Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 3.djvu/158

186 attended to the outskirts of the city by a procession consisting of all the public bodies in their robes and insignia.

We cannot more appropriately close this imperfect sketch, than by subjoining the testimony borne to the high talents and many virtues of president Dundas, in the funeral sermon preached on the Sunday following his interment "But by us, my brethren," the preacher observed, "he was known for other virtues. The public liave lost a father and friend. We saw him in the more private walks of life, and experienced the warmth of his attachment, or the blessings of his protection. The same ardour of mind that marked his public character, descended with him to his retirement, to enliven his devotion, and prompt his benevolence. Attached to the ordinances of religion, and active in his duties as a member of the church, he was studious to give you, in this holy place, an example of that public reverence which is due from all to the Father of their spirits. Hospitable in his disposition, attentive in his manner, lively in his conversation, and steady in his friendships, he was peculiarly formed to secure the esteem of his acquaintance, and to promote the intercourse of social life. The poor, who mourn for his loss, and his domestics, who have grown old in his service, testify the general humanity of his mind. But his family alone, and those who have seen him mingling with them in the tenderness of domestic endearment, knew the warmth of his paternal affections." " Such were the qualities that adorned the illustrious judge whose death we now deplore. If he had his failings, (and the lot of humanity, alas ! was also his,) they were the failings of a great mind, and sprang from the same impetuosity of temper which was the source of his noblest virtues. But they are now gone to the drear abode of forgetfulness; while his better qualities live in the hearts of the good, and will descend in the records of fame, to rouse the emulation of distant ages."

President Dundas was twice married, first to Henrietta, daughter of Sir James Carmichael Baillie, of Lamington, Bart., by whom he left four daughters; and secondly, 7th September, 1756, at Prestongrange, to Jane, daughter of William Grant of Prestongrange, an excellent man, and good lawyer, who rose to the bench under the title of lord Prestongrange. By his second lady he left four sons and two daughters, of whom Robert, the eldest son, was successively lord advocate and lord chief baron of the court of exchequer in Scotland.

DUNDAS,, of Arniston, lord chief baron of the court of exchequer, eldest son of the second lord president Dundas, by Miss Grant, youngest daughter of William Grant, lord Prestongrange, was born on the 6th of June, 1758. Like his distinguished predecessors, he was educated for the legal profession, and became a member of the faculty of advocates in the year 1779. When Mr (afterwards Sir Hay) Campbell was promoted to the office of lord advocate, Mr Dundas, at a very early age, succeeded him as solicitor general ; and afterwards in 1789, on Sir Hay's elevation to the president's chair, Mr Dundas, at the age of 31, was appointed lord advocate. This office he held for twelve years, during which time he sat in parliament as member for the county of Edinburgh: and on the resignation of chief baron Montgomery in the year 1801, he was appointed his successor. Mr Dundas sat as chief baron until within a short time of his death, which happened at Arniston, on the 17th of June, 1819, in the 62nd year of his age. He had previously resigned his office, and it happened that Sir Samuel Shepherd, who succeeded him, took his seat on the bench on the day on which Mr Dundas died.

Without those striking and more brilliant talents for which his father and grandfather were distinguished, chief baron Dundas, in addition to excellent abilities, possessed, in an eminent degree, the graces of mildness, moderation, and affability; and descended to the grave, it is believed, more universally