which would have been crushed under their heavy strictures, had
not--rare event in those days--the public chosen to judge for itself,
and to fall in love with the beautiful poem. It consequently soon ran
through four editions, each edition containing some corrections and
improvements; and in the year 1774 he published the second part, which,
now that its author's name was known, was loudly praised by the Reviews,
as well as by the general reader. He always meant to, but never did, add
a third.

From the date of his refusal of promotion in the English Church, Beattie
had made up his mind to remain in Aberdeen, which is a beautifully built
town, and which teemed to him with old associations. He spent his
winters in diligently instructing his class, and in summer was often
found at Peterhead, a town situated on the most easterly promontory of
Scotland, and which was then noted for its medicinal waters. Beattie was
troubled with a vertiginous complaint, which he found benefited by the
use of the Peterhead Spa. He no doubt also admired and often visited the
noble sea scenery to the south of that town.--Slaines Castle, standing
on its rock, sheer over the savage surge, and begirt by the perpetual
clang of sea-fowl and roar of billows, and the famous Bullers of Buchan,
where the sea has forced its way through the solid rock, leaving an arch
of triumph to commemorate the passage, and formed a huge round pot where
its waters, in the time of storm, rage and fret and foam like a newly
imprisoned maniac--a pot which Dr Johnson proposes to substitute for the
Red Sea, in the future incarceration of demons.

In 1776, he published, by subscription, a new and splendid edition of
his "Essay on Truth," accompanied by two other essays, much more
interesting, on "Poetry and Music," and on "Laughter and Ludicrous
Composition," and by "Remarks on the Utility of Classical Learning."