lectures of Aytoun, of ‘Christopher North,’ and conspicuously of Sir William Hamilton, by whom Veitch was profoundly influenced. Originally destined for the ministry of the free church, he turned his attention to theology in 1850, but was repelled by the dogmatic tendencies of the day. Until 1856 he maintained himself by private tuition.
In 1856 he was appointed assistant to Sir William Hamilton in the chair of logic and metaphysics in the university of Edinburgh. Sir William's death took place in the same year, and was followed by the transference of Campbell Fraser from the professorship of philosophy in New College. Veitch continued in his position as assistant to Professor Fraser till his election in May 1860 to the chair of logic, rhetoric, and metaphysics in the university of St. Andrews. During the same period he aided his chief in the editorial work of the ‘North British Review.’ His duties at St. Andrews required him to teach English literature as well as philosophy, and he began those studies in the literature and antiquities of the Scottish border by which he will be best remembered. At this period his friends included many remarkable men, among others James David Forbes [q. v.], James Frederick Ferrier [q. v.], John Tulloch [q. v.], William Young Sellar [q. v.], and John Campbell Shairp [q. v.]
In the summer of 1864 he was elected to the professorship of logic and rhetoric in the university of Glasgow, which he occupied till his death. Six months of the year were thenceforth spent in Glasgow, and the remainder at Peebles, where he built a residence, and enjoyed unique opportunities of studying the scenery, history, literature, and lore of his native borderland. He took an active part in the leading border associations, in the politics of the county of Peebles, and in various benevolent institutions. In 1872 he received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Edinburgh University. He died at Peebles on 3 Sept. 1894. In June 1862 he married Eliza Hill, only daughter of George Wilson of Dalmarnock and Auchineden, but he had no family by her.
As a thinker Veitch was at odds with the chief movements of his day, and by adopting an extreme, and often contemptuous, attitude of criticism, he baulked himself of formative influence with the thousands of students who came under his care. Those of them who knew him intimately were affected by his personal character, not by his prelections. On the other hand, inborn inclination, extraordinary opportunity, and rare power of observation combined in the production of his work on ‘The History and Poetry of the Scottish Border’ (1893, 2 vols.). The same qualities reveal themselves in the fine volumes on ‘The Feeling for Nature in Scottish Poetry’ (1887, 2 vols.), as well as in the three small books of verse, ‘The Tweed, and other Poems’ (1875), ‘Hillside Rhymes’ (1872), and ‘Merlin and other Poems’ (1889). The poems are less successful than the prose works. Occasionally they reach a high level, but always within a limited range. His pupils and friends have erected monuments to his memory within the main building of the university of Glasgow, in the town of Peebles, and on the top of Cademuir, one of his favourite hills.
Besides those already mentioned, Veitch's principal works were:
- ‘Memoir of Dugald Stewart,’ 1857.
- ‘Memoir of Sir William Hamilton,’ 1869.
- ‘Hamilton’ (Blackwood's Philosophical Classics Series), 1879.
- ‘Institutes of Logic,’ 1885.
- ‘Knowing and Being,’ 1889.
- ‘Dualism and Monism,’ 1895.
- ‘Border Essays,’ 1896.
He also edited, in conjunction with Henry Longueville Mansel [q. v.], Sir William Hamilton's ‘Lectures’ on logic and metaphysics (4 vols. 1859–60), and translated, with an introduction, appendix, and notes, Descartes's ‘Method,’ ‘Meditations,’ and selections from his ‘Principles of Philosophy,’ 1879.
[Memoir (1896) by Veitch's niece, Mary R. L. Bryce, and the Introductory Essay to Dualism and Monism by the present writer.]
VEITCH, WILLIAM (1640–1722), covenanter, younger son of John Veitch, minister of Roberton, Lanarkshire, was born on 27 April 1640. He studied at the university of Glasgow, where he graduated M.A. in 1659; and in 1660 he became tutor to the family of Sir Andrew Ker of Greenhead at the university of Edinburgh. About 1664 he took license as a preacher and joined the presbyterians; but, being forfeited in 1667 for having been at Mauchline and the Pentlands, he escaped to England, where he lived under the name of Johnson. For some time he was chaplain to the wife of the mayor of Newcastle; and, after preaching in London and other places, he was in 1671 ordained minister of a meeting-house at Faldlees and afterwards at Hanamhall in the parish of Rothbury, Northumberland, whence four years afterwards he removed to Seaton Hall in the parish of Longhorsly. On 16 Jan. 1679 he was apprehended, while living there under the name of Johnson, but having been on 22 Feb. sisted before the committee of public affairs in Edinburgh, he was sent to imprisonment on the Bass Rock. On 17 July following he was, however, set at liberty, and
