In 1771, he was employed
by baron Mure of Caldwell, to accompany his two sons to France, and to
superintend their education at an academy in Paris. The baron, who was
at that time one of the most influential men in Scotland, and who
lived much in the literary circle of Edinburgh, obtained from his friend
David Hume, letters of introduction to several of the French
philosophers of that day; by means of which Mr Jardine had the advantage
of being acquainted with Helvetius and with D’Alembert, who were then in
the zenith of their fame, and whose manners he used to describe as
presenting a striking contrast,-- Helvetius having all the style and
appearance of a French nobleman of the first fashion, while D’Alembert
preserved a primitive simplicity of dress and manner, at that time quite
unusual in Paris. During his residence there, he lived a good deal in
the society of Dr Gemm, the uncle of Mr Huskisson, who was then settled
as a physician in Paris, and noted not only for his eminence in his
profession, but for his talents as a philosopher. Dr Gemm was an ardent
friend to liberty, and at that time did not scruple to anticipate, to
those with whom he was intimate, the fall of the French monarchy as an
event at no great distance.
Soon after his return
from France, in July, 1773, a vacancy occurred in the humanity chair of
Glasgow, by the death of Mr Muirhead; for which a very keen competition
arose between him and Mr Richardson, the result of which was doubtful
until the very morning of the election, when, notwithstanding every
exertion made in behalf of Mr Jardine, by lord Frederic Campbell, the
lord rector, Mr Richardson carried the election by a majority of one
vote. Upon this occasion, Mr Clow, the professor of logic, who had
always befriended Mr Jardine, though, from a prior engagement, he, on
this occasion, felt himself obliged to support the other candidate, told
him not to be discouraged, for that there might ere long be an
opportunity of his being admitted into their society. The expectations
which Mr Clow thus kindly threw out, he very soon realized, for, towards
the end of the following session, he intimated to the college, that,
from his advanced age, he required to be relieved from the labour of
teaching, and expressed a wish that Mr Jardine might be associated with
him in the professorship. About this time, too, Dr Moor, professor of
Greek, gave in his resignation; and in June, 1774, upon the same day,
the faculty of Glasgow college elected Mr Young to the Greek chair, and
appointed the subject of this memoir assistant and successor to Mr Clow.
By this arrangement, the
charge of the three junior classes of Glasgow college came, at the same
time, to devolve upon three men in the vigour of life, who all entered
most zealously into the business of their respective departments, in
which they soon introduced very material improvements:—in particular,
they contrived to infuse a spirit of emulation among their pupils by the
institution of prizes publicly distributed at the end of each session,
to those who had distinguished themselves during the course—an
institution which was gradually extended to other classes at Glasgow,
and which has now been generally introduced into the other universities.
These prizes have been increased during recent years, by the munificence
of several of the Lords Rectors, and the generosity of public-spirited
individuals. There are prizes bearing the names of James Watt, Lord
Jeffrey, Mr James Ewing, the Marquis of Breadalbane, &c., arising from
large sums of money permanently invested for that purpose.
The business of the logic
class had hitherto consisted in an explanation of the Dialectics of
Aristotle, followed up, towards the end of the course, by an exposition
of the most abstruse doctrines of metaphysics and ontology, embracing
the general attributes of being, existence, essence, unity, necessity,
&c, and other similar abstract conceptions of pure
intellect. For the first year or two, the new professor followed the
same track; but he soon discovered, from the examination of his
students, that by far the greater number of them comprehended very
little of the doctrines explained; that a few only of superior abilities
could give any account of them at all, and that the most of the young
men remembered only a few peculiar phrases or technical expressions
which they delivered by rote, unaccompanied by any distinct notion of
their meaning. Besides, even when these abstract doctrines were
understood, intelligent persons who sent their sons to the logic class,
could not fail to observe, that the subjects to which their attention
was directed had no relation to any profession or employment whatever,
and that little could be derived from prelections on such topics, which
was likely either to adorn conversation, or to qualify the student for
the concerns of active life. Mr Jardine soon perceived, therefore, the
necessity of a thorough and radical change on the subjects of his
lectures, and after a simple analysis of the different powers of the
understanding, with the means of their improvement, accompanied with a
short account of Aristotle’s logic, he devoted by far the greater part
of the course to the original progress of language; the principles of
general grammar; the elements of taste and criticism; and to the rules
of composition, with a view to the promotion of a correct style,
illustrated by examples. His course of lectures was, accordingly,
entirely new-modelled, and he soon found that a great proportion of the
students entered with awakened interest upon the consideration of these
subjects, instead of the listless inattention which had been bestowed on
the abstract doctrines of metaphysics.
But the greatest
improvement which he introduced into the mode of conducting the business
of the class, was a regular system of examinations and exercises. He was
of opinion with Dr Barrow, "that communication of truth is only one half
of the business of education, and is not even the most important half.
The most important part is the habit of employing, to some good purpose,
the acquisitions of memory by the exercise of the understanding; and
till this be acquired, the acquisition will not be found of much use."
The mere delivery of a lecture, especially to very young persons, he
held of very little advantage, unless they were placed in the situation
of those who were bound to give an account of it; and the exposition of
the rules of composition to be of little avail, unless accompanied by
the application of those rules by the student himself. Accordingly, at a
separate hour in the forenoon, the students were examined each day on
the lecture of the morning, and written essays were required from time
to time on subjects more or less connected with those embraced in
the lectures. These were regularly criticised by the professor in the
presence of the class; and after the principles of criticism had
been explained, they were, towards the end of the session, distributed
among the students themselves, who were required to subjoin a written
criticism upon each other’s performances, under the superintendence of
the professor; and prizes were bestowed at the end of the session,
according to the determination of the students, to those who
excelled in these daily examinations and exercises. This system of
practical instruction is explained in all its details in a work
published by Mr Jardine before he relinquished the charge of the logic
class, entitled "Outlines of Philosophical Education," in which is to be
found a full exposition of a system of academical discipline, which was
pursued in the logic class of Glasgow, during the period of fifty years
it was under his direction, and which was found by experience to be
attended with the most beneficial effects.
The details of this
system were, of course, attended with no small additional labour to the
professor; for, besides two and occasionally three hours each day of
public teaching, he had every evening to examine and correct the essays
of the students, which were in such numbers as to occupy a large portion
of his time. He was reconciled, however, to this tedious and labourius
occupation by a thorough conviction of its great practical utility,
which each year’s additional experience tended more and more to confirm.
He had the satisfaction, too, of knowing that his labours were not
without success, both from his students themselves, many of whom did not
hesitate to ascribe their advancement in after-life to the active and
industrious habits acquired in the logic class, and also from the
opinion of the public at large, which was very clearly evinced by the
progressive increase of the number of students; the average of which,
when he entered upon the office, in the public class was about fifty,
but which increased to nearly two hundred. This was, no doubt, partly
owing to general causes, applicable to the times, but to a certain
extent it was assuredly to be attributed to the great estimation in
which this class was held by the public at large. Few teachers have ever
enjoyed so large a portion of the respect and affection of their pupils.
This was owing not a little to the warm interest which they could not
fail to perceive he took in their progress,—to his strict impartiality,
which admitted of no preference or distinction of any sort except that
of talents and industry,—and to a kindly, affectionate, and almost
paternal regard, which marked the whole of his demeanour to his
students—who, dispersed, as they afterwards came to be, into all
quarters of the globe, have very generally concurred in expressions of
cordial esteem to their old preceptor. With such a hold upon the regard
and affection of his class, he scarcely ever required to have recourse
to the ordinary means of enforcing academical discipline.
From 1774, when he first
entered upon his office, till 1824, when he gave up teaching, the
business was systematically carried on in the way here described, with
such improvements from time to time as were suggested by his experience;
and he possessed such an excellent constitution, aided by a temper
remarkably cheerful, that during the whole fifty years he was scarcely a
single day absent from his class on account of indisposition. His
predecessor, Mr Clow, survived till 1788, having the year before his
death resigned to his successor the whole privileges of the office, with
his seat in the faculty; and, notwithstanding the very laborious duties
which he had imposed on himself by his mode of teaching, he still
contrived to devote a portion of his time to the extrication of the
patrimonial affairs of the college, and the arrangement of their
accounts, which his business habits enabled him to undertake without
much difficulty, and which, chiefly by his exertions, were brought from
a state of comparative confusion into a very satisfactory arrangement.
In 1792, likewise, when the royal infirmary was erected at Glasgow, he
bestowed very great labour in promoting the undertaking, and for more
than twenty years afterwards officiated as secretary, taking on himself
the chief management of the affairs of the institution, from which he
only retired a short time before his death, when he received the thanks
of the managers for the unwearied attention he had bestowed on their
business for nearly thirty years.
The private life of Mr
Jardine did not present any great variety of incident. During the
session he lived in college in terms of great friendship with several of
his colleagues, particularly with the late professors Millar and Young,
whose views in college affairs generally coincided with his own; and in
summer he resided at a small property which he purchased in the
neighbourhood of Hamilton, which he took great delight in adorning, and
entered with much relish upon the employments of a country life, which
formed an excellent relaxation after his winter labours. His residence
in that quarter naturally occasioned a connexion with the presbytery of
Hamilton, who, for upwards of thirty years, returned him as their
representative to the General Assembly, which he regularly attended,
taking a considerable share in the business, and generally coinciding in
opinion with the late Sir Henry Moncrieff Wellwood, with whom he lived
for a great many years in habits of the most unreserved friendship. One
of the last public appearances which he made was in May, 1825, upon the
question of pluralities, to which he had, on all occasions, been a
determined adversary; when he opened the second day’s debate by a
forcible speech on the impolicy of uniting professorships with church
livings; which, considering his great age, was viewed at the time as a
very remarkable effort, and was listened to profound attention.
In 1824, after having
taught for fully half a century, he thought himself fairly entitled to
retire from his labours. Those who attended the class during that last
session did not perceive any abatement either of his zeal or energy; and
during that winter he was not absent from his class a single hour. But
he foresaw that the time could not be far distant when these exertions
must cease, and he preferred retiring before he was actually compelled
to do so by the infirmities of age. At the end of that session, he
accordingly requested his colleagues to select a person to fill his
place; declaring that he left the arrangement entirely to them, and that
he would not interfere either directly or indirectly in the appointment,
farther than by expressing an earnest wish that they might select one
who would take a zealous interest in the prosperity of the class, and
would continue the same system of active employment on the part of the
students which had been found to be attended with so much benefit. Their
choice fell upon the Rev. Robert Buchanan, minister of Peebles, who had
himself carried off the first honour at this class, whose literary
attainments are of a high order, and who zealously continues to follow
out the same system of daily examinations and regular exercises, which
was introduced by his predecessor.
Upon the occasion of his
retirement from public teaching, a number of those who had been his
pupils determined to show their respect by giving him a public dinner in
the town hall of Glasgow, which was attended by upwards of two hundred
gentlemen, many of whom came from a great distance to evince their
respect for their venerable instructor. Mr Mure of Caldwell, his
earliest pupil, was in the chair, and the present Marquis of Breadalbane,
who had been peculiarly under his charge at Glasgow college, and to whom
he was very much attached, came from a great distance to officiate as
croupier.
Mr Jardine survived about
three years after his retirement from public duties; during which time
he resided as usual during winter in college, and continued to take an
active interest in the affairs of the society. While attending the
General Assembly in May, 1826, he was seized with a bilious attack --
almost the first illness he ever experienced—from which he never
completely recovered, and he sank under the infirmities of age on the
27th of January, 1827, having just completed his 85th year;
contemplating his dissolution with the composure of a Christian, and
expressing his gratitude to the author of his being for the many
blessings which had fallen to his lot; of which he did not consider as
the least the numerous marks of esteem and regard evinced by his old
pupils, with whom he was ever delighted to renew a kindly intercourse.
His death was deeply regretted by the society of which he had been so
long a member, and by the inhabitants of Glasgow, where he was very
generally respected and esteemed.
In 1776, Mr Jardine
married Miss Lindsay of Glasgow, whom he survived about twelve years,
and by whom he had one son, John Jardine, advocate, who held the office
of sheriff of Ross and Cromarty, and died in 1850.