i.] PARENTAGE AND BOYHOOD. 7 



Tower, as on former occasions : this is a falling off, for 

 when before did I remain sitting below when there was a 

 steeple to be ascended ? . . . I sat down on a gravestone 

 and recollected the first visit I made to St. Andrews, 

 now thirty years ago. What changes in my feelings and 

 my fortunes have since then taken place ! some for the 

 better, many for the worse. I remembered the name I 

 then carved in Runic characters beside the castle gate, and 

 asked why it should still agitate my heart. But my 

 friends came down from the tower, and the foolish idea 

 was chased away/ What name that was may easily be 

 divined. An old sexton still lives who remembers that 

 day, and points to the spot within the roofless Tower 

 of St. Rule where Sir Walter sat on a stone, 'with a 

 rough hairy cap on his head.' 



The above extracts contain incidents and allusions of 

 so private a nature that scruples might have been felt 

 about noticing them here, had they not already been 

 made public, in so famous a biography. 



The marriage of Sir William Forbes with Williamina 

 Belches or Stuart took place on 19th January, 1797. 

 Their family consisted of four sons and two daughters, 

 and of these James David was the youngest child. The 

 following pleasing record of his childhood and early 

 years was written by Miss Forbes, the last survivor of 

 the family. 



Miss Forbes s Sketch of her Brother* early Life. 



He was born 20th April, 1809, at 86, George Street, 

 Edinburgh. Though Colinton House, within four miles 

 of Edinburgh, was the usual home of the family, his 

 mother had been recommended to remove into town for 

 the winter, on account of her health ; and before the end 

 of the year she was ordered by her physician to Lymp- 

 atone near Exeter, and was accompanied by Sir William 

 and their infant son, the rest of the family being left 

 at home. They took with them from Scotland two 

 faithful attendants, for whom their young charge ever 



