APPENDIX. NOTE (A), P. 165. THE information contained in the following note, (for which I am indebted to the friendship of Dr Carlyle,) cannot fail to be acceptable to those to whom the Literary History of Scotland is an object of curiosity. "The Select Society owed its rise to the ingenious Allan Ramsay, (son of the Poet of that name,) and was intended for Philoso phical Inquiry, and the improvement of the Members in the Art "of Speaking. They met for the first time in the Advocates' Li"brary, in May 1754, and consisted only of fifteen, who had been "nominated and called together by Mr Ramsay and two or three "of his friends. At that meeting they formed themselves into a society, into which the Members were ever after elected by ballot, and who met regularly every Friday evening, during the sit"tings of the Court of Session, both in summer and winter. "This Society continued to flourish for several years, and be"came so fashionable, that, in 1759, their number amounted to Rr "more than 130; which included all the Literati of Edinburgh and "its neighbourhood, and many of the Nobility and Gentry, who, "though a few of them only took any share in the debates, thought "themselves so well entertained, and instructed, that they gave 66 punctual attendance. In this Society, which remained in vigour " for six or seven years, Dr Robertson made a conspicuous figure. By his means it was, and by the appearances made by a few of "his brethren, that a new lustre was thrown on their order. From "the Revolution, (when the Church had been chiefly filled with "incumbents that were ill-educated,) down to this period, the Cler " gy of the Established Church had always been considered in a "subordinate light, and as far inferior to the Members of the other "Learned Professions, in knowledge and liberal views. But now, "when compared together, on this theatre for the exhibition of talents, they were found to be entitled to at least an equal share of 66 praise; and having been long depressed, they were, in compen"sation, as usual, raised full as high as they deserved. When the "Select Society commenced, it was not foreseen that the History "of Scotland during the reign of Mary, the Tragedy of Douglas, " and the Epigoniad, were to issue so soon from three Gentlemen "of the Ecclesiastical Order. "When the Society was on the decline, by the avocations of many of its most distinguished members, and the natural abate"ment of that ardour which is excited by novelty and emulation, "it was thought proper to elect fixed presidents to preside in their "turns, whose duty it was to open the question to be debated upon, "that a fair field might be laid before the Speakers. It was observ"ed of Dr Robertson, who was one of those Presidents, that where "as most of the others in their previous discourses exhausted the "subject so much that there was no room for debate, he gave only "such brief, but artful sketches, as served to suggest ideas, with"out leading to a decision. "Among the most distinguished Speakers in the Select Society "were Sir Gilbert Elliot, Mr Wedderburn, Mr Andrew Pringle, "Lord Kames, Mr Walter Stewart, Lord Elibank, and Dr Robert"son. The Right Honourable Charles Townshend spoke once. "David Hume and Adam Smith never opened their lips. 66 "The Society was also much obliged to Dr Alexander Monro, "Senior, Sir Alexander Dick, and Mr Patrick Murray, Advocate, "who, by their constant attendance and readiness on every subject, supported the debate during the first year of the establishment, "when otherwise it would have gone heavily on. The same part "was afterwards more ably performed by Lord Monboddo, Lord "Elibank, and the Reverend William Wilkie, all of whom had the "peculiar talent of supporting their paradoxical tenets by an inex "haustible fund of humour and argument." [It appears from the Minutes of the Select Society, that although Mr Hume and Mr Smith took no active part in the literary discussions which came before it, both of them filled the chair as Presidents, upon different occasions. On the 19th of June 1754, (the second meeting † of the Society after its institution) the minutes bear Now in the possession of Mr William Gib, (Under-Librarian to the Faculty of Advocates), to whose obliging attention in this communication, as well as on many other occasions, I have been much indebted. + Mr Alexander Wedderburn was in the chair at the first meeting, when little |