BLACK. 23 



adverted to, and it did not proceed from coldness of 

 disposition, for he was affectionately attached to his 

 friends. Having no family of his own, he may be said 

 to have fallen into those precise and regular habits 

 which sometimes raise in happier individuals a smile, 

 I stop not to inquire whether of envy or contempt, for 

 the single state. It was sometimes said, too, that his 

 habits were penurious. That the expenses of one who 

 had no love of pleasure and no fancy for ostentation 

 to gratify, must have been moderate, is certain ; but he 

 lived in the style and manner suited to one possessing 

 an ample income. The ground of the charge was, I 

 believe, that he was said to have a scale by him when 

 he received the fees of his students. I can answer for 

 the truth of this statement, for I well remember the 

 small brass instrument ; but I also recollect that he 

 said it became necessary from the quantity of light 

 gold which he used at first to receive unsuspected from 

 one class, particularly, of his pupils. There was 

 certainly no reason why he should pay a sum of forty 

 or fifty pounds yearly out of his income on this account. 

 Both Professor Ferguson and Professor Robison have 

 positively denied the charge of avarice, and have given 

 ample testimony even to his generous nature. While 

 he lived at Glasgow he lost three-fourths of his fortune 

 by the failure of a house in which it was invested ; and 

 though he had foreseen the catastrophe for two years, 

 he neither attempted to withdraw his funds, nor 

 altered in any respect his kind demeanour towards the 

 head of the firm, whom he knew. At Edinburgh he 

 more than once incurred great risks to help friends in 

 business. 



The gradual decay of his strength brought about the 

 extinction of life without pain and without any discom- 

 posure. Professor Robison told me that he was sure 

 nothing could be more agreeable to his illustrious 

 friend's wishes than this end, as nothing was more 

 likely to vex and annoy him than the unavoidable 



