ership with
George Chalmers, Writer to the Signet, under whom he had served his
apprenticeship.

His person and face were uncommonly handsome, with an expression of
sweetness of temper, which was not fallacious; his manners were rather
formal, but full of genuine kindness, especially when exercising the
duties of hospitality. His general habits were not only temperate, but
severely abstemious; but upon a festival occasion, there were few whom
a moderate glass of wine exhilarated to such a lively degree. His
religion, in which he was devoutly sincere, was Calvinism of the
strictest kind, and his favorite study related to church history. I
suspect the good old man was often engaged with Knox and
Spottiswoode's {p.008} folios, when, immured in his solitary room,
he was supposed to be immersed in professional researches. In his
political principles he was a steady friend to freedom, with a bias,
however, to the monarchical part of our constitution, which he
considered as peculiarly exposed to danger during the later years of
his life. He had much of ancient Scottish prejudice respecting the
forms of marriages, funerals, christenings, and so forth, and was
always vexed at any neglect of etiquette upon such occasions. As his
education had not been upon an enlarged plan, it could not be expected
that he should be an enlightened scholar, but he had not passed
through a busy life without observation; and his remarks upon times
and manners often exhibited strong traits of practical though untaught
philosophy. Let me conclude this sketch, which I am unconscious of
having overcharged, with a few lines written by the late Mrs.
Cockburn[20] upon the subject. They made one among a set of poetical
characters which were given as toasts among a few friends; and we must
hold them to contain a striking likeness, since the original was
recognized so soon as they were read aloud:--

"To a thing that's uncommon--
A youth of discretion,
Who, though vastly handsome,
Despises flirtation:
To the friend in affliction,
The heart of affection,
Who may hear the last trump
Without dread of detection."

[Footnote 20: Mrs. Cockburn (born Miss Rutherford of
Fairnalie) was the authoress of the beautiful song--

"I have seen the smiling
Of fortu