It was Glasgow that set the example of this
establishment, about thirty years ago. -- Even the kirk of
Scotland, so long reproached with fanaticism and canting, abounds
at present with ministers celebrated for their learning, and
respectable for their moderation. -- I have heard their sermons
with equal astonishment and pleasure. -- The good people of
Edinburgh no longer think dirt and cobwebs essential to the house
of God. -- Some of their churches have admitted such ornaments as
would have excited sedition, even in England, a little more than
a century ago; and Psalmody is here practised and taught by a
professor from the cathedral of Durham: -- I should not be
surprised, in a few years, to hear it accompanied with an organ.
Edinburgh is a hot-bed of genius. -- I have had the good fortune to
be made acquainted with many authors of the first distinction;
such as the two Humes, Robertson, Smith, Wallace, Blair,
Ferguson, Wilkie, &c. and I have found them all as agreeable in
conversation as they are instructive and entertaining in their
writings. These acquaintances I owe to the friendship of Dr
Carlyle, who wants nothing but inclination to figure with the
rest upon paper.
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