Arthur, Archibald

, professor of moral philosophy in the university of Glasgow, the eldest son of Andrew Arthur, a farmer, was born at Abbots- Inch, in the shire of Renfrew, Sept. 6, 1744. After being educated in the elements of knowledge and piety by his parents, he was, at the age of eight, placed at the grammar-school of Paisley, where he was taught Latin. In his thirteenth or fourteenth year, he was removed to the university of Glasgow, where his uncommon proficiency was soon noticed and encouraged by his teachers, who discerned a brilliancy of genius and strength of understanding which were concealed from more superficial observers by an almost invincible bashful ness, and hesitation in his speech, from which he never was altogether free. After having gone through the usual course of classical studies with increasing reputation, he determined on the clerical profession, and with that view attended the philosophical and theological lectures. Such was the intenseness of his application, and the vigour of his intellect, that, we are told, long before his nomination to an academical chair, there were few or no departments, whether literary, philosophical, or theological, with the exception of the medical school only, in which he could not have been an eminent teacher. On one occasion, during the necessaryabsence of the professor of Church History, he lectured for a whole session of college in that department, highly to the satisfaction and improvement of his hearers, which many of them acknowledged at a distant period when their own researches rendered such an opinion valuable. He was also, during the period of his academical studies, employed as private tutor in some families “of rank. In October 1767, after the usual trials, according to the forms of the church of Scotland, he was licensed to be a preacher, although not without some opposition, owing to his reluctance to embrace the creed of that church in its full extent.Soon after he was appointed chaplain to the university of Glasgow, and assistant to the rev. Dr. Craig, one of the clergy of Glasgow. About the same time he was appointed librarian to the university, in which office he compiled the catalogue of that library on the model of that of the Advocates’ library in Edinburgh. In 1780 he was appointed assistant and successor to the learned and venerable Dr. Reid, professor of moral philospphy, and delivered a course of lectures, of the merit of | Which a judgment may be formed from the parts now published. In sentiments he nearly coincided with his colleague and predecessor. He taught this class for fifteen years, as assistant to Dr. Reid, who died in 1796, when he Succeeded as professor, but held this situation for only one session. A dropsical disorder appeared in his habit soon after the commencement of 1797, and proved fatal, June 14 of that year. In 1803, professor Richardson, of the same university, published some part of Mr. Arthur’s lectures, under the title of” Discourses on Theological and Literary Subjects," 8vo, with an elegant sketch of his life and character, from which the above particulars have been borrowed. These discourses amply justify the eulogium Mr. Richardson has pronounced on him, as a man of just taste, and correct in his moral and religious principles, nor were his talents and temper less admired in private life. ¹