information which he was ignorant of before, and to which Dr Beattie has given a degree of authenticity, by adhering, even in this instance, to his general practice of putting his name to every thing he wrote.
In 1787, Dr Beattie made application to the Marischal college, while the project of the union was still pending, desiring that his eldest son, James Hay Beattie then in his twentieth year, should be recommended to the crown as his assistant and successor in the chair of Moral Philosophy. The letter in which this application was made, sets forth the extraordinary qualifications of his son, with a delightful mixture of delicacy and warmth. The young man was an excellent Greek and Latin scholar; wrote and talked beautifully in the latter language, as well as in English, and, to use the language of his father, the best of his genius lay entirely towards theology, classical learning, morals, poetry, and criticism. The college received the application with much respect, and, after a short delay on account of the business of the union, gave a cordial sanction to the proposal
Unfortunately for the peace of Dr Beattie's latter years, his son, while in the possession of the highest intellectual qualifications, and characterised by every virtue that could be expected from his years, was destined by the inherent infirmity of his constitution for an early death. After his demise, which happened on the 19th of November, 1790, when he had just turned two-and-twenty, Dr Beattie published a small collection of his writings, along with an elaborate preface, entering largely into the character and qualifications of the deceased. In this, he was justified by the admiration which he heard everywhere expressed, of the character and intellect of his son; but, as posterity appears to have reduced the prodigy to its proper limits, which were nothing wonderful, it is unnecessary to bring it further into notice. The following is the more unaffected and touching account which the afflicted parent has given of his loss, in a letter to the Duchess of Gordon; a lady with whom, for many years, he cultivated the warmest friendship, and whose society he largely enjoyed, along with his son, during repeated visits to Gordon Castle:
"Knowing with what kindness and condescension your Grace takes an interest in every thing that concerns me and my little family, I take the liberty to inform you that my son James is dead; that the last duties are now paid; and that I am endeavouring to return, with the little ability that is left me, and with entire submission to the will of Providence, to the ordinary business of life. I have lost one who was always a pleasing companion; but who, for the last five or six years, was one of the most entertaining and instructive friends that ever man was blest with: for his mind comprehended almost every science; he was a most attentive observer of life and manners: a master of classical learning; and he possessed an exuberance of wit and humour, a force of understanding, and a correctness and delicacy of taste, beyond any other person of his age I have ever known.
"He was taken ill on the night of the 30th of November, 1789; and from that time his decline commenced. It was long what physicians calls a nervous atrophy; but towards the end of June, symptoms began to appear of the lungs being affected. Goat's milk, and afterwards asses' milk, were procured for him in abundance; and such exercise as he could bear he regularly took: these means lengthened his days, no doubt, and alleviated his sufferings, which indeed were very often severe; but in spite of all that could be done, he grew weaker and weaker, and died the 19th of November, 1790, without complaint or pain, without even a groan or sigh; retaining to his last moment the use of his rational faculties: indeed, from first to last, not one delirious word escaped him. He lived twenty-two years and thirteen days. Many weeks before it came, he saw
