258 ROBERTSON. 



of his placid temper, and the cheerfulness of his kindly 

 disposition, I have heard him spoken of in terms of 

 the warmest enthusiasm by such of his children as 

 were old enough at the time of his decease to recollect 

 him distinctly. The idea of again meeting him in 

 another state was ever present to my grandmother's 

 mind, (who was his eldest daughter,) and especially 

 when stricken with any illness. It was with her a 

 common source of argument for a future state, as 

 proved by the light of nature, and in her pious mind a 

 confirmation of the truth of Christianity, that, believ- 

 ing in the Divine goodness, she could not conceive 

 the extinction of so much angelical purity as adorned 

 her parent, and so fine an understanding as he pos- 

 sessed. Their mother was a woman of great ability 

 and force of character ; but like many of that cast, 

 women especially, she was more stern, and even severe, 

 than amiable ; and this contrast, unfavourable to the 

 one, redounded to the augmented love of the other. 

 It cannot be doubted that the son's character derived 

 a strong tincture from both parents, but that while he 

 was mild and gentle in his temper, and of an engaging 

 demeanour, his firmness and decision, nay, his inclina- 

 tion towards the Stoical system of morals, and even to 

 a certain degree of Stoical feeling too, was derived from 

 his mother. 



The death of these two excellent persons was singu- 

 larly melancholy, and served to impress on the minds of 

 their family a mournful recollection of their virtues. 

 Mr. Robertson had been removed to the Old Grey Friars 

 Church of Edinburgh in 1733 ; and ten years after- 

 wards, both he and his wife, seized with putrid fever, 



