A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature/Kames, Henry Home, Lord
Kames, Henry, Home, Lord (1696-1782).—Miscellaneous writer, s. of Geo. H., of Kames, Berwickshire, was admitted an advocate in 1723, and raised to the Bench in 1752. In 1748 he pub. a collection of Decisions of the Court of Session. It is, however, on his philosophical and historical writings that his literary fame rests. His writings include Essays on the Principles of Morality and Natural Religion (1751), The Elements of Criticism (1762), in which he sought for principles based on the elements of human nature; Sketches of the History of Man (1774), and Loose Hints on Education, in which many modern views are anticipated. In all these works, while the style is stiff and crabbed, there is much original thought. Lord K. was also an eminent authority upon agriculture, on which he in 1777 pub. a work entitled The Gentleman Farmer.