He was in his forty-seventh year, but was still a young man in constitution, in appearance and in manners.

Those who hated him most heartily,--and no man was hated more heartily,--admitted that his natural parts were excellent, and that he was equally qualified for debate and for action.

The history of his mind deserves notice; for it was the history of many thousands of minds.

His rank and abilities made him so conspicuous that in him we are able to trace distinctly the origin and progress of a moral taint which was epidemic among his contemporaries.
He was born in the days of the Covenant, and was the heir of a covenanted house.

His father was renowned as a distributor of Calvinistic tracts, and a patron of Calvinistic divines.