6 THE LIFE OF JAMES D. FORBES. [CHAP. 



affairs of the trustees. It was not until some time after 

 Sir William's death that Sir Walter learned what he had 

 done on this occasion/ 



In a letter dated Abbotsford, October 28, 1828, Scott 

 on hearing of the death of his early friend thus writes : 

 ' Your letter brought me the afflicting intelligence 

 of the death of our early and beloved friend Sir William. 

 I had little else to expect from the state of health in 

 which he was when I last saw him ; but that circum- 

 stance does not diminish the pain with which I now 

 reflect that I shall never see him more. He was a man 

 who from his habits could not be intimately known to 

 many, although everything which he did partook of 

 that high feeling and generosity which belongs perhaps 

 to a better age than" that we live in. In him I feel I 

 have sustained a loss which no after years of my life can 

 fill up to me ; and if I look back to the gay and happy 

 hours of youth, they must be filled with recollections of 

 our departed friend. In the whole course of life our 

 friendship has been uninterrupted, as his kindness has 

 been unwearied. Even the last time I saw him (so 

 changed from what I knew him), he came to town when 

 he was fitter to have kept his room, merely because he 

 could be of use to some affairs of mine. It is most 

 melancholy to reflect that the life of a man whose 

 principles were so excellent, and his heart so affectionate, 

 should have in the midst of external prosperity been 

 darkened, and I fear I may say shortened, by domestic 

 affliction. But those whom He loveth He chasteneth/ 

 And then follow some reflections on the thought of 

 meeting departed friends hereafter, more serious than 

 Scott generally indulged in. 



There is but one allusion, as far as I know, made by 

 Sir Walter Scott to the lady who became Lady Forbes. 

 It occurs in his diary about a year before the above letter 

 regarding Sir William was written. In July 1827, Sir 

 Walter, while on a visit in the neighbourhood, drove 

 over to St. Andrews, not having seen it for many years. 

 And thus he notices it : ' I did not go up to St. Rule's 



