Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 7.djvu/70

268 he contributed, from time to time, many valuable papers, and amongst these one of singular interest on the lacca insect, from which a colour called lac lake, is made, which is largely used as a substitute for cochineal. This paper, which was written in 1789, excited much attention at the time, at once from the ability it displayed, and from the circumstance of its containing some hints which led to a great improvement on the colour yielded by the lacca insect.

In 1797, Mr Roxburgh paid a visit to his native country, and returned (having been in the mean time married,) to Bengal, in 1799, when he resumed his botanical studies with increased ardour and increasing success. In ] 805 he received the gold medal of the Society for the Promotion of Arts, for a series of highly interesting and valuable communications on the subject of the productions of the East. He had again, in this year, returned to England, and was now residing at Chelsea, but in very indifferent health; he, however, once more proceeded to Bengal, and continued in his curatorship of the Botanical Gardens there till 1803, when, broken down in constitution, he finally returned to his native country. In this year he received a second gold medal for a communication on the growth of trees in India, and on the 31st of May, 1814, was presented with a third, in the presence of a large assembly which he personally attended, by the duke of Norfolk, who was then president of the Society of Arts.

Soon after receiving this last honourable testimony of the high respect in which his talents were held, Mr Roxburgh repaired to Edinburgh, where he died, on the 10th of April in the following year, in the 57th year of his age, leaving behind him a reputation of no ordinary character for ability, and for a laudable ambition to confer benefits on mankind, by adding to their comforts and conveniences; which objects he effected to no inconsiderable extent by many original and ingenious suggestions.

ROY (, a distinguished practical mathematician and antiquary, was born in Carluke parish, May 4, 1726. John, the father, who was born April 15, 1697, at Milton-head, must have been an active and intelligent man, if we may judge from the many references made to him by the heritors of the parish. He is variously designated as gardener, factor, &c., to Sir William Gordon, and to Charles Hamilton Gordon, of Hallcraig. John, the grandfather, seems to have been succeeded in office by his son John. The earliest notice of the elder John Roy is in the "Roll of polleable persons in Carluke parish, 1695," and the entry there is in these terms:—"Jo roy, servitor to my Lord hallcraig, 00 . 19 . 04." The general, and his brother James, afterwards minister of Prestonpans, were educated partly at the school of their native parish, and partly at the grammar-school of Lanark, the latter having been a bursar in Glasgow college on the foundation of the countess of Forfar, from 1737 till 1751. A characteristic anecdote of Roy is still current. An old woman, a native of Carluke, who had all her life been a servant at Lee, used to relate with pride that, in her young days, Roy came to Lee as attendant on great men; shortly afterwards he came again, but in a higher office; after the lapse of years, he came a third time, and now he sat at the right hand of the laird!

The birthplace of general Roy is accidentally marked in a singular manner. The buildings of Milton-head have long been cleared away. An old willow that grew near the end of the steading, no longer able to bear the weight of its own arms, bent under the burden, and now represents an arch of fair proportions. The tree in this position continues to grow, and is itself an object of interest; but, marking as it does the birthplace of an eminent man, it is doubly worthy of notice and preservation.