sionally to dissipation. Some allowance, however, must be made for the manners of the time, and for the great latitude in their social enjoyments, which it was the fashion of the Edinburgh lawyers of the last century, to allow themselves. It is to be regretted that lord Arniston was not raised to the president's chair earlier in life. He succeeded lord president Forbes, one of the most illustrious and eminent men who ever held that place; and it is net therefore very wonderful, that, far advanced in life as president Dundas was, he should not have been able to discharge the duties of his important office, with all the
dignity and energy of his highly-gifted predecessor.
Lord Arniston was twice married; first, to Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Watson of Muirhouse, by whom he left Robert, afterwards lord president of the court of session, and two daughters; and secondly, to Anne, daughter of Sir Robert Gordon, of Invergordon, bart., by whom he left four sons, and one daughter. One of the sons of this second marriage was Henry, afterwards raised to the peerage under the title of lord viscount Melville.
DUNDAS, Robert, of Arniston, lord president of the court of session, the eldest son of the first lord president Dundas, by Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Watson of Muirhouse, was born on the 18th of July, 1713. When at school and at college he was a good scholar; but afterwards was never known to read through a book, and seldom even to look into one, unless from curiosity, when he happened to be acquainted with the author. It was the custom at the period when the subject of this memoir received his education, for Scottish gentlemen, intended for the higher walks of the legal profession, to study the Roman law at the schools on the continent, where that law was then taught with much celebrity. Young Dundas, therefore, after acquiring the elementary branches of his education, under the care of a domestic tutor, and at the schools and university of Edinburgh, proceeded to Utrecht, towards the close of the year 1733, in order to prosecute his legal studies at that famous university. He remained abroad during four years; spending his academical vacations in visiting Paris, and several of the principal towns and cities in France, and the Low Countries.
He returned to Scotland in the year 1737, and in the year following, became a member of the faculty of advocates. His first public appearances sufficiently proved that he had inherited the genius and abilities of his family; his eloquence was copious and animated; his arguments convincing and ingenious; while even his most unpremeditated pleadings were distinguished by their methodical arrangement In consultation his opinions were marked by sound judgment and great acuteness; while his tenacious memory enabled him with facility and readiness to cite precedents and authorities. Although endowed by nature with very considerable talents for public speaking, yet he not only neglected the study of composition, but contemned the art 'of elocution. In his pleadings, however, as well as in his conversation, he displayed a great deal of fancy and invention, which the strength and soundness of his judgment enabled him to restrain within due bounds. In spite of his want of application, and a strong propensity to pleasure and dissipation, he rose rapidly into practice at the bar. But from the course which he adopted, it seems to have been his intention, without rendering himself a slave to business, to attain such a high place in his profession, as should entitle him to early promotion. Acting on this principle, he usually declined, except in very important cases, to prepare those written pleadings and arguments which at that time, and until lately, were so well known in the court of session. The labour attending this part of his professional duty he felt to be irksome. For the same reason he was accustomed to return many of the briefs which were sent to him; confining his practice to noted cases, or such as excited general interest. In this manner, with-
