H/E was descended from an ancient family in Kincardineshire, and was born in October, 1714, at Monboddo, which is beautifully situated on the southern slope of the Grampians, and commands a view of the <Howe of the Mearns>, lying below it.He received the rudiments of his education at the parish school of Laurencekirk, which lies a few miles off, and studied the usual branches at King's College, Aberdeen, where he showed a taste for Greek literature, and graduated there in 1729.It was still the habit of Scottish youths who wished to have a high education to resort to Holland, and he went to Groningen, where he continued three years studying civil law, and where, {246} it is reported, in the society of some English Gentlemen and French refugees, he contrived to get rid of his Scotch pronunciation, and to acquire an accurate knowledge of the French tongue.In 1738, he was admitted to the Scotch bar, where he rose to eminence by his learning and his shrewdness, and particularly distinguished himself in the famous Douglas case, and helped to gain the title and estates for his client.In 1767, he was raised to the bench by the title of Lord Monboddo.As a judge, he was painstaking and upright; his decisions were sound, and supported by great erudition and acuteness-.From time to time he rode up to London on horseback, and there mingled in the best literary circles, with such men as Murdoch, Armstrong, James Thomson, and Mallet, Markham, the Archbishop of York, Earl Stanhope, the first and second Earls of Mansfield, Lords Thurlow and Grantley, Bishops Horsley, Lowth, Porteous, Shipley, and Burgess, Sir John Pringle, Lewis, Scot, Seward, and Harris the author of "Hermes." While there, he showed himself at the levee and drawing-room at St.James, where the King took special notice of him.
He married a very lovely woman, Grace Farquharson, who died early, having had three children, a son and two daughters; the son and one of the daughters were cut off to the great distress of the father.The poet Burns, who received much attention from the judge, addressed a poem to that daughter, and says of her: "There has not been any thing nearly like her, in all the combinations of beauty, grace, and goodness the great Creator has formed, since Milton's Eve, on the first day of her existence." In the midst of his legal studies and his domestic afflictions be ever turned eagerly to metaphysical pursuits.In 1773, he published his elaborate work, "On the Origin and Progress of Language," and at various times from 1779 to 1799 his still larger work on " Ancient Metaphysics." At his country seat, he acted the farmer, lived on terms of pleasant familiarity with the people on his estate, was generously hospitable, and zealously promoted agriculture in his neighbor hood.At this place he received Samuel Johnson on his Scottish tour.
In Boswell's account of the intercourse of the two, Lord Monboddo appears in by no means a disadvantageous light.He died at his house in Edinburgh, May 26, 1799.{247}
The eccentricities of his opinions and his conduct never interfered with his practical sagacity, or lowered him in the esteem and affection of the community." His unbounded admiration of the customs, the literature, and the philosophy of the ancients strongly prepossessed him in favor of whatever was connected with such studies.In them, he supposed that he beheld all that was praiseworthy and excellent, while he looked on the moderns as a degenerate race, exhibiting only effeminacy and corruption.This attachment to ancient manners led him to imitate them, even in his amusements and habits of life.He was fond of athletic exercises in his youth, particularly fencing and fox-hunting, which tended to strengthen a constitution naturally healthy and robust.His general hour of rising in all seasons was six in the morning; and till a late period of his life he used the cold bath in the open air, even in the middle of winter.He took a light, early dinner, and a plentiful supper.The ancient practice of anointing, even, was not forgotten, though the lotion he used was not the oil of the ancients, but a saponaceous liquid composed of rose-water, olive oil, saline aromatic spirit, and Venice soap, which, when well mixed, resembled cream.This he applied at bedtime, before a large fire, after coming from a warm bath.
His method of travelling was also in conformity to his partiality for ancient customs.A carriage, which was not in common use among the ancients, he considered as an engine of effeminacy and sloth; and to be dragged at the tail of a horse, instead of mounting upon his back, appeared to him to be a truly ludicrous degradation of the genuine dignity of human nature." In Kames's Life it is said his " temper was affectionate, friendly, social.He was fond of convivial intercourse, and it was his daily custom to unbend himself amidst a select party of literary friends, whom he invited to an early supper.The entertainment itself partook of the costume of the ancients; it had all the variety and abundance of a principal meal; and the master of the feast crowned his wine, like Anacreon, with a garland of roses.
