al spirit
and pleasantry. He had a certain quiet and grave humour, which
ran through most of his conversation, and a vein of temperate
jocularity, which gave infinite zest and effect to the condensed
and inexhaustible information which formed its main staple and
characteristic. There was a little air of affected testiness,
and a tone of pretended rebuke and contradiction, with which he
used to address his younger friends, that was always felt by
them as an endearing mark of his kindness and familiarity, and
prized accordingly, far beyond all the solemn compliments that
ever proceeded from the lips of authority. His voice was deep
and powerful, although he commonly spoke in a low and somewhat
monotonous tone, which harmonised admirably with the weight and
brevity of his observations, and set off to the greatest
advantage the pleasant anecdotes, which he delivered with the
same grave brow, and the same calm smile playing soberly on his
lips. There was nothing of effort indeed, or impatience, any
more than pride or levity, in his demeanour; and there was a
finer expression of reposing strength, and mild self-possession
in his manner, than we ever recollect to have met with in any
other person. He had in his character the utmost abhorrence for
all sorts of forwardness, parade and pretensions; and, indeed,
never failed to put all such impostures out of countenance, by
the manly plainness and honest intrepidity of his language and
deportment.

In his temper and dispositions he was not only kind and
affectionate, but generous, and considerate of the feelings of
all around him; and gave the most liberal assistance and
encouragement to all young persons who showed any indications of
talent, or applied to him for patronage or advice. His health,
which was delicate from his youth upwards, seemed to become
firmer as he advanced in years; and he preserved, up almost to
the last moment of his existence, not only the full command of
his extraordinary intellect, but all the alacrity of spirit, and
the social gaiety, which had illumined his happiest days. His
friends in this part of the country never saw him more full of
intellectual vigour and colloquial animation, never more
delightful or more instructive, than in his last visit to
Scotland in the autumn of 1817. Indeed, it was after