could resort to precedents, when occasion re quired, from his acquaintance with the general principles of jurisprudence, and with the municipal laws of his country. In debate, he was vehement and earnest; but whatever judgement his manner might lead strangers to form, he did not lose command of his temper. Bold and intrepid, and conscious of the rectitude of his intentions, he resisted measures of which he did not approve, and combated the arguments of those who opposed him ; but he never descended to personal invective! In the course of public business, he was ready to meet the highest legal officers on their own ground, and was often allowed to have come off victorious. On one occasion, it was said by the then Lord Advocate of Scotland, that though he was not a lawyer by profession, he was the best natural lawyer he had ever met.

But on this part of the subject it may be thought perhaps that too much has been said. It must, however, be allowed that no satisfactory account can be given of a public cha

f

racter without adverting to the public trans actions in which he was engaged. The greater part of those which have been referred to are in the recollection of professional men: But there are many who hear of the meetings of ecclesiastical courts without being able to conjecture in what their members are employed. Of the events which are to comé pose the materials of our modern church his, tory, there are as yet but few authentic an, nals. Impartial men are consequently in+ capable of judging how far the cant designal tions assumed by one party, and assigned by them to their opponents, are appositely des criptive of their several tempers, and prin ciples. au homly Tɔ sako v of Such were the active duties connected with his office, which, according to his ordi nation vows, our author undertook to per form. Those who knew him best, or who knew the eminence which he attained, must allow, that though his attention had been exclusively devoted to them, he could not have performed them better, or be said to have lived in vain. But by a most exact and

He

economical distribution, of his time, he was able to devote a portion of it to pursuits not strictly professional, Intimately acquainted, as has been said, with the laws of his country, and possessed of uncommon quickness and accuracy in business, he not only conducted his own affairs with discretion and success, but was able also to evince to others his obliging and benevolent disposition. Persons of all ranks sought his counsel, and reposed on it with the fullest confidence. prevented many, who were in danger of being involved in law-suits, from thus wasting their substance; and many he reconciled to each other, who might otherwise have broken the bond of peace. In temporal, as well as in spiritual things, he spoke among his people as one having authority. While to the rich and the powerful, he often rendered essential service, by his skill in affairs and his business talents, he had peculiar pleasure in devoting them to the service of the poor. By his interposition in their behalf, the widow and the fatherless were protected from oppression, or saved from, ruin. What had descended to

them, or had been earned by their industry, and might have been lost by their ignorance, he watched over as with a parent's care, and saw properly applied. Through his patronage, young persons were brought forward in life, and placed in situations which originally they had no prospect of attaining.

He ranked among the most eminent agriculturists of his time. In early life he had discovered a taste for rural affairs, and chose afterwards to devote to them some of those leisure hours which others spend without censure in company or amusement. About the year 1771, (as is mentioned in his statistical account of Holywood,) a spirit of im provement appeared in the parish, when the farms became larger than they had formerly been. He contributed to rouse this spirit, and to accelerate its progress. He took in lease some portions of land conveniently situated, which had from time immemorial been rugged and barren, and brought them gradually into a highly cultivated and productive state. As it pleased God, that in all he did he prospered, he purchased from time to time part of

the lands he had occupied as tenant, and others, which he saw to be susceptible of improvement. His advice and example had powerful effects on the industry of the dis trict in which he resided; and to his judge ment and efforts it is indebted for the removal of some of the most formidable obstacles to its success. To augment the internal resources of a country has ever been consider ed, in a political point of view, as of the highest importance. When we reflect on the hardships to which the lower orders of the people are subjected in times of scarcity, it must be allowed that to provide against them is a becoming exercise of Christian prudence and charity,

Directed by such principles as these, Dr Johnston's skill and experience in rural affairs proved signal instruments of usefulness. He was consulted by the Board of Agriculture on the best means of preventing the return of those calamities which had been felt in the years 1799, 1800, 1801. They voted to him their thanks and a piece of plate, as testimonies of their sense of the value of the communications he had made.