Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 1.djvu/50

 chief Scottish designs of Adam, besides the Register Office, were the new additions to the University of Edinburgh, and the Infirmary of Glasgow. "We have also seen and admired," says a biographer, "elegant designs executed by Mr Adam, which were intended for the South Bridge and South Bridge Street of Edinburgh; and which, if they had been adopted, would have added much to the decoration of that part of the town. But they were considered unsuitable to the taste or economy of the times, and were therefore rejected. Strange incongruities," continues the same writer, "appear in some buildings which have been erected from designs by Mr Adam. But of these it must be observed, that they have been altered or mutilated in execution, according to the convenience or taste of the owner ; and it is well known that a slight deviation changes the character and mars the effect of the general design. A lady of rank was furnished by Mr Adam with the design of a house; but on examining the building after it was erected, he was astonished to find it out of all proportion. On inquiring the cause, he was informed that the pediment he had designed was too small to admit a piece of new sculpture which represented the arms of the family, and, by the date which it bore, incontestably proved its antiquity. It was therefore absolutely necessary to enlarge the dimensions of the pediment to receive this ancient badge of family honour, and sacrifice the beauty and proportion of the whole building. We have seen a large public building which was also designed by Mr Adam; but when it was erected, the length was curtailed of the space of two windows, while the other parts remained according to the original plan. It now appears a heavy unsightly pile, instead of exhibiting that elegance of proportion and correctness of style which the faithful execution of Mr Adam's design would have probably given it. To the last period of his life, Mr Adam displayed the same vigour of genius and refinement of taste; for in the space of one year immediately preceding his death, he designed eight great public works, besides twenty-five private buildings, so various in style, and beautiful in composition, that they have been allowed by the best judges to be sufficient of themselves to establish his fame as an unrivalled artist." Mr Adam died on the 3d of March, 1792, by the bursting of a blood-vessel, in the sixty-fourth year of his age, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. It remains only to be said that, while his works commanded the admiration of the public, his natural suavity of manners, joined to his excellent moral character, had made a deep impression upon the circle of his own private friends. His brother James, who has been referred to as associated with him in many of his works, died October 20, 1794. , a poet of the seventeenth century, and probably a relative of the subject of the following article, was the son of James Adamson, who was dean of guild in Perth, anno 1600, when the Gowrie conspiracy took place in that city. The poet was educated for the pulpit, and appears to have made considerable progress in classical studies, as he wrote Latin poetry above mediocrity. He enjoyed the friendship and esteem of a large circle of the eminent men of that age, particularly Drummond of Hawthornden, who induced him, in 1638, to publish a poem entitled, "Mirthful Musings for the death of Mr Gall;" being in fact a versified history of his native town, full of quaint allegorical allusions suitable to the taste of that age. A new edition of this curious poem, which had become exceedingly rare, was published in 1774, with illustrative notes by Mr James Cant. The ingenious author died in 1639, the year after the publication of his poem. 