to which he was strongly attached, and in which, as well as in the society of some friends there, he much delighted. He thought the air of the place particularly healthy, and useful to his constitution; " and I have often," says a friend, who gave me this information, "seen him stand for a long time, on the adjoining promontory, inhaling, in a fine day, the pure air from the ocean, " and enjoying the majestic prospect, expressing great delight in both." He had great confidence, too, in the tonic powers of the mineral spring, and of the salt-water baths; and his hope of being able to go through his professional duties with comfort, during the winter, was in exact proportion to the length of time he had been able to spend at Peterhead the preceding sum

66

mer.

merely an insignificant fishing-town, owes its rapid encrease in commerce, manufactures, and consequent population; so that, from two thousand four hundred and twenty souls, to which number only the inhabitants amounted, so lately as the year 1764, the town is said to have contained no fewer than four thousand one hundred in the year 1794, and is daily increasing. t

+ Statistical Account of Scotland, Parish of Peterhead, Vol. XVI. p.7. and p. 563.

Nor was it on account of the waters, the baths, and the healthful air alone, that he was so greatly attached to Peterhead. He loved the people, and they loved and respected him; and there were several of the venerable old inhabitants of ' the place, for whose integrity and simplicity of character he entertained, and was often heard to express, a high regard. Although he by no means shunned the society of the numerous strangers, who flock to Peterhead in the course of the season, and sometimes dined with them at their common table, yet he spent much of his time alone, in study, or in the society of a few select friends. During the fine weather, he dedicated many hours to his favourite and healthful amusement, of walking in the fields, or along the seashore; and he used pleasantly to say, that there was not a road, nor a foot-path, not a rock, nor any remarkable stone, in the neighbourhood of Peterhead, with which he was not personally acquainted.

One of the chief employments, and indeed amusements, of his leisure hours, at this period, was the conducting, and superintending the education of his eldest son, whom he placed, first, at the usual public schools at Aberdeen, and after

wards at the Marischal-College in that city. There the youth's proficiency, in the various branches of classical learning and philosophy, was uncommonly great. He inherited, no doubt, by nature, an acute genius, which he cultivated by incessant and laborious application. But it cannot be questioned, that much of the uncommon progress which he made in the various branches of science, to which he applied himself, must have been owing to the incalculable advantages which he derived from the taste, the learning, and the unremitting attention of so able a preceptor as his father. Of young Beattie, I shall have ample occasion to speak hereafter.

In Dr Beattie's letters to Mrs Montagu, 27th May, 1774, he had mentioned his having received a letter from Dr Priestley, intimating his intention of animadverting on the Essay on Truth.' In the following letter, Dr Beattie takes farther notice of this subject.

LETTER CI.

DR BEATTIE TO MRS MONTAGU.

Peterhead, 5th August, 1774.

"Dr Priestley's Preface is come out, without any acknowledgment of the information conveyed to him in my letter. But he has written to me on the occasion, and says, he will publish my letter in that book which he is preparing, in opposition to the Essay on Truth,' as he thinks such a letter will do me honour. He praises the candour and generosity which, he says, appear in my letter, and seems to be satisfied that I wrote my book with a good intention; which is the only merit he allows me, at least he mentions no other. He blames me exceedingly for my want of moderation, and for speaking, as I have done, of the moral influence of opinions. He owns, that his notions, on some of the points in which he differs from me, are exceedingly unpopular, and likely to continue so; and says, that, perhaps, no two persons professing Christianity ever thought more differently than he and I do. It is a loss

to me, he seems to think, that I have never been acquainted with such persons as himself and his friends in England: to this he is inclined to impute the improper style I have made use of on some subjects; but, he hopes, a little reflection, and a candid examination of what he is to write against me, will bring me to a better way of thinking and speaking. His motive for entering the lists with me, is no other, he says, than "a "sincere and pretty strong, though, perhaps, a "mistaken regard to truth." This is the substance of his letter, as I understand it. There are, indeed, some things in it, which I do not distinctly understand; and therefore, I believe, I shall not at present make any reply. He does not tell me, what the points of difference between us are: but I find, from some reports that have penetrated even to this remote corner, that he has taken some pains to let it be known, that he is writing an answer to my book. A volume of his Institutes of Religion' lately fell into my hand, which is the first of his theological works I have seen; and, I must confess, it does not give me any high opinion of him. His notions of Christianity are indeed different from mine; so very different, that I know not whether I should