His defences of religion were highly esteemed by several of the bishops and a number of the clergy of the Church of England, and he was offered a rich living if he would take orders in that church.This he declined, not because he disapproved of the doctrine or worship of the Episcopal Church, but he was apprehensive that by accepting such preferment he " might strengthen the hands of the gainsayer and give the world some ground to believe that the love of the truth was not quite so ardent or so pure as he had pretended." In 1773, Oxford University conferred an honorary degree of LL.D.upon him.The same year, he was offered the chair of moral philosophy in Edinburgh, but declined, as he preferred Aberdeen as his sphere, and was indisposed to go to a place where he would be in the heart of those he had attacked.His declining days were embittered by trials, which sank deep into his soul; such as the state of his wife, and the death first of one and then of the other of his sons, one of them being a very promising young man, called in early life to be his father's assistant in the college. We discover traces of irritation in his afflictions; and one could have wished to see him sustained not only by what he sincerely entertained, a belief in providence and in the word of God, but in the peculiar doctrines of redemption and grace, so specially fitted to give comfort in trouble.He died Oct.5, 1802.{234}
In person he was of a middle size, with something of a slouch in his gait; and in his latter years he was inclined to corpulency.He had dark eyes, and a mild and somewhat pensive look.There is an account of his life and writings in a work by Sir W.Forbes, in three volumes.It contains many of his letters, which are full of criticisms of no great profundity, and display at once the amiabilities and weaknesses of the author.
The following are the titles, with the dates, of his works: Poems (1760) Essay on Truth (1770); Minstrel, B.l.
(1771); B.".(1774); on Poetry and Music, on Laughter and Ludicrous Composition, on Classical Learning (1776);Dissertations on Memory and Imagination, on Dreaming, on the Theory of Language, on Fable and Romance, on the Attachments of Kindred, on Illustrations of Sublimity (1783); Evidences of Christianity (1786) Elements of Moral Science (1790-93).
He has also Scotticisms, and original notes to an edition of Addison's papers.
His poems will ever hold a place among the classical writings of Great Britain.His " Minstrel " and his "Hermit" are exquisite poems of their kind: simple, graceful, tender, and leaving a peaceful and peace-giving impression on the mind; and therefore not likely to be appreciated by those whose tastes were formed by the passionate and startling style of poetry introduced in the next age by Byron, who was at school in Aberdeen while Beattie was in his declining years.His prose works do not exhibit much grasp or depth of thought, but are characterized by much ease and elegance.In his lectures he dwelt fondly on style (" Elements of Mental Science," part 10), and his remarks are clear and judicious, though somewhat tame and commonplace, but not on that account the less useful.His criticism of the " Pilgrim's Progress " may be compared with that of Macaulay, written in a later age: " It was written about a hundred and thirty years ago, while the author, who had been a tinker, was in prison in Bedford, where he was confined twelve years.Some false notions in theology may be found in it; and the style is vulgar, and savors of the author's trade; but the fable is ingenious and entertaining." He everywhere holds forth Addison as the model English writer.His own style is without the idiom, the playfulness, the corruscations, the flexible windings by which the best papers of the "Spectator" are characterized.
In reading such a work as his Moral Science," we feel as if we were walking along a road with pleasant grass and corn fields on either side, but without a {235} turn in it, and without a rock or stream, without a hill or valley.His papers on literary subjects are more attractive, as allowing free scope for his fine taste.
In his "Theory of Language" he argues strongly that speech is of divine origin.In his "Dissertation on the Imagination," which is very pleasantly written, he holds the theory, afterwards expanded by Alison, that the feeling of beauty arises from the association of ideas.He begins his "Elements of Moral Science " with psychology.He mentions the twofold division of the faculties into perception and volition, but says it is not accurate, and adds affections, approaching thus to the threefold division adopted by Kant and Hamilton.He mentions nine perceptive faculties: