I80
the bids Pitsligo. He bestowed charity daily upon
a number of pensioners, who were in the habit of
waiting on him as he entered or left the bank, or as
? Far may we search before we find
A heart so manly and so kind !
But not around his honoured urn.
[Parliament Close.
a great portion of the upper barony of Pitsligo, in- canto of ? Marmion,? thus affectionately and
cluding the roofless and ruined old mansion-house of forcibly :-
he passed through the Parliament Close, where for I Shall friends alone and kindred mourn 5
THE PARLIAMENT STAIRS.
years, as we are told in ?The Hermit in Edinburgh,
1824,? might be seen the figure of ?that
pillar of worth, Sir William Forbes, in the costume
of the last century, with a profusion of grey locks
tied in a clu5, and a cloud of hair-powder flying
about him in a windy day; his tall, upright form
is missed in the circles of moral life; the poor
miss him also.?
His friend Scott wrote of him, in the fourth
The thousand eyes his care had dried
Pour at his name a bitter tide ;
And frequent falls the grateful dew,
For benefits the world ne?er knew.
If mortal charity dare claim
The Almighty?s attributed name,
Inscribe above his mouldering clay,
T4c wtifow?s skGZd, the ovhan?s sfay I?
Near his banking-house, and adjoining the Parliament
(or old back) Stairs, was long a shop occu
