XXI 



But perhaps the withdrawal of Mr. Maskelyne from all public and 

 county business may have another explanation, at least supplementary 

 to that to which we have here ascribed it. His tastes were those of 

 an educated and well-read gentleman. To him the treasures of the 

 great minds of Greece and Rome were as completely open as are 

 those of our own language to us. and we know that to within a very 

 few years of his death he still enjoyed the beauty and wisdom laid up 

 in their works, and found his rest and enjoyment there. Perhaps 

 with such tastes and such occupations, a want of sympathy from 

 others or a want of congeniality of taste in others, led him to sepa- 

 rate himself from those useful and honourable men to whom this 

 country owes so much for their care of our national and county 

 affairs. 



Mrs. Story-Maskelyne died in 1858,. so that her husband has sur- 

 vived her twenty-one years. She inherited from her father much of 

 his great ability, and was enabled to correct the press for the last 

 publications he wrote. But her kindly heart, and a charity that 

 checked all expression, all feeling of an unkind thought, are the great 

 charms by which she is best remembered now. 



Sir James Mathesox, Baronet, was the second son of Captain 

 Donald Matheson, of Shiness, in the county of Sutherland, and 

 was born in 1796. He was educated at the High School and 

 University of Edinburgh, and after a few years' business training in 

 London, he went out to the East, and engaged in mercantile pursuits. 

 He was one of the founders of the eminent house of Jardine, 

 Matheson, and Co., in China. In 1836, during a visit to this country, 

 he published a volume on the China trade, which threw light on a 

 subject not then much understood. In 1842, he finally retired from 

 business with an ample fortune, and in the following year married 

 Mary Jane, daughter of Mr. Michael H. Perceval, a member of the 

 Legislative Council of" Quebec. 



Having acquired the estate of Achany in his native county. 

 Mr. Matheson in 1644 purchased from the Seaforth family the Island 

 of Lewis, in the Hebrides, and made it for the most part his home. 

 It was his earnest desire to improve the condition of the large popu- 

 lation on this estate, and with large-hearted and liberal plans he 

 entered upon his self-imposed task, employing the most able assistants 

 whom he could find to carry out his projects. Large outlays were 

 made in the construction of roads and bridges over the whole island, 

 in draining and reclaiming waste land, in establishing steam com- 

 munication with the south, and in promoting education. Scarcely 

 had he begun these various' works when, in common with Ireland, the 

 west Highlands were visited by the potato disease, and many thousands 

 of persons on his property were threatened with famine. His untiring 



