AN EMINENT EDINBURGH CITIZEN.* Mn. NicoLsores modesty as a biographer

is so great as to suggest the suspicion that it is not altogether unalloyed with indolence. It is fully eleven years since Mr. Adam Black, the.friend of Macaulay and his successor in the repre- sentation of Edinburgh, died at the great age of ninety. It is fully twenty years since he was ousted from his seat by Mr. Bright's brother-in-law, Mr. Duncan McLaren, who, in his tarn, is an emeritus and who also seems likely to reach that great age of four-score-and-ten, which is quite a com- mon "record" with Edinburgh citizens who are not cut off in early manhood by the East wind, and do not allow it to

• Memoirs of Adam Black. Edited by Alexander Eicolson, LL.D. Edinburgh : Adam and Charles Black. 1585.

enter their souls in middle age. Besides, hir. Black—who was, perhaps, the beat example of Scotch "sagacity," not dissociated, as in the cases of Hume and Combo, with Scotch religion, that his countrymen have ever sent to Parliament—always acted up to the Goethean rule, "Beware, no fellow man thou hate! "than which none is more conducive to moral health or, perhaps, even to longevity. As his biographer says,—" He kept up no feuds or grudges, and honestly grieved to be on any but friendly terms with good men." That being the case, it can hardly have been possible to commit, in Mr. Black's case, any of those biographical " indiscretions " with which we have, of late, become too familiar. Even had it been possible, Mr. Nicolson is obviously not the man to commit them. Ile devotes the most important portion of his preface to an emphatic protest against that "brutal realism" which is the besetting sin of modern biography,—illastrating it, by the way, with a suggestive, if not realistic, reference to an episode in the life of Noah. We fail, therefore, to see why it should have taken a decade to produce a thin little volume of 260 pages, composed, to no inconsiderable extent, of autobiographical reminiscences, —a book which it is safe to say that such a biographer as Mr. Fronde could have prepared in three months. "The lapse of time," says Mr. Nicolson, "between Mr. Black's death and the appearance of this memoir is not in accordance with modern practice, which allows as little delay as possible from the death of the deceased to the publication of his biography. The sentiments that influence that practice are not those of the publishers of this volume, or of its compiler." Mr. Nicolson's calmness in stating a fact, by way of excusing it, is on a par with that of the clergyman who took his congregation into his confidence over an exegetical problem, by saying, "There is a difficulty in this passage, a great difficulty, my brethren ; but let us look the difficulty boldly in the face—and pass on." Besides, there is surely a happy medium between Mr. Fronde's hot haste and Mr. Nicolson's sweet,. reluctant, amorous delay ; and "the sentiments" of the possible readers of such a volume as this ought to be taken into consideration at least as much as those of its publishers and compiler. Mr. Nicolson says it is chiefly meant for Edinburgh citizens ; but is there not springing up, even in Edinburgh, a generation that knows not Mr. Adam Black, at all events at his beet ? Those old controversies, too, in which Mr. Black played his part so energetically, about the Maynooth Grant, the Annuity Tax, and what not, and which used to impel the ordinarily quiet merchants and lawyers of Edinburgh to hurl at each other such epithets as the Bath footmen thought good enough for the unfortunate greengrocer who acted as waiter on the occasion of their " swarry,"—have they not now the flavour of Colonel Newcome's cold negus ?

This is not altogether Mr. Nicolson's first attempt as a biographer, he having taken, unless we are mistaken, a consider- able share in the Life of" Christopher North," and although his biography of Adam Black appears somewhat late in the day, it is written with taste and judgment. When, too, Mr. Nicolson has, or allows himself, an opportunity, he displays a pleasant and pleasantly dry humour. He does well to let his hero, who was essentially a self-made man, speak as mach as possible for him- self. In February, 1864, Mr. Black, then M.P. for Edinburgh, began to write, exclusively for the benefit of his family, his autobiographical reminiscences. They were finished in 1872, when Mr. Black was in his eighty-ninth year, have been placed at Mr. Nicolson's disposal, and many extracts from them are introduced into his Memoir by Mr. Nicoll:won, who says, indeed, that he "would have preferred to have given them, with some alterations and additions, instead of his own narrative, which is only 'second-hand.'" These fragments of autobiography are especially interesting, in that they throw light upon the early struggles of a man whom Alexander Russel, certainly no mean authority on Edinburgh men and matters, described as "oar best citizen of his own generation." We could have wished that Mr. Nicolson had quoted more than he hag; done relating to Mr. Black's private life as distinguished from his public career—perhaps it would be fairer to say, that there.had been more abundant materials to quote from. Adam Black was born in Edinburgh on February 20th, 1784, being the second son of Charles Black, an industrious Edinburgh mason, who, by his frugality and energy, had become a master-builder. He first passed through a private school, of which he says :—" Oar school-book was the Bible, or any other book we chose to bring ; no grammar was taught, no geography; no explanation was given of the meaning of words, no questions were put, except the questions of the Shorter Catechism." He next went t) the High School, then under the Rectorship of Dr. Adam, an able, if also somewhat eccentric, man, who, having terugg'ed hard with poverty, was a Radical, if not a Republican :—" It is said that when publicly examining his (lass he asked a boy the Latin for 'a King,' and was answered Bex. He asked again, Give me another name for "King," 'and was answered Tyrannus. Bight, Sir !' said the Rector, with peculiar emphasis." When Adam Black was a boy, Henry Dandas, afterwards Lord Melville, ruled Scotland, —an unbending Tory, but capable of inspiring such esteem that his admirers raised a monument to him, "the extravagant height of which," says Mr. Nicolson, with his peculiar humour, "truly indicates the measure of their admiration." The Edin- burgh Reformers, of whom Black's father was one, were then known generally as "Friends of the People ;" and the boy saw from a lamp-post a mob burn Dandas's effigy in front of his house, although, having been dragged home by his father, he did not see the crowd fired upon, with only too fatal effect, by a body of military. Young Black also came in contact with the severe Evangelicalism

which was then beginning to assert itself in Scotland in opposi- tion to Moderatism, and tells this story of the Rev. John Colqu- houn, of Leith, who seems to be rightly described as "a man of the severest orthodoxy and extreme solemnity of demeanour :"—

" On one Sacrament Sunday morning, his wife, being desirous to have him nicely rigged out for the occasion, had his coat well brushed, his shirt white as snow, and his bands hanging handsomely on his breast ; and when she surveyed her gudeman, she was so delighted with his comely appearance, that she suddenly took him round the neck and kissed him. Johnny, however, was so offended by this carnal proceeding that he debarred his wife from the Sacrament that clay."

In his fifteenth year Black entered on his apprenticeship to the booktelling trade in Edinburgh, which he subsequently described as "a dreary, disgusting servitude, in which I wasted five of the best years of my life, with associates from whom I learned much evil and no good." In 1804 he proceeded to London to try his fortune, and ultimately obtained employment at 18s. -a week :—

" War-prices prevailed at this time; the quartern loaf was is., and rose to is. 4d. Butcher-meat was quite out of the question; but he -could live and be content without it. 'Very often,' he says, my dinner cotsisted of two slices of my loaf and a drink of water, with sometimes a dessert of apples. I read and dined at the same time, and felt quite happy in my independence, with my 18s. a week. I never was in better health ; and went respectably dressed, and with money in my pocket."

In 1807, and when only twenty-three years of age, he commenced business in Edinburgh on his own account, without capitaland on the strength of a loan of £200 from a friend and a cash credit of £300, for which his father and another friend were securities. He had his troubles and difficulties, especially with a venture- some partner named Underwood ; but his prosperity steadily increased. In 1827 he took his place as a publisher of the first class in Edinburgh, by purchasing the copyright of the Encyclo- ?media Britannica on the downfall of the Constables. It is still as the publishers of this Encyclopcedia and of the works of Sir

Walter Scott that the firm which Mr. Black founded are best known.

Adam Black inherited reforming tendencies from his father and perhaps the fact that, along with his family, he associated himself with the Independent body, made him a staunch defender of the Nonconformists' rights of conscience. At the age of thirty- two, and in the year 1817, he proposed a series of resolutions in favour of Burgh Reform in the Merchant Company of Edin- burgh, then regarded as an essentially Conservative body, and was able to carry them by 176 to 87. From that time he became known as a leader in the then Liberal Party in Edinburgh, was one of the most energetic supporters of Macaulay,and became his successor in 1856. Edinburgh is still famous for its political factions, and Black did not fail to make enemies. But it was mainly, no doubt, because his Liberalism was regarded as a trifle too Moderate and Whiggish that he lost his seat at the election of 1865. He lived for nearly ten years longer, dis- charging such public duties as were left him to the very last. Before he became Member for Edinburgh he had filled the municipal post of Lord Provost ; and on the conclusion of his term of office he was offered a knighthood, but, having taken the advice of his family, he declined it. The character of the man is well shown by his comment on his own conduct on this occasion :—

" I have never regretted the decision we came to. To me the title would only have been an encumbrance ; my wife had no desire to be called My Lady,' and it would only have fostered vanity in try children."

The portrait which is prefixed to this volume gives, indeed, a very good idea of Mr. Black. "He could not be called hand- some," says Mr. Nicolson, "but he was distinctly what in Scotland is called a -1 wiselike ' man—of goodly stature and breadth, very firm on his feet, which he set down with emphasis ; of good but not regular features, marked by small-pox ; a broad and lofty brow, pleasant blue eyes, firm nose, very firm month and jaws,—altogether the form and face of a strong man, physically and mentally, eminently healthy, capable, trust-

worthy." Dealing with the religious side of Mr. Black's character, Mr. Nicolson says :—

" His piety was of the deep, undemonstrative kind. He was not the least given to quoting texts or using unctuous phrases ; but if he had lived in times when such things were done, he would certainly have chosen to be shot or hanged twenty times over rather than say 'Yes' when he meant 'No.' His love of the Bible, which to the last he regarded from the old orthodox point of view as divinely inspired, and free from all error from Genesis to Revelation, was intense. He read it daily, morning and evening, with a never-cloying zest. Baxter, and Doddridge, and Howe were duly read and revered ; but Moses, and Isaiah, and Paul were for him above them as high as

the heavens are above the earth Nothing short of illness ever pre- vented him from being found in his place in church on Sunday Family worship was conducted by himself every evening. On Sunday, the day of rest and gladness, it was perhaps a little longer than usual,

lasting about an hour each time With all this strictness of religions observance, there was no gloom or sanctimoniousness. A superficial observer could hardly have imagined that the religions life of a man of his cheerfulness and gaiety of manner was dominated by

such earnest, almost stern, severity Adam Black, while firmly believing in his own Confession of Faith, had no desire to impose it on any other man as a symbol of orthodoxy, still less to make it the test of fitness to receive financial aid from the National Exchequer. He was equally ready to recognise the claims of Unitarian or Roman Catholic, though in personal belief he was diametrically opposed alike to both."

Mr. Black was a shrewd observer of character, and one could have wished some more of his observations had been repro- duced. Here, however, are three sketches at a dinner-party at Lord John Russell's :—

"Lord John is distant in his manner, and I don't believe he ever perpetrated a joke, unless his reference to the inscription on the stone at Glencroe can be called one, when he recommended the nation to pause in its progress, to rest and be thankful.' Rothschild is stoutish, thoughtful, and quiet—one could imagine that he was all the time calculating his per cents., his millions, his loans; his appearance is the Jew all over. Roebuck is a little snarling creature, walks feebly, and seems to have a bad digestion."

Mr. Black visited Rome in 1863, and had a pleasant interview with Pius 1X., to whom he was presented by Madame de Lannay, wife of M. de Launay, who in 1866 was Italian Ambassador at Berlin :— " The Pope was sitting in an arm-chair, dressed in white, with red slippers, and sat all the while that the faithful were worshipping him. When we entered, bowing most respectfully, he rose up like a gentle- man, as he obviously is, came forward a little to receive us, and asked a few common-place questions. He spoke in French, though be under- stands English quite well. He asked if we were all Scotch. Madame De Leanly said she was Swiss, and a Catholic ; I said we three were Scotch. He then came forward to me and said, 'I under- stand you are a Member of Parliament.' I said I had that honour, on whioh he asked if I was a Member of the Parliament of Scotland or the Parliament of England. Proud to be able to correct an infallible man, I told him that, since the union of England and Scotland, there was but one Parliament for the United Kingdom, of which I was a Member. . . . . . I was very well pleased with his Holiness, and believe if he had been born a Scotch laird, he would have made a very good landlord ; or if his lot had fallen among the ministers of the Church of Scotland, he would have been a respectable Moderate."