MACNISH, ROBERT, LL.D.—The
literary age in which we live, the age of periodical writing, is peculiarly
unfavourable to individual distinction. A magazine or even a newspaper of
the present day, instead of being the mere thing of shreds and patches which
it usually was at the beginning of the nineteenth century, is now a
repertory of the best writings, both in prose and verse; and the ablest of
our writers, instead of trying their mere infant strength and boyish
preludings in the columns of a journal, where, in the event of failure, they
can hide themselves in the incognito of a letter of the alphabet, often
spend their whole intellectual existence as periodical writers, and under a
fictitious signature. Hence it is, that in the columns of a common daily
print, or a weekly or monthly magazine, we find such essays, tales, and
poems, such profound, original thinking, and eloquent writing, as would
compose whole libraries of good standard authorship. But who is the
Thunderer of this newspaper, or the Christopher North of that magazine?—the
A and B and Z whose contributions we so eagerly expect, and from which we
derive such pleasure or instruction? We cannot tell: their individuality is
only known to their own personal circle, while beyond they are mere letters
of the alphabet, and as such, are but undistinguished particles in the
mighty world of thought. Thus would many of our best writers pass away, were
it not that the biographer arrests them in their passage to oblivion, and
gives them a local habitation and a name. And among these was a personage
only known under the mystic title of the "Modern Pythagorean," but who was
no other than Robert Macnish, the subject of the present notice.
This physician, philosopher,
poet, and miscellaneous writer, was born in Henderson’s Court, Jamaica
Street, Glasgow, on the 15th of February, 1802. As his father and
grandfather were both of the medical profession, it was resolved that Robert
should be devoted to the same course; and, with this view, his education was
conducted first at the private schools of Glasgow and Hamilton, and
afterwards at the university of his native city. At the age of eighteen,
having passed his examination before the College of Surgeons, he obtained
the degree of Magister Chirurgiae from the college of Glasgow. Being
thus qualified to commence the duties of his profession, he went as
assistant of Dr. Henderson of Clyth, to Caithness, where he endured for
eighteen months the labour of professional visiting over a wide and wild
circuit of country. Although he lost his health under such labour, so that
at last he was glad to escape to the more genial region of his native city,
he seems to have pursued in the Highlands, and with success, those poetical
and literary studies from which his after-life derived its chief
distinction. Here, also, influenced no doubt by the bleak and scowling
scenery, he wandered in thought among the lands of the sun and their scenes
of enchantment, by way of pleasing contrast, until he composed the greater
part of a poetical tale, of which the locality was an Armida garden at the
foot of the Himalaya mountains, and the actors, Pharem, a mighty Indian
magician, and Ima, daughter of the Khan of Shiraz. Besides this lucubration,
which he no doubt found beyond his powers to finish, the young dreamer had
already tried his strength in authorship in the columns of the "Inverness
Journal." The chief of these contributions was "The Tale of Eivor, a
Scandinavian Legend," and the "Harp of Salem," a lament over fallen
Jerusalem.
On returning from Caithness
to Glasgow, Macnish made a journey to Paris, where he resided a year, for
the double purpose of recruiting his constitution and continuing his medical
education. In the French capital, among other opportunities of improving his
taste, he frequented the Louvre, while its vast collection of the treasures
of art, the spoils of conquered nations, were as yet unreclaimed; and here
he learned to appreciate the beauties of painting and sculpture, without
expressing his emotions in that artistic phraseology which is too often made
the cloak of ignorant pretension. But of all places in Paris, the cemetery
of Pere-la-Chaise, that city of the dead, became his favourite resort; and
it was there that, in all likelihood, he increased that love of strange
musing and mysticism which he had commenced in Caithness, and among the
second-sighted Highlanders. On coming home he became assistant to his
father, and completed his medical education at the university of Glasgow,
where he took out his diploma of surgeon in 1825. His thesis which he
delivered on this occasion, was an essay on the Anatomy of Drunkenness,
which he afterwards expanded into his well-known work of the same title.
Before this period, however,
Macnish had written articles, both in prose and verse, for the "Literary
Melange," and for the "Emmet," periodicals of the Glasgow press. In 1822,
also, he sent two productions to Constable’s "Edinburgh Magazine," the one
entitled "Macvurich the Murderer," and the other, "The Dream Confirmed."
Both were incidents which he had learned in the Highlands, and expanded into
regular stories. But in 1825, a more popular and lasting field was opened to
him in "Blackwood’s Magazine," of which he afterwards became one of the most
distinguished contributors. His first contribution to this periodical, was
his tale entitled "The Metempsychosis;" and he was encouraged to persevere
from its being published in the monthly number as the leading article. This
was no small distinction; for it will be remembered by the admirers of this
most famed of magazines, that at the period we mention, it was in no want of
highly talented correspondents. During the same year were inserted his "Man
with the Nose," and the "Barber of Gottingen;" and on the following, the
"Adventures of Colonel O’Shaughnessy," and "Who can it be?" articles whose
classical style and rich, racy, original humour, arrested the attention of
Ebony’s readers, who at this time might well be called the reading
public, and raised the question of loud and general interest, Who is
this "Modern Pythagorean?" In 1827, while Macnish was employed in these
fugitive but important literary avocations, he was introduced by Mr.
Blackwood to Dr. Moir, ever after his fast friend, who loved him like a
brother, and lived to commemorate his worth.
It was not only in prose but
in verse that Macnish excelled, and had he devoted himself to the Delilah of
poetry, we doubt not that he would have been still more highly distinguished
in this department of intellectual excellence, than he was as a prose writer
of essays and tales. But already the field of the Muses had been so
over-trodden and be-mired, that the best of our bards had escaped from it
into the more ample and diversified regions of prose—Scott, Coleridge,
Southey, and Moore, who were a-weary of having their kibes trode upon and
grazed by the eager ambitious toes of awkward followers and imitators.
Macnish, however, had been wont to express his deeper feelings in verse; and
an event in 1827 called from him more than one mournful lyric of domestic
sorrow. This was the death of his youngest sister, Christian, a child only
ten years old, who was drowned on the banks of the Clyde near Glasgow, while
crossing a plank laid athwart a small arm of the river.
The life of a man who devotes
himself to the settled profession of a physician, and the peaceful
occupations of authorship, presents few materials for the biographer. As a
physician, indeed, we have little to say of Macnish, except that his career
in this capacity was of even tenor, and was attended with a fair proportion
of profit and success in his native city of Glasgow. In his literary
capacity, every moment of spare time seems to have been fully occupied; and
the articles which he contributed, both in prose and verse, not only to
"Blackwood’s Magazine," but also to Frazer’s, and other less distinguished
periodicals, obtained a prominent place in that species of light literature,
and made the good folks of Glasgow justly proud of their fellow-citizen.
These productions it is the less necessary to particularize, as they have
been published in a compact volume under the editorship of his biographer,
Delta. It may be merely mentioned in passing, that they are all more or less
distinguished by a lively creative fancy, and chaste subdued classical
style, reminding us more of the best writers of the Addison and Goldsmith
periods, than the slashing, outré, and abrupt, though
sparkling tales and essays that form the staple of our modern periodical
writing. Among the happiest of these attempts of Macnish, we may
particularly specify the "Metempsychosis," an "Execution at Paris," a "Night
near Monte Video," and "A Vision of Robert Bruce." Still, Macnish might soon
have been forgot by the magazine-reading public, had he not established his
literary reputation upon a more secure basis; and it is by his "Anatomy of
Drunkenness" and "Philosophy of Sleep," two able and substantial treatises,
and his "Book of Aphorisms," that he is now best known and estimated.
The first of these works,
which Macnish commenced before he had reached the age of twenty, and during
his toilsome sojourn in Caithness, was the fruit of much reading and
research, aided, perhaps, occasionally by the practical illustrations which
he witnessed among the inhabitants of that whisky-smuggling county.
Afterwards, he matured it into a thesis, which he read before the Medical
Faculty in 1825, when he took out his degree, and published it in 1827 in a
thin octavo of fifty-six pages. The subject was comparatively an untrodden
field, as hitherto the vice of drunkenness had been rather analyzed by the
divine and moralist, than anatomized by the surgeon. The novelty of such a
work, and the felicity of his style and mode of illustration, excited a
deeper interest among the readers than generally falls to theses, the most
neglected of all literary productions, so that Macnish was encouraged to
prosecute his inquiries. The result was, that the subject grew and improved
upon his hands, while each edition was more popular than its predecessor,
until, in 1834, a fifth edition of the "Anatomy of Drunkenness" was
published by its author. Such success upon so unpromising a theme, was one
of those triumphs which only true genius can accomplish. In this treatise he
contemplates the vice in its physiological character, and writes like a
learned physician on its origin, growth, and effects upon the constitution.
He then expatiates upon its moral character, and illustrates with fearful
power, but yet with the utmost patience and gentleness, the influence of
this pernicious habit upon the intellectual and moral organization of its
victim. And finally, knowing that all this is not enough, and that people
will get drunk in spite of every dissuasive, he shows them in what way this
crime may be committed in its least odious form, and with the smallest harm,
upon the same benevolent principle that he would have applied the
stomach-pump to those who had refused to be benefited, either by his
warnings or instructions. His next work, the "Philosophy of Sleep," although
of a more metaphysical character, fully sustained the reputation which his
"Anatomy" had acquired, and rapidly passed into a second edition. These
works not only obtained a wide popularity both in Scotland and England, but
in America, where they were republished; they were also translated into the
French and German languages, an honour exclusively accorded to philosophical
treatises that possess unquestionable merit.
In 1833, Macnish published
his "Book of Aphorisms." This little work, which is now almost forgotten,
consisted of some fifty dozen fag-ends and quaint remarks, in the fashion of
Rochefoucalt, or rather of Lord Bacon, but without pretending to soar to the
eminence of these illustrious models. It was thought, however, a clever work
in its day, among the circle to which it was limited. Another literary task
which he executed, was an "Introduction to Phrenology," which he published
in 1835. A second edition of this volume, which he had carefully prepared
for publication, appeared two years after—but by this time Macnish had
finished his appointed round of labour, and was beyond the reach of
criticism; and this event, as well as a just appreciation of his character,
was so well expressed in the "Phrenological Journal," in giving a review of
the work itself, that we cannot refrain from quoting it, as a fitting close
to this brief narrative:—
"This work appears breathing
with life, spirit, and observation, as if its author were himself ushering
it into the world. There is no indication within it, or announcement about
it, that would lead the reader to believe that the mind which had conceived
it had fled, and that the hand which had written it was cold in death; yet
such are the facts! The work was just completed, and the last sheets of the
appendix prepared for the press, when, in the beginning of January, 1837,
the gifted author was seized with influenza, which speedily degenerated into
typhus fever, and on the fourteenth day after the attack, he died. One of
the distinguishing characteristics of Mr. Macnish’s mind was vivacity.
Whether he gave way to ridicule and sarcasm, of which he was a master; or to
fancy, with which he was brilliantly endowed; or to tenderness and
affection, which he felt strongly, and could touchingly express; there was
always a spring of life about him that vivified his pages, and animated and
delighted his readers. This quality abounds in every page of the present
work, and invests it with a new and extraordinary interest, when we regard
it as the last words of a talented intellect now in the grave."
A circumstance sufficiently
trivial in the literary life of Macnish, so that we had almost forgotten it,
was, that in the 1835 he was made an LL.D. by Hamilton College, United
States, America. That deluge of doctorships had already commenced which
threatens to level all literary distinction. His remains were interred in
the burial-ground of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Chapel, Glasgow, but with
neither tablet nor inscription to mark the spot, as his fellow-townsmen were
soon bestirring themselves in collecting subscriptions to erect a monument
to his memory. |