*59] 
cousin, Miss Jane Douglas, (who 
had formerly been a member of his 
family at Glasgow, and for whom 
he had always felt the affection of 
a brother), while she divided. with 
him those tender attentions which 
her aunt’s infirmities required, re- 
lieved bim of a charge for which 
he was peculiarly ill qualified, by 
her friendly superintendance of his 
domestic economy. 
The accession to his income, 
which his new office brought him, 
enabled him to gratify, to a much 
greater extent than his former cir- 
cumstances admitted of, the natural 
generosity of his disposition; and 
the state of his funds at the time of 
his death, compared with his very 
moderate establishmenz, confirmed, 
beyond a doubt, what his intimate 
acquaintances had often suspected, 
that a large proportion of his annual 
savings was allotted to offices of 
secret charity. A small, but ex- 
cellent library, which he had gra- 
dually formed with great judgment 
in the selection; and a simple 
though hospitable table, where, 
without the formality of an invita- 
tion, he was always happy to re- 
ceive his friends, were the only ex- 
pences that could be considered as 
his own, 
The change in his habits, which 
his removal to Edinburgh produced, 
was not equally favourable to his 
literary pursuits. The duties of his 
office, though they required but 
little exertion of thought, were yet 
sufficient to waste his spirits, and to 
dissipate his attention; and now 
that his career is closed, it is im- 
possible to reflect on the time they 
consumed, without lamenting that 
it had not been employed in labours 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1795. 
more profitable to the world, and 
more equal to his mind, 
During the first years of his resi- 
dence in this city, his studies 
seemed to be entirely suspended ; 
and his passion for letters served 
only to amuse his leisure, and to 
animate his conversation. ‘The ine 
firmities of age, of which he very 
early began to feel the approaches, 
reminded him at last, when it was 
too late, of what he yet owed to the 
public, and to his own fame. The 
principal materials of the works 
which he had announced, had been 
long ago collected ; and little pro~ 
bably was wanting, but a few years 
of health and retirement, to bestow 
on them that systematical arrange- 
ment in which he delighted; and 
the ornaments of that flowing, and 
apparently artless style, which he 
had studiously cultivated, but which, 
after all his experience in composi< 
tion, he adjusted, with extreme dif- 
ficulty, to his own taste. 
The death of his mother in 1784, 
which was followed by that of Miss 
Douglas in 1788, contributed, it is 
probable, to trustrate these projects, 
They had been the objects of his 
affection for more than sixty years; 
and ip their society he had enjoyed, 
from his infaney, all that he ever 
knew of the endearments of a fa- 
mily. He was now alone, and help- 
Jess ; and, though he bore his loss 
with equanimity, and regained ap- 
parently his former cheeriulness, yet 
his health and strength gradually 
declined till the period of hisdeath, 
which happened in July, 1790, 
about two years after that of his 
cousin, and six after that of his 
mother. His last illness, which 
arose from a chronic obstruction i 
his 
