140 Biographical Memoir of 



and contradiction, with which he used to address his younger 

 friends, that was always felt by them as an endearing mark of 

 his kindness and familiarity, and prized accordingly far beyond 

 all the solemn compliments that ever proceeded from the lips 

 of authority. His voice was deep and powerful, though he com- 

 monly spoke in a low and somewhat monotonous tone, which 

 harmonized admirably with the weight and brevity of his obser- 

 vations, and set off to the greatest advantage the pleasant anec- 

 dotes which he delivered with the same grave brow and the same 

 calm smile playing soberly on his lips. There was nothing of 

 effort indeed, or impatience, any more than of pride or levity, in 

 his demeanour ; and there was a finer expression of reposing 

 strength, and mild self-possession in his manner, than we ever 

 recollect to have met with in any other person. He had in his 

 character the utmost abhorrence for all sorts of forwardness, 

 parade, and pretensions ; and, indeed, never failed to put all 

 such impostors out of countenance, by the manly plainness and 

 honest intrepidity of his language and deportment. 



In his temper and dispositions he was not only kind and afTec- 

 tionate, but generous, and considerate of the feelings of all 

 around him, and gave the most liberal assistance and encou- 

 ragement to all young persons who shewed any indications of 

 talent, or applied to him for patronage or advice. His health, 

 which was delicate from his youth upwards, seemed to become 

 firmer as he advanced in years : and he preserved, up almost to 

 the last moment of his existence, not only the full command of 

 his extraordinary intellect, but all the alacrity of spirit, and the 

 social gaiety which had illuminated his happiest days. His 

 friends in this part of the country never saw him more full of 

 intellectual vigour and colloquial animation, never more delight- 

 ful or more instructive, than in his last visit to Scotland in au- 

 tumn 1817. Indeed, it was after that time that he applied 

 himself with all the ardour of early life, to the invention of a 

 machine for mechanically copying all sorts of sculpture and 

 statuary, and distributed among his friends some of its earliest 

 performances, as the productions of a young artist just entering 

 on his 83d year. 



