72 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
’ No. XXXIII.
LORD ROCKVILLE.
DR. ADAM SMITH, AND
COMNISSIONER BROWN.
THE first of these figures represents the Honourable ALEXANDER GORDON,
third son of William second Earl of Aberdeen, by Lady Ann Gordon,
daughter of Alexander second Duke of Gordon. He was born in 1739, and,
having studied for the bar, was admitted Advocate, 7th August 1759. He was
appointed Steward-depute of Kirkcudbright in 1764, which office he held until
the year 1784, when, on the death of David Dalrymple of Westhall, he was promoted
to be one of the Senators of the College of Justice, and took his seat on
the 1st of July, under the title of Lord Rockville; from an estate which he
purchased in the county of Haddington. His lordship lived in that close in
the Castlehill now called Rockville’s Close, and afterwards removed to St.
Andrew Square, but did not long enjoy the honours conferred upon him ; for
one day when stepping from the door of his own house, in order to attend
his duty in the Parliament House, he slipped his foot, fell, and broke
his leg, in consequence of which he fevered, and the progress of disease
could not be arrested by the best medical skill that Edinburgh could afford.
This accident terminated in his death, after a very short illness, on the 13th
of March 1792. “He adorned the bench by the dignified manliness of his
appearance, and polished urbanity of his manners.”l Though somewhat above
the ordinary height,-his lordship was a very handsome man. He married the
Countess of Dumfries and Stair, by whom he had a family.
His lordship was a member of a convivial club, called the (‘ Crochdlan Fencibles,”
which held its nocturnal revels in Daniel Douglas’s tavern, Anchor
Close. One evening previous to his being raised to the bench, Lord Rockville
made his appearance with the most rueful expression of countenance imaginable,
and upon being asked what was the matter, he exclaimed with great solemnity,
(‘ Gentlemen, I have just met with the most wonderful adventure that ever befell
a human being. As I was walking along the Grassmarket, all of a sudden the
street rose up and struck me in the face !” This extraordinary announcement
created much astonishment, which, however, soon abated upon its being ascertained
that the narrator had been making too free with the bottle, and that,
whilst in this state, he had fallen upon his face. This adventure afforded much
amusement to the merry wags assembled, and his lordship was sadly teased to
explain why the very stones in Rome had risen in mutiny !” This anecdote
Douglas’s Peerage, voL i p. 22.