270 ROBERTSON. 



Grey Friars, where his father had been minister before 

 him. But one sermon, though I was very young at the 

 time, I never can forget. The occasion was the celebra- 

 tion (5th November, 1788) of the centenary of the Revo- 

 lution, and his sister, considering that to have heard 

 such a man discourse on such a subject was a thing to 

 be remembered by any one through life ever after, took 

 me to hear him. It was of singular and striking inte- 

 rest, for the extreme earnestness, the youthful fervour 

 with which it was delivered. But it was in some pas- 

 sages upon a revolution which he expected and saw 

 approaching, if not begun, as well as upon the one 

 which was long past, and almost faded from the 

 memory in the more absorbing interest of present 

 affairs. I well remember his referring to the events 

 now going on on the Continent, as the forerunners of 

 far greater ones which he saw casting their shadows 

 before. He certainly had no apprehensions of mischief, 

 but he was full of hope for the future, and his exult- 

 ation was boundless in contemplating the deliverance 

 of " so many millions of so great a nation from the 

 fetters of arbitrary government." His sister and I 

 often afterwards reflected on this extraordinary dis- 

 course with wonder, and I feel almost certain of some 

 such expressions as these having been used, and of his 

 foretelling that our neighbours w r ould one day have to 

 celebrate such an event as had now called us together. 

 We dined with him the same day on leaving the 

 church, for it was the afternoon service that he had 

 performed. His eldest son, afterwards Lord Robert- 

 son, was of the company ; and when the Principal 

 expressed his satisfaction at having had his presence at 

 church (a thing by no means of weekly occurrence), 



