that of history, for paintings can illustrate the workings of natural laws and moral principles and hence serve as “Samples or Experiments” of those laws and principles.66 In the selections reprinted below, however, we see that his main aim in the Treatise was not simply to justify the study of classical art. Rather, his reflections on the uses of the fine arts in education were the starting point for a general exposition of his pedagogical ideals, which he claimed mirrored those of the leading moralists of ancient Greece and Rome. This claim masked the extent to which his views on education reflected his own experiences as a pedagogue as well as his reading of more
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recent educational tracts.67 His belief that education ought to foster the cultivation of both private and public moral and political virtue could be traced back to the ancients, but it had also been forcefully enunciated by Shaftesbury and Molesworth in their calls for educational reform.68 Furthermore, Turnbull’s remarks on the educational rationale for foreign travel owed more to Molesworth’s preface to An Account of Denmark than to the writings of Greek or Roman authors.69 And although he credited the ancients with the map of learning that justified his scheme for a liberal education, his conception of a unified system of the arts and sciences was in fact the creation of modern thinkers and was something that he shared with fellow exponents of Enlightenment.70 In effect, the Treatise provided the ancient precedents for a thoroughly modern plan for a liberal education, and Turnbull’s deployment of erudition in the service of pedagogical reform illustrates how classical antiquity was used to underwrite Enlightenment in eighteenth-century Europe.
Who, then, was George Turnbull? His life fits the pattern of the “Scotsman on the make” seeking a career in London and exploiting the opportunities opened up by the Union of 1707.71 His ideas and values were those of the virtuosi who fostered the European Enlightenment. In Edinburgh, Turnbull and the Rankenians built on the cultural and institutional foundations laid by Sir Robert Sibbald and the generation who brought Enlightenment to Scotland. Their diverse inquiries in medicine, mathematics, natural and moral philosophy, history, chorography, and antiquarianism
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were shaped by their Baconian belief in the unity of all branches of human knowledge. Turnbull refashioned their view into his own tree of the arts and sciences. He immersed himself in the early Enlightenment debates over religion and politics, but he became increasingly fascinated by the textual and material remains of ancient Greece and Rome. Turnbull can thus be seen as an exemplar of the enlightened virtuoso.
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In editing printed material we have retained, as far as possible, the spelling, punctuation, and capitalization practices of the original compositors. We have silently corrected obvious typographical errors. Original pagination is indicated using angle brackets thus, <1>. Different works from different dates and different publishers show some variation in the conventions used to mark footnotes. We have not standardized the footnote markings themselves, although we have modernized the placement of Turnbull’s footnote markings. Where necessary we have also modernized the use of quotation marks. Editorial amplification interpolated in Turnbull’s footnotes is indicated by square brackets. The editors’ own annotations on the texts are supplied in a numerical sequence below the original author’s notes. Unless otherwise noted we have used the standard Loeb editions of Greek and Latin works, although in some instances M. A. Stewart and Michael Silverthorne have provided revised translations.
Turnbull’s biblical references cannot always be corroborated in known editions of the Bible. In our editorial annotations we have used the King James version as published in 1998 in the Oxford World’s Classics series. We have supplied references to the King James Bible for all of the biblical passages Turnbull quotes or alludes to, except where Turnbull’s own references correspond to the relevant passage in the King James version. Where there are multiple citations in Turnbull’s notes, our references follow the sequence of Turnbull’s citations. There are also instances where Turnbull’s biblical references make no sense and we have indicated such instances in our notes.
Where possible we have tried to refer the reader to Turnbull’s sources in reliable modern editions, but it has sometimes been necessary to draw attention to features of the editions that Turnbull himself cites. Many of the
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editions of the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century works to which Turnbull refers are readily available in either microfilm or digital form. Further information on a number of the British subjects identified in the editorial annotations can be found in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
In editing manuscript material, we have again followed as far as possible the spelling, punctuation, and capitalization of the originals. Even though Turnbull retains archaic spellings that have long gone out of use (for example, “wiew” for “view”), we have made no attempt to modernize or standardize his spellings. Turnbull’s use of punctuation may seem erratic to a modern reader, but it is no more so than was common in his day. However, where his lack of punctuation creates significant ambiguity, we have clarified his sense by inserting the necessary punctuation enclosed in angle brackets thus, < >. Occasionally syllables and words have been duplicated and in these cases the duplication has been silently deleted. Where it has seemed essential to adjust erroneous or missing lettering to convey the intended sense the editorial revision is inclosed in angle brackets thus, < >. We have also indicated the pagination of Turnbull’s “The Religion of the State” using angle brackets thus, <3>. Contractions have been silently expanded. Characters in superscript have been printed on the line. In order to provide easily readable texts, we have not recorded authorial insertions or deletions. Instances of such revisions in the manuscript and letters transcribed below are relatively infrequent and of no consequence for the meaning or interpretation of Turnbull’s writings. Editorial notes to the manuscript and to the letters are provided in a numerical series of footnotes.
Our presentation of Turnbull’s letters is modelled on that of the published correspondences of Adam Smith and Thomas Reid. At the head of each letter we have provided information about the address (when given) and the source used for the text. We have stated the place of origin and date of writing in that sequence at the top right of each letter thus, “Edinburgh, 13 November 1718.” We have not standardized the places of origin given, but we have standardized the form of the date on which the letter was written. Where information relating to addressee, provenance, or date of a letter is conjectural, this is supplied in square brackets.
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| AUL | Aberdeen University Library |
| BL | British Library |
| EUL | Edinburgh University Library |
| HMCR | Historical Manuscripts Commission: Report on Manuscripts in Various Collections. The Manuscripts of the Hon. Frederick Lindley Wood; M. L. S. Clements, Esq.; S. Philip Unwin, Esq. Volume 8 (London, 1913). |
| NLI | National Library of Ireland |
| ODNB | Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: From the Earliest Times to the Year 2000, edited by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison, 61 vols. (Oxford, 2004). Also available online. |
| Shaftesbury, Characteristicks | |
