odium upon good men in general, by impeaching their sincerity when they either combat prejudice or resist oppression, and by magnifying their veriest weaknesses. In this respect, however, Dr Adam habitually acted in a manner by which he ought to have been effectually secured from scandal. He never made any high-sounding pretensions to refined principle; and, even in his daily admonitions to the young, he never alluded, in an indelicate manner, to his own conduct as a proof of the correctness of his principles. Nor was the influence of this meek spirit of a negative kind. In his estimation of the characters of other men, he was lenient. He in a manner held the scales of justice, by which the good and the bad qualities of his fellow-beings were fairly seen and determined with precision. By such means, he often found room for commendation in characters, which, by others, were considered as worse than suspicious; and thus, being freed in a great measure from the

influence of passion, he was able to make allowances, which, by the narrow minds that surrounded him, were thought to have been carried beyond the bounds of human charity. He never pretended to see virtue and vice in extremes; nor did he attempt to decide upon the merit or demerit of any man's actions, merely because he was a Whig or a Tory. Such a compendious canon was too harsh for him to use against others; because he never sought to build his own consequence on pretensions to extraordinary refinement. This short memoir will shew, whether this feature of Dr Adam's character had a tendency to render him less ardent in the cause of truth and goodness, or to relax his exertions in the path of duty.

In the year 1794, the second edition of the "Summary of Geography and History" was published at London. The preface, like every other of the same authour, is exceedingly appropriate. Some of his views and favourite

opinions are stated in it, and an extract is therefore subjoined.

"The usefulness of classical learning is universally acknowledged; but it has been alleged, that the time requisite for acquiring it prevents a sufficient attention from being paid to general knowledge. The most effectual method, however, of prosecuting the study of both, seems to be to join them together. The classic authours, particularly the poets, cannot be thoroughly understood without considerable acquaintance with those branches of science to which they often allude; geography, history, philosophy, astronomy, and, above all, mythology. To connect, therefore, the study of classical learning with that of general knowledge is the design of the following work.

"On a subject so immense, it was impossible to be minute. The compiler has endea voured to select such particulars as appeared most important, and it is hoped that few things of consequence, which are requisite to illus

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trate the classics, will be found omitted. Throughout the whole work, he has borrowed with freedom from every authour from whom he could derive information; and, where books failed him, he has had recourse to such persons as were best able to give him assistance.

“That the work might be included in one volume, it has been judged proper to print a great deal of important matter in the manner of notes; which, it is hoped, will be found no less accurately compiled than if they had been to appear in a more splendid form. The great object has been to condense as much useful information as possible within moderate bounds. The compiler imagines, that in another volume, a pretty accurate, though brief, account might be given of the most important facts in ancient and modern history, and of whatever is most curious in every country of the globe. A small abridgement, containing what is merely requisite for the

learner to commit to memory, may perhaps by some be deemed necessary; if so, that object may be easily accomplished; and, if any number of teachers signify their desire, the compiler will execute it to the best of his ability. But, with regard to the additional volume, it must be a work of time. And he now means, if the public approve of his present attempt, to direct his attention to another undertaking, in which he has already made. considerable progress, the compiling of a short, but comprehensive, Latin and English dictionary, upon a new plan. He was led to think of this, by his having found cause, in compiling both the present work and the Roman Antiquities, to depart in many words from the interpretation given of them by Ainsworth, and in all the other Latin and English dictionaries he has met with. He has a further inducement to prosecute this undertaking, that the researches to which it must naturally lead him, will afford the best