50 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
published. One of these, entitled (‘ The progress of ’the Christian Religion,”
was delivered before the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge, at the
anniversary in 1793 ; and a discodrse on ‘(The Resurrection of Christ” appeared
in The Scotch Preachr.
The genius and exertions of Dr. Hardie were not, however, confined to
spiritual matters. Temporal affairs occasionally engaged his attention. In 1793,
he produced his (( Plan for the Augmentation of Stipends”-one of the works
to which the artist has made special reference in the Print; and, much about
the same period, he undertook another essay, entirely of a political nature. This
was no less than a refutation of the republican dopas of Thomas Paine. The
late Mr. Smellie had been applied to by the leading men of this city, in the
interest of Government, to write an answer to the revolutionary works of P h e ;
but his hands being full of important literary engagements at the time, he
declined doing so. Dr. Hardie having been next applied to, he produced a
well-written pamphlet, entitled, The Patriot,’ for which he obtained a pension
from Government. It is in allusion to this publication that he has been called
‘( The Reverend Patriot” by the artist.
In the Church Courts, notwithstanding occasional party heats, Dr. Hardie
was very generally esteemed by his professional brethren, and was elected
Moderator of the General Assembly in 1793. In private, and especially in the
domestic circle, his conduct was such as to endear him to his friends and family.
He died at a premature age in 1798, leaving a wife and several children ’ to
regret the close of a career which had been so full of promise. He was
married to Agnes Young in June 1780. His residence was at one time at
Lauriston, but the house he latterly occupied for many years, and in which
he died, was that which still stands at the corner of Richmond Place and
Hill Place.
“Addressed to the People on the present state of affain in Britain and in France, with
Observations on Republican Government, and Discussions of the Principles advanced in the
Writings of T. Paine,” pp. 78. In this essay the author does not condescend on the
discussion of abstract principles. To the theories of Paine he opposes the pages of history. In the
Cromwellian era of Britain, and the sanguinary proceedings of the French Revolution, he found
ample materials.
a His third son, Charles Wilkie, studied for the Church, and was presented to the parish of
’ Dnnning, but died in the course of the year following. His death is thus noticd in the Scots
Magazine for 1814 :--“At Edinbur&, on the 7th February, the Rev. Charles Wilkie Hardie, in the
twenty-rrixth year of his age, and first of his ministry. Mr. Hardie wm the third son of the late
Dr. Thomaa Hardie of this city, and a young man, who, in the estimation of his friends, gave the
fairest promise of repairing the loss which the Church of Scotland sustained by the death of his
excellent father, ”
E h , 1793,