}(i LIFE OF Sift JAMtis StfetJA*.?. Sept. 2t, 



fecial intercourfe rendered himfelf the delight oF his 

 neighbourhood, and country. 



Never was there a man, wh6 with fo much know- 

 ledge, and fo much energy of eicprcffion in converfa- 

 tion, rendered himfelf more delightful to his company, 

 or was more regretted by his acquaintance when he 

 died. Nor was the aftive mind of Sir James unem- 

 ployed for the general benefit of his country during 

 his retreat. He was engaged by the direftors of the 

 Eaft India Company of England to digeft a code for 

 the regulation of the current coin of Bengal j the plan 

 for which important regulation he printed, and re- 

 ceived from the court of dire£tors a handfome diamond 

 ring, as a mark of their approbation. 



He prepared for the prefs, but never publilhed, an 

 antidote to the fv/Hme de la nature by Mirabeau, wherein 

 the paralalogifms, and foolifh reafoning of that infidel 

 work are examined, dete£ted, and confuted. It is 

 written in French, and were the work of Mirabeau 

 worth refutation, might be printed with much advan- 

 tage to Sir James's reputation as a controverfial writer. 



No?: tali auxilio mu, defenforibus ijiis tempus egit. 



Sir James died in November 1780, and was buried 

 at Cainbufnethan, in Lanarkfliire, on Tuefday the 28th 

 of that month ; the Duke of Hamilton and his neigh- 

 bours performing the laft offices to the remains of that 

 truly interelting citizen, and bedewing his afhes with 

 their tears. I had the honour and comfort to attend 

 him till he became infenfible by the fever that carried 

 him to his grave. On Sunday the 19th of November 

 1 faw, for the laft time, this excelJent perfon, and left 

 him at two o'clock in the afternoon, when he took to 

 his death bed. On the Friday preceding, I faw him 

 fign his laft letter to Sir George Colebroke, guiding 

 liim in his refearches on the revenue of France. With 

 his own hand he wrote the following note fubjoined 

 to his name : 



