BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 27
they succeeded in obtaining from him no less a sum, it is said, than one hundred
pounds sterling.
The Doctor was a regular attendant at church, and always contributed to the
plate. That his charity on such occasions might be duly appreciated by those
who were in attendance, instead of throwing in his halfpence in the usual careless
way, he piled them up into one solid massive column of copper, and gently
placing the pillar down, left it, a conspicuous monument of his benevolence.
One act of public spirit, however, does mark the Doctor’s-life, and if his motive
in performing it, as was uncharitably reported at the time, was vanity, one cannot
help being struck with the ingenuity which directed him on the occasion.
He presented the governors of the Orphan Hospital with a bell! His fame
was thus literally sounded throughout the city ; yet, lest any should have been
ignorant of the gift, he took care when in company, on hearing it ring, to advert
to its fine tone, and thus lead the way to a narrative of his generosity.
The other figure in the Print represents Laird Robertson holding up one of
his sticks ; the nndermost figure represents Principal Robertson ; the one on
tlie top the eccentric Dr. James Graham, no great favourite of Dr. Glen’s.
Eeing once troubled with sore eyes, after in vain trying the prescriptions of
several physicians, he applied to Dr. Graham, who cured him in a very short
time, for which he expressed great gratitude. Wishing to make him some
remuneration, he consulted some of the young members of the Faculty ; and,
as the most genteel way of doing what he wished, they recommended him to
invite the Doctor and a few of his own friends to dinner in Fortune’s (the most
fashionable tavern at that time), and provide himself with a hltndsome purse,
containing thirty guineas or so, and offer it to the Doctor, which they assured
him he would not accept. They accordingly met, and after a few bottles of
wine had been drunk, the old Doctor called Dr, Graham to the window, and
offered him the purse, which he at once accepted, and, with a very low bow,
thanked him kindly for it. The Doctor was so chagrined that he soon left the
company, who continued till a pretty early hour enjoying themselves at his
expense.
The father of Dr. Glen was a native of the west of Scotland, and had three
sons, all of whom were prosperous in the world. One of these gentlemen was
appointed governor of one of the 7Qest India Islands, where he amassed
a large fortune, of which he left $30,000 to his niece, the daughter of the
third brother, who ultimately succeeded to the reversion of the Doctor’s
property. This amiable lady was subsequently married to the late Earl of
Dalhousie, father to the present noble Earl.
Dr. Glen enjoyed, by purchase, an annuity from the city of Edinburgh, of
which he lived so long to reap the benefit, that the magistrates gave up all hopes
of his ever dying at all, and began to consider him as one of the perpetual
burdens of the city. He, however, died in 1786.
