[6) HlSTORr of the sociErr. 



AccoumofLorii -^Tho had once iuduleed fo much in gaiety and amufement, and 



Alcrtromb)'. ° n • 



who was fo much fitted by nature to flune among the gay and 

 the amufing, to devote himfelf now to bulinefs with a rigid at- 

 tention and pun(5t«aHty not always met with even among men 

 of the moft grave and fcrious diipofitions. His fpeeches and 

 his papers were held in equal eflimation. His general method 

 in both was, to ftate the faS which gave origin to the caufe 

 fimply and perfpicuoufly, and then to apply thofe principles 

 and arguments in law which bore upon the cafe, from which 

 he drew the conclufion in favour of his cHent. When the cafe 

 admitted of it, he was fond of illuftrating his argument by 

 fome appofite clallical allufion, or fome anecdote of ancient or 

 modern times, with which his memory was abundantly flored. 

 His expreiTion was always elegant, and when the fubjecSl called 

 for it, rofe to a degree of animation and eloquence much be- 

 yond what bufmefs-men might think neceflary in a mere legal 

 pleading. He excelled particularly in that indignant tone in 

 which a good man rebukes injuftice or oppreflion, and tliat pa- 

 thetic in which he pleads the caufe of the unfortunate ; a ftyle 

 which his own mind, nice as it was in honour, and open to 

 compafHon, naturally prompted. 



The laborious employments of his profefTion did not fo en- 

 tirely engrofs him as to preclude his indulging in the elegant 

 amufements of polite literature. He was one of that fociety of 

 gentlemen, who, in 1779, fet on foot the periodical paper, 

 publilhed at Edinburgh, during that and the fucceedlng year, 

 under the title of the Mirror, and who afterwards gave to the 

 world another work of a fimilar kind, the Lounger, pubhfli- 

 ed at Edinburgh in 1785 and 1786. To tliefe publications he 

 was a very valuable contributor, being the author of ten pa- 

 pers in the Mirror and nine in the Lounger. His papers are 

 diftinguiftied by an eafe and gentlem;mlike turn of expreffiqn, 

 by a delicate and polilhed irony, by a ftrain of manly, ho- 

 nourable 



