55S MEMOIR OF 



the Order ; and for this purpose his Royal Highness was plea- 

 sed to grant him an audience. Of this interview Lord Wood- 

 houselee always spoke with gratitude, not only as it afforded 

 him the opportunity of observing that dignified courtesy by 

 which the manners of the Prince Regent are distinguished, 

 but as it shewed him the intimate acquaintance which his Roy- 

 al Highness possessed with regard to the affairs of Scotland, 

 and the interest which he took in her progress in science and 

 in literature. Some time after the interview with the Prince 

 Regent, it was intimated to Lord Woodhouselee, that, if agree- 

 able to him, the dignity of Baronet would be conferred on him, 

 which he requested permission to decline, — an instance of mo- 

 desty, which surprised no one to whom Lord Woodhouselee 

 was known ; and which (I am proud to say) was to none so ac- 

 ceptable as to his own family, to whom no illustration could 

 be so dear as that of their father's name. 



I am led, besides, to mention this journey of Lord Wood- 

 houselee to London, as it gives me the opportunity of intro- 

 ducing a little composition to which it gave occasion, and which 

 ought not to be omitted in any account of his life. He had for 

 some time believed, that the disease under which he laboured 

 was soon to be fatal ; and a little before this, he had given or- 

 ders that his family burial place should be repaired, and had 

 inscribed upon it an epitaph, full of tenderness and of affec- 

 tion, to the memory of his father and his mother. In leaving 

 London for the last time, and returning to his own country, it 

 was natural for him to look forward to the event which he had 

 long thought approaching, and to that final home where he was 

 to rest with his fathers. Under these impressions the follow- 

 ing lines were composed, as he was returning homewards; and 

 as they afford a picture of his mind which no Biographer could 



reach, 



