(i4) HlSTORr of the SOCIETT, 



Account of Lord fomc, I bclleve not on any medical authority, fuppofed to have 



Abercromby. i • , n ' t-^i 



produced the complanit to his brealt. The anxiety and appH- 

 cation he bellowed on the duties of a very laborious profeflion, 

 might contribute to exhauft the ftrength of his conftitution j 

 and, if mental affecflions are to be allowed fuch force, the un- 

 eafinefs which for fome years he experienced on the fubjedl of 

 public affairs and the political ftate of his country, might im- 

 pair and weaken his health and fpirits. Deeply impreffed him- 

 felf with the excellence of the Britifli conftitution, and of the 

 happinefs derived from it, he faw with horror and indignation 

 (at a period conliderably earlier than that wliich excited the ap- 

 prehenfions of moft other people) the efforts of defperate and 

 defigning men to overturn it ; he lamented the delufion of thofe 

 who were mifled to join them ; and he trembled for the effeds 

 of that delufion in eftimable and benevolent but vifionary 

 minds, who might indulge the pride of political theory and 

 {peculation, to the danger, as he conceived, of all good order 

 and regular government, of all fecial happinefs and focial 

 virtue. 



Of the public virtues of Lord Abercromby, I have given a 

 pretty full detail, becaufe thofe fpeak loudeft in example, and 

 are moft generally ufeful to mankind. Of his private virtues 

 and accompUfhments I might fpeak in this Society on the tefti- 

 mony of many of its Members, who will long remember the 

 excellence of his difpolition, the worth and honour of his 

 heart, the amiable and engaging manners which he exhibited. 

 From birth, from education, from native fentiment, and im- 

 proved fociety, he cultivated, and was never a moment unim- 

 preffed with the feelings of a gentleman^ with that delicacy of 

 mind, " above the fixed and fettled rules," which poUihes the 

 manners, which refines morality, which dignifies virtue ; of 

 which fuch an example is the more valuable in thefe days, when 



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