The works of the Rev. William Thom, late minister ... - waughfamily.ca

LETTERS, TRACTS, \*fc,- 365:gait, he calls it a fymptom of a feeble" unequal flyle :And if he trip and fkip like a dancing-malter, J —;ntakes it for granted that he will write and fpeak aillike manner, fometimes piddling, fomctimes bouncing,and bewray the like pertnefs and petulance inhis flyle that he does in his walk. J —n iiiGileth alfo.tiiat an ambulatory p r (as he expreiTes himfelf),that is, one who walks in the clafs whili.1 heprelects to the ftudents, is neceffiirily more eloqur'tthan a ftationary or fedentary profeiTor, who reads or'^repeats his lecbures fitting or leaning his backfide a—gainft a defk :And when he applies thofe general obfcrvationsto particulars, it is ailonilliing how exactlythey tally. Thus honeft J — n, you fee, hath, like o-ther great men, his own fyllem ; and had he been aprofefTor, it. is probable he would have expatiated uponit, and taught it with very great applaufc. But^J—n does not value himfelf fo much upon his difco—veries in philofophy as upon his knowledge in modernhiftory and politics. Ever)-^ newfpaper that is fentto the c e,J— n, after the example of MrR-^— t, reads over three times from beginning to'end without milling one word ; by which mecins hehas all the events of the late war, and alLthe publictranfadliionsj upon his fingers ends^: Here, lies theftrengthof his erudition: Hereby he is very ufefulamong the young folks, and communicates moreknowledge to them than is done by foine profefibrs:of hiftory. Indeed, when he takes his walk, in thece-court, encircled v/ith a ring of ftudents lifteningto him, he may be juftly deemed, a kind of teacheror profefTor : But here too J —n. difcovers, that,like other great men, he hath his hobby-horfe, for hetakes unaccountable a^ttachmenta to particular perfons,and is eternally raving about valour, and lie-Toifm, and gallantry, and magnanimity, and martialrenown : When Thurot was killed on the coait ofIreland, Jxi declared publicly, that he had mucli.H h 3