18 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
thought, sir,” said Arnot, sternly, “you took me for a scoundrel I ” The man
withdrew, not a little abashed at this plump insinuation of the dishonesty of his
intentions,
On another occasion, he was waited upon by a lady not remarkable either for
youth, beauty, or good temper, for advice as to her best method of getting rid
of the importunities of a rejected admirer, when, after telling her story, the following
colloquy took place :-
“ Ye maun ken, sir,” said the lady, “ that I am a namesake 0’ your ain.
I am the chief 0’ the Arnots.”
‘( Are you, by Jing ? ” replied Mr. Arnot.
“ Yes, sir, I am ; and ye maun just advise me what I ought to do with this
impertinent fellow 1 ”
“ Oh, marry him by all means ! It’s the only way to get quit of his importunities.”
“ I would see him hanged first 1 ” replied the lady, with emphatic indignation.
“ Nay, madam,” rejoined Rlr. Arnot ; “ marry him directly, as I said before,
and, by the lord Harry, he’ll soon hang himself! ”
The severe asthmatic complaint with which he waB afflicted, subjected him
latterly to much bodily suffering. When in great pain one day from difficulty
of breathing, he was annoyed by the bawling of a man selling sand on the streets.
“ The rascal ! ” exclaimed the tortured invalid, at once irritated by the voice,
and envious of the power of lungs which occasioned it, ‘&he spends as much
breath in a minute as would serve me for a month.”
Mr. Arnot had a habit of ringing his bell with great violence-a habit which
much annoyed an old maiden-lady who resided in the floor above him. The
lady complained of this annoyance frequently, and implored Mr. Arnot to sound
his bell with a more delicate touch ; but to no purpose. At length, annoyed in
turn by her importunities, which he believed to proceed from mere querulousness,
he gave her to understand, in reply to her last message, that he would drop
the bell altogether. This he accordingly did ; but in its place substituted a
pistol, which he fired off whenever he desired the attendance of his servant, to
the great alarm of the invalid, who now as earnestly besought the restitution of
the bell as she had requested its discontinuance.
Mr. Arnot died on the 20th November 1786, in the thirty-seventh year of his
age, exhibiting, in the closing scene of his life, a remarkable instance of the
peculiarity of his character, and, it may be added, of his fortitude, For several
weeks previous to his death, he regularly visited his appointed burial-place in
South Leith Churchyard, to observe the progress of some masons whom he had
employed to wall it in, and frequently expressed a fear that his death would take
place before they should have completed the work.
JAMES BURNETT, LORD MOXBODDO. This learned, ingenious, and
amiable, but eccentric man, was one of the Judges of the Court of Session, He
