(i2) HiSTORr of the SOCIETT. 



Account of Lord of the impartlaL as to imprefs convicflion, as well as to impofe 

 filence, on the cenfured. Lord Abercromby pofTefTed thofe 

 virtues and accomplilhments which inveft the ftation of a Judge 

 with an authority the moll venerable and the mod perfu alive. 

 Purity of mind and of chara^ler, a nice fenfe of honour and 

 decoriun, a delicacy of private and a dignity of public deport- 

 ment ; thefe are at all times moft important qualities in a Judge ; 

 at no time perhaps fo much as at the prefent, when they are fo 

 clTential to conciliate the efteem and to command the reverence 

 of the people for the magiftracy and conftitution of their 

 country. 



To the criminal Court thofe qualities are peculiarly appropri- 

 ate. In that Court, the Judge is the organ of the offended mA- 

 jefly of the law ; his deportment ought to be fuited to that 

 fun(5lion, grave, deliberate, decided. Above the atmofphere of 

 the paffions, he may fpeak with feverity, but never with re- 

 fentment ; and his duty is too folemn and too majeflic, to ad-^ 

 mit of the light or the frivolous, either in manner or exprefTion. 

 Yet, amidft the unbending declaration of the law, and the 

 fteady decilion of its minifler, he may, and in fome cafes 

 ought to feel that dignified compaflion for human frailty, that 

 * tempers the rigour, but does not detra(ft from the awfulnefs of 

 juftice. Such was the deportment of Lord Abercromby. 

 The firmnefs of his mind, and the dignity of his demeanour, 

 were particularly called forth at that momentous jundlure, when 

 the decifions of the criminal Court of Scotland vindicated the 

 laws, and upheld the conftitution, againft the daring attacks of 

 turbulence and fedition. 



The laft piece of duty which Lord Abercromby performed 

 as a Judge of the Court of Jufticiary, (immediately after the 

 admifhon of his friend 'Lord Craig as a colleague), was the 

 northern circuit in the fpring of the year 1795. On that jour- 

 ney 



