"when he came first to London, 'sunk upon' us that he was married,"
'i.e.', tried to hide that he was married. Perhaps the reason of this
remark, which so much offended Beattie himself, was, that, afraid of her
capricious flightiness being misunderstood, he was at first reluctant to
bring her into society. His letter to the contrary was we fear, written
for a purpose, and in order to 'conceal' the truth.

And now came what Beattie and some of his friends--although not we, nor
the literary world now generally--considered the grand epoch of his
life--the publication of his "Essay on Truth." He had for some time been
alarmed at the progress of the sceptical philosophy, both at home and
abroad, and had expressed that alarm to his friends in his
correspondence. At last this fear awoke in him a Quixotic courage, and
he sallied forth like the valiant Don, in search of all whom he knew or
imagined to be the enemies of Truth--and like him made some considerable
mistakes, and showed more zeal than discretion. We may quote here some
sensible sentences from one of his biographers.--"That his meaning was
excellent, no one can doubt; whether he discovered the right remedy for
the harm which he was desirous of removing, is much more questionable.
To magnify any branch of human knowledge beyond its just importance, may
indeed tend to weaken the force of religious faith; but many acute
metaphysicians have been good Christians, and before the question thus
agitated can be set at rest, we must suppose a proficiency in those
inquiries which he would proscribe as dangerous. After all, we can
discover no more reason why sciolists in metaphysics should bring that
study into discredit, than that religion itself should be disparaged
through the extravagance of fanaticism. To have met the subject fully,
he ought to have shown, that not only those opinions he controverts are
erroneous, but that all the systems of former metaphysicians were so
likewise." In truth, Beattie would have gained his purpose far better