OBITUARY NOTICE. 367 
OBITUARY NOTICE. 
DEATH OF THE EARL OF: MANSFIELD, EX-PRESIDENT OF THE 
SOCIETY. 
In common with the whole country our Society sustains a real, 
irreparable loss by Lord Mansfield’s death. He was so unlike 
anyone else, so great and distinguished in character, so indifferent 
to current opinion, so hostile to clap-trap, that no one takes his 
place. 
Scotland without Lord Mansfield is what Scone would be 
without the Tay, and he is to-day mourned by many both in 
private and in public life. 
As a friend there was none like him. To have his friendship 
once was to have it unreservedly and for ever, through good 
report or evil, in fair weather or foul. He was an excellent judge 
of men and affairs, had clear insight, unremitting industry and 
genuine kindliness. Holding strong views and very definite 
principles, his course of action or line of reasoning was always 
peculiarly characteristic; his knowledge of history and literature, 
and extraordinary memory, combined with his natural gifts and 
keen appreciation of current movements, rendered him one of the 
soundest of men in public affairs. He recalled some figure of 
the eighteenth century ; yet it would be hard to find anyone with 
such striking individuality even in Sir Walter Scott’s great 
gallery of portraits. By natural instinct and through long 
association with his aged grandfather he belonged to the past, 
but his reverence for tradition never narrowed his view of the 
present, nor prejudiced his judgment on current events. 
_ Whether as student or soldier, as a son or as the head of his 
house, in land management or in public service, he was always 
the same—simple, upright, original. 
If no man had a stronger sense of the inherited responsibility 
of the ruling class, few came more readily into contact with men 
in every pursuit and condition of life, and we have had no 
Member of our Society better liked and respected. He was one 
of the first to secure the advantage of evening instruction for the 
younger foresters on his own estates, and not even his devotion 
