PREFATORY MEMOIR. XX111 



Mrs Colquhoun died in 1877, and with her death John 

 Colquhoun closed his career as a sportsman. " For two 

 years," he writes in 1878, "I have rented no shooting, nor 

 taken out a game licence, and seldom even handled a fishing- 

 rod. The pleasure of these sports has faded since the faithful 

 and generous heart which sympathised with them has ceased 

 to heat. After a rough day on the moor or by the salmon 

 river, the sound of her dear voice was a joy I fully valued, 

 till it was hushed for ever on earth." In his later years, too, 

 he had to mourn the loss of his eldest and his youngest sons, 

 both like himself distinguished sportsmen. 



His active habits did not desert him while strength lasted, 

 and down to a very short time before his death he was, as has 

 been already mentioned, busily occupied with the revision of 

 ' The Moor and the Loch.' 



"All through his illness of five weeks," writes his eldest 

 daughter, in a touching little monograph dealing with the 

 deeply religious side of her father's life, " his mind was kept 

 in perfect peace, having underneath him, as he said, ' the 

 everlasting arms.' The day before he was taken, he ' saw a 

 vision heaven opened ! ' uttering his wife's name as if he 

 actually saw her. On the morning of the 27th May 1885 

 he called his daughter to him, saying, ' Don't you think I am 

 " wearin' awa' " ? I saw it in Angus's face ! ' 



" The last words he spoke were to Dr Angus Macdonald, three 

 hours before all was over, ' At evening time it shall be light.' " 



