retained. He was entered as a student of humanity at the university in the session of 1765–6, and completed the usual course in the three following sessions, passing through the Greek class in his second session, the logic class in the third and fourth, and in the fourth attending also the class of natural philosophy under James Russell. He became a good mathematician, and was specially impressed by the teaching of Dr. John Stevenson, professor of logic from 1730 to 1775; and of Adam Ferguson [q. v.], professor of moral philosophy. Reid's ‘Inquiry’ (1764) had been warmly received by both professors, and was mentioned with ‘high encomiums’ by Russell (Stewart, Works, x. 261). Stewart was therefore prepared to accept Reid as the true philosophical prophet. He had thought of obtaining an appointment as an engineer in the service of the East India Company, but afterwards inclined to taking orders in the church of England. He went to Glasgow partly in the hope of going to Oxford as one of the Snell exhibitioners; and partly in order to attend the lectures of Reid, who held the Glasgow chair of moral philosophy. He remained there during the session of 1771–2. He belonged to a literary society at Glasgow, and read before it a paper upon dreaming, afterwards inserted in his ‘Elements’ (Works, ii. 289–305, 490). Its publication there led also to his first acquaintance with Thomas Brown (1778–1820) [q. v.] Stewart read this and other papers to the Speculative Society of Edinburgh, of which he was an active member from 1772 to 1775. At Glasgow he acquired the personal friendship of his master, Reid, and boarded in the same house with Archibald Alison (1757–1839) [q. v.], who became a lifelong friend, and dedicated the ‘Essays on Taste’ to him in 1790.
In the autumn of 1772 he was recalled to Edinburgh to take charge of mathematical classes. The elder Stewart was failing, and in 1775 the son was associated with him in his professorship, and thenceforth discharged all the duties of the chair. He is said to have been a very successful teacher. He groaned, however, when he had the prospect of teaching Euclid for the thirteenth time. In the session of 1778–9 Stewart undertook to lecture for Adam Ferguson, who had a temporary appointment in America. He had to give a course upon morality, besides lecturing three hours daily upon mathematics, and giving for the first time a course upon astronomy. He lectured from notes, arranging his ideas while walking in the garden. He afterwards wrote for publication quickly, but altered much while his works were in the press. These early lectures were very successful, and by some hearers preferred to his later efforts. He had to rise at 3 A.M. on five days of the week, and was so exhausted by his labours that he had to be lifted into his carriage for a journey.
In 1783 Stewart visited Paris with his friend, Lord Ancrum (afterwards sixth Marquis of Lothian). On his return he married Helen, daughter of Neil Bannatyne of Glasgow. In 1785 he was transferred to the chair of moral philosophy, upon the resignation of Adam Ferguson. He speedily obtained an influence such as has been enjoyed by few British philosophers. He was, after Reid's death, the only writer of recognised authority upon philosophical topics in the island; and during the exclusion of British subjects from the continent by the war many young men of position were sent to Edinburgh instead of making the ‘grand tour.’ His character and his eloquence commanded respect, and Edinburgh continued during his life to be scarcely inferior to London as a centre of intellectual activity. His class, during his twenty-four years of active work, increased from 102 in 1785–6 to 196 in 1807–8 and 150 in 1808–9. He also gave summer courses on moral philosophy for a few years, and occasionally lectured for his colleagues upon mathematics, natural philosophy, and logic.
Stewart during the early years of his professorship spent his summers at Catrine on the water of Ayr, in a house inherited from his mother. Burns's farm, Mossgiel, was in the neighbourhood, and the poet was introduced to the philosopher in 1786 [see under Burns, Robert]. Stewart gave an interesting account of their intercourse to Currie, who published it in his life of Burns (also in Stewart's Works, vol. x. pp. cxl, &c.). The erection of a cotton mill at Catrine in 1782 diminished the charm of the place.
Stewart's wife died in 1787. He spent the summers of 1788 and 1789 in France, where he made the acquaintance of many eminent men, including Suard, Morellet, Prévost of Geneva, Degérando, and Raynal. He sympathised strongly with the early revolutionary movement, and did not give up his hopes of a satisfactory issue even at the outbreak of the war and the beginning of the Terror (see Letters in Appendix A to Life). On 26 July 1790 he married Helen D'Arcy (1765–1838), third daughter of the Hon. George Cranstoun, and sister of Scott's friend, the Countess Purgstall, and of George Cranstoun, lord Corehouse [q. v.] Her mother was Maria, daughter of Thomas Brisbane
