the beneficence of the original patron. Lord Gardenstone spent the remainder of his allotted time in traversing the Netherlands, Germany, and Italy; making, in his progress, a collection of natural curiosities, and committing to writing a number of cursory remarks on the men and manners he encountered, and the works of art he had seen on his tour or met any where else, part of which were submitted to the world in two duodecimo volumes, denominated "Travelling Memorandums made in a Tour upon the Continent of Europe in the year 1792," and a remaining volume was published after his death. About the same time he published "Miscellanies in Prose and Verse," a collection of petty productions which had given him amusement, either in composing or hearing, during his earlier days. Perhaps without affectation, the gravity of the judge might have restrained the man from giving to the world a publication which could not have raised the better part of his reputation. Lord Gardenstone was either not a poet born, or his imagination had not stood the ordeal of a profession which deals in fact arid reason. His serious verses have all the stiffness of the French school, without either the loftiness of Pope, or the fire of Dryden. The author had to be sure an ever teeming mind, which never emitted any thing common or contemptible, but it is to be feared, that the merits his verses possess, are those of rhetoric rather than of poetry ; for, though constructed in the same workshop which formed words and ideas that thrilled through the minds of a subdued audience, they are certainly very flat and inelegant as poetical productions. The satirical pieces have a singular pungence and acuteness, and are fine specimens of the early natural powers of the author; but they are rather destitute of the tact acquired by professed satirists. A biographer, who seems to have been intimate with his lordship,[1] describes him as having expressed great contempt for the affectation of those who expressed disgust at the indelicacies of Horace or Swift, and it must certainly be allowed, that, in his humourous fragments, he has not departed from the spirit of his precepts, or shown any respect for the feelings of these weaker brethren. Lord Gardenstone
spent the latter days of his life, as he had done the earlier, in an unrestricted benevolence, and a social intercourse with the world, indulging in the same principles, which years had softened in their activity, but had not diminished. He was still an ornament and a useful assistant to the circle of great men which raised the respectability of his country. He continued to use his then ample fortune, and his practised acuteness, in giving encouragement to letters, and in useful public projects, the last of which appears to have been the erection of a building over the mineral spring of St Bernard's, in the romantic vale of the
water of Leith, a convenience which seems to have been much more highly appreciated formerly than now, and is always mentioned as one of the chief incidents of the judge's life. He died at Morningside, near Edinburgh, on the 22nd of July, 1793. The village which had afforded him so much benevolent pleasure exhibited, for a considerable period after his death, the outward signs of grief, and, what seldom happens in the fluctuations of the world, the philanthropist was mourned by those who had experienced his public munificence, as a private friend.
In person, lord Gardenstone is described as having been a commanding man, with a high forehead, features intellectually marked, and a serious penetrating eye. He was generally a successful speaker, and differed from many orators in being always pleasing. The effect appears to have been produced more by a deep-toned melodious voice, a majestic ease, and carelessness of manner, which
- ↑ Life introductory to vol. 3d of Travelling Memorandums, the only life of Gardenstone hitherto published at least the one which, mutatis mutandis, has been attached to his name In biographical dictionaries.
