The life and correspondence of Andrew Combe / by George Combe.

Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The life and correspondence of Andrew Combe / by George Combe. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    Calder, and also tlie estate of Currieliill, in the parish of Currie, both lying from seven to ten miles south- west from Edinburgh. John Newton, his son, suc- ceeded him as tenant of Currieliill; aud afterwards ac- quired the property in fee-simple. His eldest son, Abraham Newton, married Barbara Cunningham; and of this marriage Marion Newton, the mother of Andrew Combe, was the youngest daughter. Abraham Newton died on the 29th of September 1791, at the age of 76. The heads of the Newton family, who became pro- prietors of Currieliill, were enrolled as freeholders of the county, nominated Justices of the Peace, and passed into the rank of the smaller gentry of the district; but they continued to farm their own land, aud to associate with both the proprietors and tenants of the neighbour- hood, till the close of their male Hue in 1838. These facts indicate a hereditary transmission of prudence, industry, aud intelligence, with little ambi- tion, through both of the lines of Andrew Combe’s proge- nitors ; qualities which appeared strikingly in himself. Such were the descent and circumstances of Andrew Combe’s parents. But nature had done more for both of them than adventitious circumstances. George Comb, the father, was six feet two inches in stature, and of a ro- bust frame. Bilious and nervous in temperament, and en- dowed with a large brain, he was of an active aud ener- getic character. There is extant a portrait of him, by Shiel, which represents the head as rather small in rela- tion to his size; but it is incorrect. He could not usually find in the shops a hat large enough for his head, and a block was made on which his hats were formed. Tlie organs of his propensities, except Combativeness, were inferior in size to those of the moral sentiments and in- tellect. His intellectual organs were well developed, but