Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 1.djvu/48

 an alarming indisposition, which had all the appearance of apoplexy. Having been conducted home, he was put to bed, and enjoyed a sound sleep, which appeared to have arrested the progress of the disease, for he was afterwards able to walk about his room. The apoplectic symptoms, however, returned in a few days, and he fell into a state of stupor. His last words marked the gradual darkening of the ray of life and intellect beneath this mortal disorder. He said, "It grows dark, boys -- you may go --" his mind evidently wandering at that moment to the scene where he had spent the better part of his life. This twilight soon settled down into the night of death : he expired early in the morning of the 18th December, 1809. The death of the amiable and excellent Dr Adam operated, among his numerous friends and admirers, like a shock of electricity. Men of all ages and denominations were loud in lamenting an event which had bereaved them of a common benefactor. The effect of the general feeling was a resolution to honour him with what is a very rare circumstance in Scotland, a public funeral. The life of Dr Adam proves, had any proof been wanting, the possibility of rising to distinction in this country from any grade of life, and through whatsoever intervening difficulties. In 1758 and 1759 he was a student living at the inconceivably humble rate of four guineas a-year ; in ten years thereafter, he had qualified himself for, and attained, a situation which, in Scotland, is an object of ambition to men of considerable literary rank. The principal features of his character were, unshaken independence and integrity, ardour in the cause of public liberty, the utmost purity of manners and singleness of heart, and a most indefatigable power of application to the severest studies. "His external appearance was that of a scholar who dressed neatly for his own sake, but who had never incommoded himself with fashion in the cut of his coat, or in the regulation of his gait. Upon the street he often appeared in a studious attitude, and in winter always walked with his hands crossed, and thrust into his sleeves. His features were regular and manly, and he was above the middle size. In his well-formed proportions, and in his firm regular pace, there appeared the marks of habitual temperance. He must have been generally attractive in his early days, and, in his old age, his manners and conversation enhanced the value and interest of every qualification. When he addressed his scholars, when he commended excellence, or when he was seated at his own fireside with a friend on whom he could rely, it was delightful to be near him ; and no man could leave his company without declaring that he loved Dr Adam."

ADAM,, an eminent architect, was born at Edinburgh in the year 1728. His father, William Adam, of Maryburgh, in the county of Fife, also distinguished himself as an architect ; Hopetoun House, and the Royal Infirmary at Edinburgh, are specimens of his abilities. Robert, the second son, inherited his father's taste, and lived in a time more favourable to its development. He was educated in the university of Edinburgh, where he enjoyed the kind attentions of Robertson, Smith, and Ferguson; all of whom were his father's friends. As he advanced in life, he was on friendly and intimate terms with Archibald Duke of Argyle, Sir Charles Townshend, and the Earl of Mansfield. About the year 1754, with a view to improve his knowledge of architecture, he travelled on the continent, and resided three years in Italy, where he surveyed the magnificent specimens of Roman architecture ; the buildings of the ancients, in his opinion, being the proper school of the architectural student. But while he beheld with much pleasure the remains of the public buildings of the Romans,