles "Blair" and "Blacklock," and to the latter several valuable contributions extending over many years. His next principal object was the establishment of a provincial newspaper, the "Weekly Journal" of Dumfries being but a poor production, while the important events of the day, and the growing wants of the public mind, if not supplied with adequate sustenance, would have only opened the way for the productions of political discontent, false philosophy, and infidelity. Aware of this danger, and eager to avail himself of the opportunities of such a season for indoctrinating the public with substantial, healthy, and purified intelligence, Mr. Duncan had recourse to his brothers in Liverpool for the pecuniary means of action, and with their aid was enabled, at the close of 1809, to start the "Dumfries and Galloway Courier," a weekly newspaper, to which, without announcing the fact, he officiated as editor for the first seven years. In this way he originated the best and most influential of all our Scottish provincial journals, and happily its reputation did not deteriorate under the able management of Mr. M'Diarmid, who, in 1817, succeeded Mr. Duncan in the editorship. All this while, the wonderful activity which the minister of Ruthwell displayed, and the amount of versatile intelligence he brought to a great variety of action, cannot be too widely known. While he was careful in all his pulpit preparations, and enriching the columns of his journal with powerful and original articles, he was conducting, as secretary, the business of the "Dumfries Auxiliary Bible