Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 3.djvu/330

358 awaiting the approach of death, to which she neither looked forward with desire nor apprehension. After a life of unblemished virtue and ceaseless duty, she expired on the 26th December, 1789.

The benevolence of Sir William Forbes's character, his unwearied charity and activity of disposition, naturally led to his taking a very prominent share in the numerous public charities of Edinburgh. The first public duty cf this kind which he undertook, was that of a manager of the charity work-house, to which he was appointed in 1771. At this period the expenditure of that useful establishment was greater than its income, and it was necessary for the managers to communicate for several years after with the magistrates and other public bodies, as to providing for the deficits, and the state and management of the poor. Sir William Forbes was one of the sub-committee appointed by the managers to arrange this important matter, and upon him was devolved the duty of drawing up the reports and memorials respecting that charity, which during the years 1772 and 1773, were printed and circulated to induce the public to come forward and aid the establishment ; a duty which he performed with equal ability and success. The means of improving this institution, in which he ever through life took the warmest interest, occupied about this period a very large share of his thoughts, and in 1777, he embodied them in the form of a pamphlet, which he published in reference to the subject, abounding both in practical knowledge and enlightened benevolence.

Another most important institution, about the same period, was deeply indebted to his activity and perseverance for the successful termination of its difficulties. The late high school having become ruinous, and unfit for the increasing number of scholars who attended it, a few public-spirited individuals formed a committee in conjunction with the magistrates of the city, to build a new one. Of this committee, Sir William Forbes was chairman; and besides contributing largely himself, it was to his activity and perseverance that the success of the undertaking was mainly to be ascribed. The amount subscribed was 2,300, a very large sum in those days, but still insufficient to meet the expenses of the work. By his exertions the debt of 1,100 was gradually liquidated, and he had the satisfaction of laying the foundation stone of the edifice destined to be the scene of the early efforts of Sir Walter Scott, and many of the greatest men whom Scotland has produced.

He was admitted a member of the Orphan Hospital directory on the 8th of August, 1774, and acted as manager from 1783 to 1788, and from 1797 to 1801. He always took a warm interest in the concerns of that excellent charity, and devoted a considerable part of his time to the care and education of the infants who were thus brought under his superintendence. He had become a member of the Merchant Company in 1784, and in 1786 was elected master; an office which though held only for a year, was repeatedly conferred upon him during the remainder of his life. He always took an active share in the management of that great company, and wag a warm promoter of a plan adopted long after, of rendering the annuities to widows belonging to it a matter of right, and not favour or solicitation. The same situation made him a leading member of the committee of merchants, appointed in 1772, to confer with Sir James Montgomery, then lord advocate, on the new bankrupt act, introduced in that year, and many of its most valuable clauses were suggested by his experience. In that character he took a leading part in the affairs of the Merchant Maidens' Hospital, which is governed by the officers of the Merchant Company, and was elected governor of that charity in 1786. The same causes made him governor of Watson's hospital during the year that he was president or assistant of the Merchant Company, and president of. the governors of Gillespie's hospital, when that