THE LIFE OF ALEXANDER GEDDES, LL. D. THE life of Dr Geddes has been written by his learned friend Mr Mason Good, with a copiousness of detail which leaves but little to be supplied, and with an impartiality of sentiment which the enthusiasm of friendship has not very frequently displayed. Alexander Geddes was born in the year one thousand seven hundred and thirty-seven. His father, who bore the same baptismal name, rented a small farm at Arradowl in the parish of Ruthven and county of Banff. His mother, Janet Mitchell, was a native of Nether Dalachy in the parish of Bellay. His parents, who were of the Romish persuasion, were distinguished by a conscientious discharge of the duties of their humble station. They were Papists without bigotry; they lived in poverty without being contaminated with meanness. They were animated with that noble ardour of literary ambition which so honourably characterizes the poor people of Scotland: their darling project was to procure for their son the advantages of a liberal education; and notwithstanding the discouragements which intervened, their fond anticipations of his future eminence seem to have invested it with many allurements. He was taught to read by a village-schoolmistress of the name of Sellar; whose goodness of heart he was frequently heard to commemorate during the latest years of his life. This worthy tutoress possessed a qualification of the utmost importance in those who undertake the instruction of youth; namely the power of appreciating the temper and capacity of the pupils: and Dr Geddes, at a more brilliant period of his history, often declared that one of the earliest mental pleasures which he experienced, arose from the marks of distinction with which he had been honoured by Dame Sellar. His love of study discovered itself during his very childhood; and the first book which excited his eager curiosity was the vulgar English bible. His parents, as he himself informs us, taught him to read it with attention and reverence. Such a Geddes's General Answer to Queries, Councils, and Criticisms, p. 2. |