of his shuffling gait, impeded as much as aided by his staff, now planted, in careless haste, in front; and anon trailing, at length, in rear, the left arm generally resting behind;-his eyes, in which intelligence twinkled through the dimness of age, sometimes fixed on the ground, and again peering straightforward from beneath his grey eyebrows! In the arrangement of his dress the good Doctor seemed to lose sight of his mathematical precision, and truly the fashions would appear to have never once occurred to his mind. Our readers must excuse this attempt at graphic reminiscence of one whose memory is associated in our mind with all that is great in talent, excellent in morality, and amiable in private character. Long may there be found in our land those who are able to appreciate, and zealous to emulate, his sterling worth!

The late Mr. Thomson of Banchory, in his article "Hamilton," Encyclopædia Britannica, seventh edition, mentions a fine instance of the genuine honesty of Dr. Hamilton :-In the year 1807 fifty essays were given in for competition for the Burnet of Den's Prize, and Dr. Hamilton, one of the judges, wrote abstracts of the whole fifty," in order to enable him to come to a decision on their respective merits.”

DR. CHALMERS.

ON the 4th June 1847 the remains of our illustrious countryman were consigned to their final resting-place, in the New Cemetery at Grange, in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh. The occasion called forth a demonstration of public mourning which bore most impressive testimony to the profound and universal feeling of veneration with which the memory of the departed is justly regarded. It is calculated that the number of those who either mingled in the funeral procession, or were solemnised spectators of its progress, amounted to not fewer than a hundred thousand; including individuals of all ranks and denominations, from the highest officials in the land to the humblest artizans clergy of every Christian church, and some of the most distinguished representatives of literature and science. It was a truly sublime spectacle-a demonstration of national sorrow for a national loss.

But the number, great as it was, of those privileged to be present on this melancholy occasion,

was small indeed when compared with the aggregate of those in every corner of the Christian world, who will receive, with unfeigned regret, the tidings of the irreparable loss which the removal of our countryman has inflicted on the dearest interests of religion and philanthropy. Already are all the leading journals of the country roused from the routine of professional duty into eloquent eulogiums on the life and labours of the deceased; while the pulpit, of which he was so long one of the brightest ornaments, has resounded with heartfelt tributes to his memory. No jarring note has been heard over the grave of one who was a faithful servant of God, and a fast friend of the human race.

The biography* of Dr. Chalmers will doubtless, in due time, appear in a form worthy of the subject. Meanwhile, a brief summary of the leading events in his illustrious career cannot fail to be interesting :

Born at Anstruther, in Fifeshire, on the 17th of March 1780, of respectable parentage, he received his academic education at the University of St. Andrews, where he was eminently distinguished by his talents and assiduity. Devoting himself to the clerical profession, his first appointment in the Church was that of assistant to the late minister of Cavers, a parish on the Borders. On the 12th of May 1803 he was ordained minister of the parish *By his accomplished son-in-law, Dr. Hanna.

of Kilmany in Fifeshire; the proximity of which to St. Andrews permitted him to renew his intimacy with the friends of his academic career. The pastoral duties of a rural parish were insufficient for the full employment of his active and vigorous mind; but he kept its faculties in healthful play by devoting his hours of leisure to the study of mathematics, chemistry, geology, and political economy. Thus, for a few years, he went on storing up the treasures of knowledge, but without perhaps being aware of the high uses to which he was destined to consecrate them.

In 1808 appeared his celebrated Inquiry into the Extent and Stability of our National Resources, the object of which was to prove our independence of foreign trade. The peculiar circumstances in which the country was then placed, while they must excuse his economics, bear testimony to the warmth of his patriotism. But, up to this era, he may be said to have been only imping the wings of his versatile genius. Conscious of energy for a flight far above all "middle height," accident determined his course to the sublime region in which he was thenceforward to move. He was employed by Dr. (now Sir David) Brewster to write the article "Christianity" for the Edinburgh Encyclopædia. This task involved a more earnest attention to the evidences of the truth of our religion. than the inquirer had perhaps previously given. In

his desire to enforce those evidences on others, he became the more profoundly impressed with them himself. The impression was as lasting as it was deep. Nay, with all the high ardour peculiar to his enthusiastic and truly sincere spirit, he deemed the evidences of revealed religion so overwhelming, that, with what some might think a too daring chivalry, he declined, in his battle with the unbeliever, recourse to the weapons furnished by natural religion, albeit our own Campbell, and others who had “fought the good fight," had proved them to be of ethereal temper! But although, in regard to this particular, he found a searching and sagacious critic* in a profound theologian still spared for the unobtrusive discharge of his duties as a teacher of the young aspirants to the ministry of our Church; and although it is understood that reconsideration recommended a modification of his early impressions, still, Dr. Chalmers' "Evidences" will ever be regarded as containing pregnant proofs of a most powerful and most original mind.

Meanwhile, his fame as a pulpit orator, despite the drawbacks of a strongly provincial accent and

* Dr. Duncan Mearns of King's College, in Principles of Christian Evidence, illustrated by an examination of arguments subversive of natural theology, and the internal evidence of Christianity, advanced by Dr. T. Chalmers in his Evidences and Authority of the Christian Revelation. Edin., 1818.