from the vituperative nature of their adversary: for he tells us, that "now the clergy are silent; the town council have had the presumption to oppose us, and have threatened Creech (the publisher in Edinburgh) with the terror of
making him a constable for his insolence. A pamphlet on the abuses of Heriot's hospital, including a direct proof of perjury in the provost, was the punishment inflicted in turn. And new papers are forging to chastise them, in
regard to the poor's rate, which is again started; the improper choice of professors; and violent stretches of the impost. The liberty of the press, in its fullest extent, is to be employed against them."[1]
The natural conclusion from the tone of these letters, from circumstances in the conduct of Stuart, which we have already recorded, and from some we may hereafter mention, might perhaps be, that he was a man possessed with a general malignity against the human race; yet it has been said that he was warm in his friendships, and that his indignation against vice and meanness, frequently exhibited, came from his heart. It will appear perhaps to be the truest conclusion as to his character, that he was simply one of those men wlio are termed persons of violent passions, and who may be made Falconbridges, squire Westerns, or Gilbert Stuarts, from circumstances. The circumstances which swerved his feelings into their particular course, appear to have done so, by feeding his mind with arrogance, and making him look upon himself as a being of superior mould to that of his fellows. Such a man, independently of the want of restraint, which he must feel from the opinions of people whom he thinks beneath him, invariably finds the world not so complimentary to his genius as he is himself; and he consequently feels surrounded by enemies,—by people who rob him of his just right. His father, long a respectable professor, is said to have possessed the same fiery temperament; but his mind was regulated by a routine of studies and duties. He probably entered the world with lower expectations than those of his son, and had less opportunity of nursing his arrogance, and his passions effervesced in common irritability, and enthusiasm for particular branches of literature. The mind of such a man as Stuart deserves a little study, beyond the extent to which his merely literary importance would entitle him; and perhaps a few extracts from his letters to Mr Smellie—a man certainly his equal in talent, and his superior in useful information—may form not uninteresting specimens of his arrogance. As Stuart was above troubling himself with dates, the extracts are picked miscellaneously.
"Inclosed is Murray's letter, which you will consider attentively, and send me the result, that I may write to him. That was to have been done by Creech and you, but has not yet been thought of by either. The business we are about to engage in, is too serious to be trifled with.
"It appears to me perfectly obvious, that without a partner in London, we cannot possibly be supplied with books; and on our speedy supply of them, the whole success of the work must depend. Murray seems fully apprized of the pains and attention that are necessary,—has literary connexions, and is fond of the employment,—let him, therefore, be the London proprietor.
"If I receive your letters to-morrow, they may be sent off the day after. Shut yourself up for two hours after supper. Be explicit and full; and in the mean time, let me know what books are sent off, besides Harwood and the Child of Nature; which, by the by, might have been sent off three full weeks ago, as they have been so long in your possession.
"As to the introductory paragraph about an extract from Kames, I wrote you fully about it ten days ago; and it is a pain to me to write fifty times on the same subject. It is odd that you will rajher give one incessant trouble,
- ↑ Calamities of Authors, i. 54—7.
