Note 353:1 — Chapter VIII

Dr. Thomson says, "It might afford curious matter of speculation to conjecture what effect the appointment of Mr. Hume, or of Mr. Burke, to the chair of logic in Glasgow, would have had upon the character of that university, or upon the metaphysical, moral, and political inquiries of the age in which they lived; and what consequences were likely to have resulted from the influence which the peculiar genius and talents of either of these great men, had they been exerted in that sphere, must necessarily have had in forming the minds of such of their pupils as were to be afterwards employed in the pursuits of science, or the conduct and regulation of human affairs. It seems difficult to conceive how, as instructors of youth, they could either of them, without a considerable modification of their opinions, have taught philosophy upon the sceptical or the Berkeleian systems which they had respectively adopted; while the strict purity of their moral characters, and the great reverence which they both entertained for established institutions, give the fullest assurance, that, had either of them been appointed to the chair of logic, their academical duties would have been executed with an unceasing regard to the improvement of their pupils, and to the reputation of the society into which they had been admitted." Life of Cullen, p. 73.

Smith, in a letter to Dr. Cullen, says, "I should prefer David Hume to any man for a colleague; but I am afraid the public would not be of my opinion; and the interest of the society will oblige us to have some regard to the opinion of the public. If the event, however, we are afraid of should happen, we can see how the public receives it. From the particular knowledge I have of Mr. Elliot's sentiments, I am pretty certain Mr. Lindsay must have proposed it to him, not he to Mr. Lindsay." Ib. p. 606.