which may with some degree of certainty be attributed to him, are not of sufficient length to determine a character. He has always been understood to cultivate the mathematical sciences with particular fondnefs. His preference may be adduced as an argument in proof of the excellence and attractions of those sciences, since he unites with his mathematical skill an exquisite relish of the beautics of polite literature, an intimate acquaintance with the works of the most celebrated writers on metaphysics, and extensive acquisitions in all the branches of general knowledge.

DR. GEORGE HILL,

PRINCIPAL OF ST. MARY'S COLLEGE, ST. ANDREws.

UPON observing the wide field of human nature which lies before him, the biographer finds those characters which chiefly present themselves to his pen, branching out into two classes. The one class consists of those who, by some peculiarities of genius, habits, acquirements, or adventures, seize upon the attention of mankind, and while they amuse by their novelty, also instruct by the lessons of action, in a peculiar combination of circumstances, which they afford. The other class comprehends those, who may indeed have nothing uncommon or instructive in their private characters, but who also attract our notice by the situation in which they are placed, by their connection with the history of the age in which they

live, and by the transactions on the public theatre of life in which they are seen to bear a part. The former class may introduce us more intimately into the mysteries of the human heart; but it is in the memoirs of the latter that we are to look for the state of society, and the history of the age and nation in which they live. Both classes afford materials which may be rendered instructive and entertaining, the one to individual, the other to general biography.

Among the latter class we may include the present subject of these memoirs; for in the retired scene of a college, and the tranquil labours of the closet, there is little room for the display of individual character, however great the abilities of the agent, and however important the effects of their literary exertion on the age in which he lives.

Dr. George Hill was born at St. Andrews, two years after the conclusion of the last rebellion in Scotland. His father, one of the ministers of St. Andrews, died early, leaving George and several other children to the care of a mother, whose exertions, in the midst of poverty and the depressions of widowhood, to give them a proper education, deserve to be recorded.

During the course of his academic education, Dr. Hill was chiefly distinguifhed for that assiduous and unwearied application, which is seldom indeed accompanied by much vivacity or brilliancy of talents, but which often produces more important effects than those more dazzling qualities. Habits of persevering application are peculiarly requisite in a college, (at least so constituted as most of our colleges are) where

an easy independency without exertion, and a monotonous routine of employments, are apt to lull the busy principles of our nature asleep, and to make passion and ambition equally willing to recline in indolent repose. In these circumstances, Dr. Hill's persevering industry deserves particular commendation; and if his subsequent rank in life is rather to be attributed to this cause, than to the ascendancy of original genius, we ought to efteem his reputation as more peculiarly his own.

After passing through his academical course, he was soon appointed to the professorship of Greek in St. Salvador's College at St. Andrews. In this situation he distinguished himself by his successful endeayours to promote the study of the Greck language. In Scotland the attention of students is usually directed much more to the writers of Rome than of Greece. This national tendency appears to have arisen with those, who first promoted the renewal of ancient literature in that quarter of the island, and who were chiefly versed in Roman literature. Many Scotsmen early distinguished themselves by the clegance of their compositions, and Buchannan even rivalled the Augustan age. Proud of the national fame derived from these writers, their countrymen have universally become addicted to the Latin language; it is taught even in the meanest parochial schools, and there are few principal mechanics or farmers who have not zealously laboured at Eutropius, and even dipped into Cæsar. The Greek language indeed is taught in few of the principal schools, and there is a professor,

fessor appropriated to it in each of the universities; but it is in general considered as the mere appendage of a clergyman's education; and even in that body, Fielding would have found few originals for his Parson Adams.

Dr. Hill's exertions, on his appointment to the Greek professorship at St. Andrews, had a great effect in promoting the cultivation of that language among the students of the university. He introduced into his class the method of studying it radically instead of that mere explanation and superficial analysis which is usually required. As an appendix to Dunlop's grammar, the one used in that university, he published a variety of philological and critical observations exceedingly useful to the Greek student.

The reputation which he acquired in this department, and that talent of availing himself of circumstances for which he has always been remarkable, soon raised him to a more conspicuous situation. On the first vacancy, he was appointed first minister of the collegiate church of St. Andrews; and on the death of Dr. Gillespie in 1792, he became principal of St. Mary's College. From this period we are to date the commencement of his public career, and his great influence in the church of Scotland, as well as the complete control which he has since maintained in the university of St Andrews.

It will not be thought foreign to the present subject to give the reader some idea of that university at the head of which Dr. Hill was now placed. It is not intended to recount those forms and rules, many

of them obsolete, which were appointed by its original founders it is only meant to select a few of the most striking facts and observations, which may tend to give the public a correct idea of the present state of that university; and surely such an account cannot be wholly unentertaining nor uninstructive, in an age when the public attention is so much directed to the subject of education.

The university of St. Andrews, the most ancient in Scotland, formerly consisted of three distinct colleges; St. Salvador's, St. Leonard's, and St. Mary's. The two former were appropriated to the languages, polite literature, and the various branches of philosophy; the latter was dedicated solely to the study of theology, church history, and Hebrew. The smallness of the professors' salaries in the two former, and the similarity of the branches taught in both, suggested the idea of uniting them into one; and this arrangement having been carried into execution towards the middle of last century, the old edifice of St. Leonard's College has since that time been deserted, and the endowments and the students transferred entirely to St. Salvador's.

As St. Mary's College is entirely set apart for completing the education of students of divinity, the other college is considered as preparatory to it; and no one is admitted a student of St. Mary's, till he has first attended four, or at least three years at St. Salvador's. At the latter, regular attendance during the whole session is required; at the former, five years of partial, are reckoned equivalent to four years of regular