316 ROBEETSOX. 



it was unimpassioned till some great burst came from 

 him ; then it partook of the fire of the moment, and 

 soon relapsed into dignified composure. In private it 

 had some little awkwardnesses, not very perceptible 

 except to a near and minute observer. His language 

 was correct and purely English, avoiding both learned 

 words and foreign phraseology and Scottish expres- 

 sions, but his speech was strongly tinged with the 

 Scottish accent. His voice I well remember, nor was 

 it easy to forget it ; nothing could be more pleasing. 

 It was full and it was calm, but it had a tone of 

 heartiness and sincerity which I hardly ever knew in 

 any other. He was in person above the middle size 

 his features were strongly marked his forehead was 

 high and open the expression of his mouth was that 

 of repose, of meditation, and of sweetness at the same 

 time. The portrait, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, is a strik- 

 ing likeness, and it is the one which is engraved. I 

 never knew an instance, I should say, of so strong a 

 resemblance as that which his eldest daughter, Mrs. 

 Brydone, bore him. In her latter years, too, the sound 

 of her voice was nearly his own. The only particulars 

 of his manners and person which I recollect are his 

 cocked hat, which he always wore, even in the country ; 

 his stately gait, particularly in a walk which he loved 

 to frequent in the woods at Brougham, where I at- 

 tended him once while he visited there, and in which 

 he slowly recited sometimes Latin verses, sometimes 

 Greek ; a very slight guttural accent in his speech, 

 which gave it a peculiar fulness ; and his retaining 

 some old-fashioned modes of address, as using the word 

 tf madam" at full length ; and, when he drank wine 



