MEMOIR OF BRUCE. 
83 
charger of great power and size, which he required 
in consequence of his extreme corpulence and weight. 
He occasionally visited London, and kept up a cor- 
respondence with the Honourable Daines Barring- 
ton, Buffon, and other men of science. He some- 
times amused himself in translating the prophecies 
of Enoch, and even projected an edition of the 
Bible with notes, pointing out numberless instances 
in which the Jewish history was singularly confirmed 
by his own observations. 
His temper was irritable, and exceedingly sensi- 
tive on the controverted points of his travels. One 
day when visiting a relation in East Lothian, a 
gentleman bluntly remarked in his presence, that 
“ it was impossible the natives of Abyssinia could 
eat raw meat!” Bruce said not a word, hut left 
the room, and immediately brought from the kitchen 
a piece of raw beef-steak, peppered and salted in 
the genuine oriental style. “ Jou shall eat that, 
sir, or fight me,” he said, handing the platter to 
the sceptical gentleman ; which task being most re- 
luctantly performed, “ Now sir (said Bruce calmly), 
you will never again say it is impossible." 
The last act of his life was one of courtesy. A 
large party had dined at Kinnaird ; and when the 
company were about to depart, Brace, who was 
gaily talking to a young lady in the drawing-room, 
observed that her aged mother was proceeding to her 
carriage unattended. Li hurrying to her assistance, 
at the head of the great staircase, his foot — the foot 
that had borne him in safety through so many dangers 
