The Works of Wm. Robertson, D.D. (Volume 1); In Eight Volumes (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND WRITINGS WILLIAM ROBERTSON, D.D. THE curiosity, which most men feel, to become acquainted with the circumstances of the life of those who have rendered themselves illustrious, by the attainment of perfection in the various careers of human ambition, exists so naturally in all inquiring minds, and from its gratification so much instruction may be gained, that it would be deemed a reprehensible omission to send forth to the world an edition of the works of one of the most renowned of the British historians, without making some attempt towards delineating his private character and habits, towards tracing the steps by which he reached the high rank that he holds among the writers of his country, and towards exemplifying the success of industry accompanied with virtue. But concerning the author of the following volumes little can be gleaned, either from the traditions of his contemporaries, or the records left by his friends: much of his life seems to have passed in the bosom of domestic privacy, unheeded by the public eye, which naturally is attracted rather by the glare of political Vol. i. b action, than by the soft light of social virtue; and Mr. Dugald Stewart, who, from his intimate connexion with the historian, may be supposed to be perfectly acquainted with his private life, seems to disdain that mjnuteness of detail which many regard as the most interesting part ofbiographical narrative. William Robertson was born on the eighth of September, 1721, according to the old style, at Borthwick, in Ihe county of Mid Lothian, a parish of which his father was then minister: he was one of a family of eight children, of whom none but the historian rose to such eminence as to deserve commemoration, even could any facts be withdrawn from the dark...