FORBES FORMATION. 



483 



liberal scale ; laid out the village of New Pitsligo, 

 and gave every assistance to the feuars. Numbers 

 of poor cottars were established by his care on the 

 most uncultivated parts of the estate, most of 

 whom not only paid no rent for the land they occu- 

 pied, but were pensioners on his bounty. 



In 1768, he spent nearly a twelvemonth in Lon- 

 don, in Sir Robert, then Mr Herries's family ; and 

 such was the opinion formed of his abilities even 

 at that early period, that Sir Robert anxiously 

 wished him to settle in the metropolis in business; 

 but though strongly tempted to embrace this offer, 

 from the opening which it would afford to London 

 society, of which he was extremely fond, he had 

 sufficient good sense to withstand the temptation, 

 and prefer the more limited sphere of his own 

 country as the scene of his future usefulness. 

 But his residence in London at that time had a 

 very important effect upon his future life, by intro- 

 ducing him to the brilliant, literary, and accom- 

 plished society of that capital, Dr Johnson, Mr 

 Burke, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Mr Gibbon, Mr Ar- 

 buthnot, and a great many others. He repeatedly 

 visited London for months together at different 

 times during the remainder of his life, and was 

 nearly as well known in its best circles as he was 

 in that of his own country. At a very early period 

 of his life he had conceived the highest relish for 

 the conversation of literary men, and he never 

 afterwards omitted an occasion of cultivating those 

 whom chance threw in his way ; the result of which 

 was that he gradually formed an acquaintance, and 

 kept up a correspondence, with all the first lite- 

 rary and philosophical characters of his day. His 

 taste in this respect probably suggested to him the 

 idea of writing the life of Dr Beattie, the author 

 of the Minstrel, and one of his earliest and most 

 valuable friends. He executed this work accord- 

 ingly, which appeared in 1805, shortly before his 

 death, and in such a way as to give the most fa- 

 vourable impression of the distinction which he 

 would have attained as an author, had his path in 

 general not lain in a more extended and peculiar 

 sphere of usefulness. 



Besides his other qualities, Sir William was a 

 good draughtsman ; was well acquainted with 

 music, and by his efforts contributed much to form 

 the. concerts which in his day formed so promi- 

 nent a feature of the Edinburgh society. His con- 

 versational powers were considerable, and his store 

 of anecdotes very extensive. He likewise supported 

 to the utmost of his power, every project for the 

 amusement and gratification of the young, in whose 

 society he always took great pleasure. He was 

 not less remarkable for his unambitious views. He 

 was frequently offered a seat in parliament, both for 

 the city of Edinburgh and the county of Aberdeen ; 

 but he uniformly declined the offer. In 1799, he 

 was offered an elevation to the peerage, by which 

 the family title of Pitsligo might have been re- 

 stored ; but this honour he likewise respectfully 

 declined. 



In 1802, Sir William had the misfortune to lose 

 lady Forbes. In May 1806, he began to feel symp- 

 toms of shortness of breath, and his sufferings for 

 many months were very severe. He died on the 

 12th of November, 1806. He was succeeded in 

 his title and estates by his son, the late Sir William, 

 a man of the most amiable and upright character, 

 who having been cut off in the middle of his years 

 and usefulness, was succeeded by his son, the pre- 

 sent Sir John. The subject of the present sketch 



left a large family. Besides lord Medwyn (a sena- 

 tor of the college of justice), and Mr George For- 

 bes, who have succeeded to the unwearied activity 

 and benevolence of their father's character, he left 

 five daughters. 



FORE, FOURE, OR FOWRE, is an ancient 

 corporate town in the parish of the same name, 

 and the barony of Demifore, in the county of West- 

 meath, Leinster. It is a place of very trifling im- 

 portance at the present day, though it sent two 

 members to the Irish House of Commons up to the 

 period of the union. It is situated upon the north 

 side of the hill or rising ground which interposes 

 between it and Lough Lene. 



At the foot of the town are the ruins of an an- 

 cient monastery. This was a priory of canons re- 

 gular, built by St Fechin, about the year 630; the 

 founder died of the plague in 665, after having, as 

 is said, ruled over three thousand monks in this 

 abbey. The annals of the abbey make us acquainted 

 with some particulars concerning the town. The 

 records of the years 827, 870, 970, 1025, 1086, 

 1095, 1112, 1114, 1149, and 1169, are but a series 

 of plunderings and burnings. In 1025, the " Fer- 

 man Fechin, or glebe lands of Fore, were plundered 

 and burnt by the tribe of Criochan, on the eve of 

 the nativity." In 1209, Walter de Lacie refounded 

 this abbey, under the invocation of St Taurin and 

 St Fechin, for monks of the order of St Benedict, 

 whom he brought for that purpose from the abbey 

 of St Taurin, in Normandy ; he made it a cell to 

 that Norman abbey, since which period it has gene- 

 rally been called the priory of St Fechin and St 

 Taurin. We learn, also, from these annals, that 

 in the year 1436, on the 26th of May, king Edward 

 III. laid a tax by letters patent, to continue for 

 twenty years, on all things brought to market in 

 this town, or within three miles of the same, or in 

 the towns of Molingar and Multifernam, and with- 

 in three miles of the same, also on all goods going 

 out of the said towns, for the purpose of raising 

 a sum of money sufficient to defray the expence of 

 paving the town, and to build a ditch or stone wall 

 for the better security of his Majesty's English 

 subjects against their Irish enemies, who had thrice 

 burnt the said town to the ground. 



FORMATION; geological strata are divided 

 into certain groups of one era of deposition, and 

 frequently of the same or nearly similar mineralo- 

 gical character, which have been denominated for- 

 mations such as the carboniferous, volitic, creta- 

 ceous, tertiary, silurian, &c. which see. 



The following is the arrangement and succession 

 of the various formations : 



SEDIMENTARY STRATA. 



Gneiss "i 



Mica slate 



Clay slate 



Chlorite slate [ 



Quartz rock 



Primary marble J 



Grey wacke 



Transition limestones 



Old red sandstone 



.Mountain or Car- 

 boniferous lime- 

 stone 



Carboniferous 

 sandstone 



Magnesian limestone 



New red sandstone 



Lias 



Oolite 



Green sand 



Chalk 



London clay 



Par ~ 



nil 



All 



Stratified primary series, containing no 

 traces of organic remains. 



Silurian system 

 of Murchison. 



Coal mea- 

 sures 



;nalk 



.ondon clay "J 

 'aris Basin, &c. f 

 Jiluvium f 



Uluviuin ) 



Secondary series stratified, 

 containing remains of 

 plants and animals, for 

 the most part extinct 

 species. 



Tertiary series, or supracreta- 

 ceous" strata, containing the 

 remains of marine animals, 

 quadrupeds, birds, reptiles. 

 2 H 2 



