BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 15
adcounts are closed. Take up your papers, man, and go home with an easy
mind ; your titles are excellent.”
- . Amongst his lordship’s singularities, which were not a few, was an unaccountable
predilection for a certain word, more remarkable for its vigour than its
elegance, which he used freely even on the bench, where it certainly must have
sounded very oddly. This peculiarity is pointed out in the amusing poem
entitled the CL Court of Session Garland,” by James Boswell-
“Alemoor the judgment as illegal blames-
“Tis equity, you b-h,’ replies my Lord Kames.”
About a week before his death, which was the result of extreme old age,
feeling his end approaching, he went to the C o d of Session, addressed all
the judges separately, told them he was speedily to depart, and bade them a
aolemn and affectionate farewell. On reaching the door, however, he turned
round, and, bestowing a last look on his sorrowing brethren, made his exit,
exclaiming, “Fare ye a’ weel, ye b-ches!”
Not more than four days before his demise, a friend called on his lordship,
and found him, although in a state of great languor and debility, dictating to
an amanuensis. He expressed his surprise at seeing him so actively employed.
“ Ye b-h,” replied Kames, “ would you have me stay with my tongue in my
cheek till death comes to fetch me!” A day or two after this, he told the
celebrated Dr. Cullen that he earnestly wished to be away, because he was
exceedingly curious to learn the nature and manners of another world. He
added-‘‘ Doctor, as I never could be idle in this world, I shall willingly perform
any task that may be imposed on me in the next.”
During the latter part of his life, he entertained a dread that he would outlive
his faculties, and was well pleased to find, from the rapid decay of his
body, that he would escape this calamity by a speedy dissolution. He died,
after a short illness, on the 27th of December 1782, in the eighty-seventh year
of his age.
His lordship lived in the self-contained house at the head of New Street,
fronting the Canongate, east side, a house which was then considered one of the
first in the city.
, The works of Lord Kames are-“Remarkable Decisions of the Court of
Session, from 1706 to 1728,” folio; “Essays upon several Subjects in Law,”
1732; “Decisions of the Court of Session, from its first institution till the year
1740,” 1741-two volumes were afterwards added by Lord Woodhouselee, and
a Supplement by M‘Grugar j “ Essays on several Subjects concerning Brit,ish
Antiquities,” 1747 ; “Essays on the Principles of Morality and Natural Religion,
in two pads,” 1751, 8vo; “The Statute Law of Scotland, abridged with
Historical Notes,” 1757, 8vo; “Historical Law Tracts,” 1759, 8vo; “The
Principles of Equity,” 1760, folio; “Introduction to hte Art of Thinking,”
1761, 12mo ; ‘‘ Elements of Criticism,” 1762, 8v0, 3 vols. ; Remarkable
Decisions of the Court of Session, from 1730 to 1752,” 1766, folio; “Gentle-
‘man Farmer,” 1772, 8vo; “Sketches of the History of Man,” 1773, 2 vols.
16 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
4to ; “Elucidations respecting the Common and Statute Zaw of Scotland,”
1777, 8vo ; “Select Decisions of the Court of Session, from 1752 to 1768,”
1780, folio; and “Loose Hints upon Education, chiefly concerning the
Culture of the Heart,” 1781, 8vo.
HUG0 ARNOT, Esq., the singularly attenuated gentleman who appears
between Lord Kames and Lord Monboddo, was, in as far as his person is concerned,
a sort of natural curiosity. He was of great height, but, as the Print
shows, sadly deficient in breadth ; yet an intelligent friend, who has contributed
some information to this work, and who knew him well, complains that the
limner has made him “ really too solid ! ” If this be so, it is an error which
is corrected in another likeness of him, which appears elsewhere in the present
work Mr. Arnot’s person was, in truth, altogether an extraordinary and remarkable
one, and it was in consequence the source of many jests and witticisms.
Mr. Arnot was the son of a merchant and ship proprietor at Leith, where he
was born on the 8th December 1749. His name was originally Pollock, but he
changed it in early life to Arnot, on the occasion of his falling heir, through his
mother, to the estate of Balcormo in Fife.’ He was bred to the law, and
became a member of the Faculty of Advocates in the year 1772. A severe
asthma, however, which was greatly aggravated by almost every kind of exertion,
proved a serious obstruction to his progress at the bar, where, but for this
unfortunate circumstance, there is little doubt that his talents would have raised
him to eminence.
Mr. Arnot published in 12m0, London, 1776, “An Essay on Nothing, a
Discourse delivered in a Society,” which was favourably received.
In 1779 appeared his “History of Edinburgh,” which makes, perhaps, as
near an approach to classical excellence as any topographical publication which
has ever appeared in Scotland. The merit of this work is sufficiently expressed
in the fact of its not having been thrown into the shade, either in respect of
information or composition, by any subsequent production In 1785, Mr. Axnot
published a “ Collection of Celebrated Criminal Trials, with Historical and
Critical Remarks,” which added considerably to the reputation of its author.
Prior to the publication of this curious work, Arnot quarrelled with the
booksellers ; and, in December 1784, he advertised the book to be published by
subscription, adding, ‘‘ Mr. Arnot printed, a few days ago, a prospectus of the.
work, that the public might form some idea of its nature, and he sent it to be
hung up in the principal booksellers in town; but they have thought proper
to refuse, in a body, to allow the prospectus and subscription papers to hang in
their shops. The prospectus will therefore be seen at the Royal Exchange
Coffee-House, Exchange Coffee-House, Prince’s Street Coffee-House, And
Messrs. Corri and Sutherland‘s Music-Shop, Edinburgh, and Gibb’s Coffee-
House, Leith.”
? “Died, December 6, 1773
deceased Mr. Pollock, merchant.
;, at her house in Fifeshire, Mrs. h o t o f Balcormo, relict of the
