State of the BAROMETER in inches and decimals, and of Farenheit's THE MOMETER in the open air, taken in the morning before fun-rife, and ar noon; and the quantity of rain-water fallen, in inches and decimals, from August 31ft 1791, to the 29th of September, near the foot of Arthur's Seat. 179 Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Henry Home, Lord Kames, 'the celebrated Author of Elements of Criticism,' &c *. HENRY ENRY HOME, Lord Kames, an eminent Scottish lawyer, and author of many celebrated works on various fubjects, was defcended of a very honourable and ancient family, and born in the year 1696. Load Kames's grandfather, Heary Home, was a younger fon of Sir John Home of Renton, who held the high office of lord juft ce-clerk, or chief criminal judge of Scotland, in the year 1663. He received the eftate of Kames from his uncle George, brother to the then lord juftice.clerk. The family of Renton is defcended from that of the Earls of Home, the reprefentatives of the ancient Princes of Northumberland, as appears from the records of the Lyon Office. The county of Berwick in Scotland has the honour of having given birth to this great and useful member of fociety. In early youth he was lively, and eager in the acquifition of knowledge. He never attended a public fchool; but was inftructed in the ancient and modern languages, as well as in feveral branches of mathematics, and the arts neceffarily connected with that science, by Mr Wingate, a man of confiderable parts and learning, who spent many years as preceptor or private tutor to Mr Home. After ftudying with acuteness and diligence, at the university of Edinburgh, the civil law, and the municipal law of his own country, Mr Home early perceived that a knowledge of thefe alone is not fufficient to make an accomplished lawyer. An acquaintance with the forms and practical business of courts, and especially of the fupreme court, as a member of which he was to feek for fame and emolument, he confidered as effentially neceffary to qualify him to be a complete barrifter. He accordingly attended for fome time the chamber of a writer to the fignet, where he had an opportunity of learning the styles of legal deeds, and the modes of conducting different fpecies of bufinefs. This wife ftep, independently of his great genius and unwearied application, procured him, after his admif fion to the bar, peculiar refpect from the court, and proportional employment in his profeffion of an advocate. Whoever perufes the law-papers compofed by Mr Home when a young man, will perceive an uncommon elegance of ftyle, befide great ingenuity of reafoning, and a thorough knowledge of the law and conftitution of this country. Thefe qualifications, together with the ftrength and vivacity of his natural abilities, foon raised him to be an ornament to the Scottish bar; and, on the 2d of February 1752, he was advanced to the bench as one of the judges of the Court of Seffion, under the title of Lord Kames t. Before this period, however, notwithstanding the unavoidable labours of his profeffion, Mr Home had favoured the world with feveral useful and ingenious works. In the year For this, and the Life of Dr Henry, in our Magazine for July, we are indebted to the Encyclopedia Britannica. The Lords of Seffion in Scotland, upon their appointment to that office, are im mediately called Lords, and takes their title, as fuch, from their faniily estate; bu♣ they fign all their letters, &c. with their christian and furnames. 8vo. This first produce of his origi- Hiftory of Procefs in Abfence:→→→ Hiftory of execution against moveables and Land for Payment of Debt: Hiftory of Perfonal Execution for Payment of Debt:-Hiftory of Execution for obtaining Payment after the Death of the Debtor-History of the limited and univerfal Reprefentation of Heirs-Old and new Extent. In 1760, he published, in folio, The Principles of Equity; a work which fhows both the fertility of the author's genius and his indefacigable application. In 1766, he gave to the public another volume in folio of Remarkable Decifions of the Court of Seffion, from 1730 to 1752. In 1777, appeared his Elucidations refpecting the Common and Statute Law of Scotland,' 8vo. This book contains many curious and interefting remarks upon fome intricate and dubious points which occur in the law of Scotland. In 1780, he publifhed a volume in folio of Select Decifions of the Court of Seffion from 1752 ta 1768.' nal genius, and, of his extenfive views, excited not only the attention, but the admiration of the judges, and of all the other members of the college of juftice. This work was fucceeded, in the year 1741, by Decifions of the Court of Seffion from its first inftitution to the year 1740, abridged and digefted under proper heads, in form of a Dictionary,' a vols. folio: A very laborious work, and of the greateft utility to every practical law yer. In 1747 appeared Effays upon feveral fubjects concerning British Antiquities, viz. 1. Introduction of the feudal Law into Scotland. 2. Conftitution of Parliament. 3. Honour, Dignity. 4. Succeffion, or Defcent; with an Append. x upon hereditary and indefeafible Right,' compofed in 1745, and published 1747, in 8vo. In a preface to this work, Lord Kames in forms us, that in the years 1745 and 1746, when the nation was in great fufpence and distraction, he retired to the country; and, in order to banish as much as poffible the uneafinels of his mind, he contrived the plan,, and executed this ingenious performance. Though not in the order of time, we fhall continue the lift of all our author's writings on law, before we proceed to his productions on other fubjects. In 1757, he published The Statute Law of Scotland abridged, with hiftorical notes,' 8vo. ; a most useful and laborious work. In the year 1759, he prefented to the public a new work under the title of Hiftorical Law Tracts,' 8vo. It contains fourteen interefting tracts, viz. Hiftory of the Criminal Law: Hiftory of Promifes and Covenants : History of Property:-Hiftory of Securities upon and for Payment of Debt: Hiftory of the Privilege which an Heir-apparent in a feudal Holding has to continue the Poffeffion of his Anceftor: Hiftory of Regalities, and of the Privilege of repledging:-Hif sory of Courts -History of Brieves, From this sketch of Lord Kames compofitions and collections with a view to improve and elucidate the laws of Scotland, the reader may form fome idea of his great indultry, and of his anxious defire to promote the honour and welfare of his country. It remains to be remarked, that in the fupreme court there, the lawwritings of Lord Kames are held in equal eftimation, and quoted with equal refpect, as thofe of Coke or Black stone in the courts of England. Lord Kames's mind we very much inclined to metaphyfical difquifitions. When a young man, in order to im prove himfelf in his favourite ftudy, he correfponded with the famous Berkeley bishop of Cloyne, Dr Butler bishop of Durham, Dr Samueļ Clarke, and many other ingenious and learned men both in Britain and Ire land. The letters of correfpondence, we are happy to learn, have been carefully preferved by his fon and heir George |