The Sun.
London, England, 1826-05-23 00:00:00

DEATH OF JOHN BRUCE, ESR.

John Bruce, Esq. of Grangehill and Falkland, FAS., °flan
don, Edinburgh, and Gottingen, died at his seat of Nuthill, in the
eeunty of Fife, on Sunday, the Ifith of April, 1826, in the 82d
year of his very active life. Ile wait the heir-nude and undoubted
representative of the ancient family of Bruce, of Earls hull, one of
the oldest cadets of the illteurious house of lirtiett r hot he dill not
.sticc;ed to the estate of his tuivestors, which was transferred, by
marriage into another family. lie inherited from his father only
the small property of Grangehill, near Kitighorn, the remains of
a larger estate, Wllich his family acquired by marriage with a
griind-thaughter of the renowned Kirkcaldy of Grange.
Mr. Bruce received a liberal education the University of
-Edinburgh, where he was early distinguished for his abilities and
extensive erudition.; the consequence of which was, that, at an
trly age, he was appointed Professor of Logic in that University.
Ile rescued that science from the trammels of the Aristotelian
Salmi, and the Syllogistic forms of arguing and teaching; and
his Lectures, particularly on Pnetnatology, were much Me-
. Lcated. At the name time,, during the absence of Dr. Adam
Perguestan, he was. prevailed on,ot a very short notice, to teach his
tins of Moral Philosophy; anti, during the greatest part of that
winter, besides revising and often' re-casting his own Lectures, he
actually composed it: the evening the Lecture which he was
,to deliver in the Class next forenoon.
Soon after this he resigned his cheir in the university, having,
through the interest of the late Lord Melville, to whose family be
WO distantly related, received a giant of the'reversion, along with
the late Sir James Hunter Blair, of the Patent of .Kink's Printer
and Stationer for' Scotland, an office however which did not open
to them for lb or 10 years.
Lord Melville was well aware of Mr. Bruce's abilities, end duly
• appreciated them; and in order to give the public the advantage
of them, he procured for him the offices of Keeper of the State
Pieper Office, and Historiographer to the East India Company.
Mr. Bruce was, also, for a short time, Secretary to the Board of
Controul, and sit in Parliament fur some years.
In these various office. he watt not idle.. The place of Keeper
of the State Paper Office had been made by his predeeessors very
-much of a sinecure ; the consequence of which was, that the va-
Wahl/ papers therein deposited were in the greatest confusion :
hut by this tudefatigible exertions, and methodical arrangements,
the whole were soon brought to 'be greatest
.order, so as to
be available to . the different depar meats of the Government,
whose chiefs had occasion to refer to them for precedents or in.
formation.
Mr. Bruce was the author of several valuable works, some of
which, though printed by Government, were not published fur
sale, and, therefore, are not so extensively known as they deserve ;
and it is believed that he has left, in manuscript, at the State
Piper office, several Memoirs in relation to that department.
gilt printed works are :
" Elements of Ethics," being the beads, of his Lectures on
Moral Philosophy.
" Plans for the Government of British India."
" Report on the Renewal of the East India Company's Exclu.
viva Privileges." 1794.
" Review of the Events and Treaties which established the Ba-
lsam of Power in Europe, and the Balance of Trade in favour of
Great Britain." 1790.
" Report on Conjunct Expeditions to Frustrate the Designs of
the Enemy, by Attacks on his Foreign Poseesaions or European
Ports." 1798.
" Rvort ,an the Internal Defence of .England against the Spa.
niqh Armada in IbSS, with a view to the Defence of Britain in
MEI, on which Mr. Pitt grounded 'his Measures of the Provi.
signal Cavalry and Army of Reserve."
" Report on the Union between England and Scotland, with
s view to the projected Union with Jreland," 1799.
"Ida adoof the East India Company."
_3 vols. 4to. 1810.

Mr. Bruce's intellectual powers were of the very highest order.
lie was equally distinguished as an accurate historian and an ele.
gent scholar. 'The extent, the variety, and the correctness, of
till general information, wag astonishing. lie was for some years
the only surviving member of that great literary phalanx which
adorned the Swab& Metropolis, during the middle period of the
Let century. In the more vigorous period of his life he war erni
neatly dietinguiehod by that qualification Which ix so rarely to be
met with, in which great knowledge is combined with a•shrewil-
u:as and pleasing urbanity of manners, which rendered his corn.
mitnicatione agreeable to every one. :Ilia conversational powers
wore captivating in the extreme, arid his salliel of innocent
humour, and Bolles of wit, were irresistibly entertaining. •
fluting' the latter years of, his life, he event Revere ! months at
hi: scat at Iduthill•—en which estate ,
.and his extensive purchaso,
of Falkland and gyres, be waa carrying oh Improvements on a
naenfortended sod liberal soak, gqing employment to great num-
bora of tratkutuen and I:dowers of all, descriptions. Ile also laid
out , large „win. reoiring tvliat remains the Palace of Falk.
hod.
1,0 so to piewerve,. for . coiturles to come, that relic of
}loyalty hi Scotland. In short, be entered 'on the profession of a
country gentleman with the same avlour ted ability which he
displayed in the Various other situations which he filled ; and his
death will be deeply lamented by those frieads who enjoyed his
es well a, by the inhebitante on his estate, to whose
INar.ta and oust:feria he so materially Wotlibuled•